So I was looking for ways to increase testosterone and came across a video saying that Intermittent Fasting increases testosterone by 180%. I knew it increases testosterone (as various posts on TRP itself have spoken well about it) but had my doubts about the percentage since it looked more like an infomercial video. So I did a quick Google Scholar search of 'intermittent fasting testosterone' and this showed up as one of the results. Strangely it claims that Intermittent Fasting Dietary Restriction (IF-DR) reduces testosterone (in rats).

I quote from the abstract-

Significant changes in body weight, blood glucose, estrous cyclicity and serum estradiol, testosterone and LH level indicated the negative role of IF-DR regimen on reproduction in these young animals.

Also, scroll down to where figure 1 is drawn, and the text below states-

(H) Reduced testosterone concentration in IF-DR male rats as compared to control animals.

Counter-intuitive, right? I don't know how much this study is credible, but the reduction in testosterone levels is catastrophic, if true. Also, of course, rats aren't humans, but lab scientists choose rats for a reason-that they're so similar to humans. But of course this study could be wrong. Or may be in this case, humans respond differently to IF-DR. So I'm looking for some articles that have researched on humans in a well-conducted and documented study of increases in testosterone levels. Could any of you guys link any such study that you know of?

Edit: I think I've found another study claiming the opposite, that IF increases testosterone-Sex-Dependent Metabolic, Neuroendocrine, and Cognitive Responses to Dietary Energy Restriction and Excess

The caviet here is that it didn't directly show up on the first page of the search results of the Google Scholar search, but rather as a citation in another study that showed up in the Google Scholar search, so I'm doubting it is as credible as the other study.

Nevertheless I quote from it-

Testosterone levels were significantly increased in males on the IF diet and in females on the 40% CR diet but were decreased in females on the HFG diet (Fig. 3C).

I have to say that one study saying testosterone levels decrease with IF, while another saying it increases (which I didn't even find as a search result in the first page of google scholar) isn't quite satisfactory. Can anyone link more studies related to this IF and testosterone relation?