SHBG revisited...CS and others please chime in..

Hi CS and other experts...

SHBG is confusing to me. I get conflicting information. Ok here it goes:

1. SHBG at higher levels is GOOD since it will 'bound' more free-Testosterone and therefore less can become DHT that hurts hair.
2. Then i read that SHBG is better at LOWER levels because free-T is really what counts not overall T. And if there is less SHBG, then there is MORE free T, so a much better T to Estrodial ratio and this is better for overall health and hair??!

3. then the AGE issue. I'm 42 yrs old. i read that SHBG naturally gets higher as we age but how does this all relate back?

Its all very confusing and i appreciate CS and experts chiming on OPTIMAL and BEST SHBG levels for someone over age 40....

thanks again!

You are touching on different forms of hair loss. As a young person with hairloss you'd like your SHBG to be higher, there is too high of a fraction of testosterone that is unbound. At the same time, a high fraction of free T can offer its own benefits in terms of masculinizing effects, and its metabolite DHT is the most masculinizing hormone.

As you age the level of SHBG rises because of increasing estrogen levels. So hair loss at these ages cannot correlate with increasing testosterone, but must be the result of low T and a disproportionate amount of estrogen. This type of hairloss is the type that confuses me the most.

thanks anthony! yes, its very confusing to me....

I know CS says that DHT isnt really that much of a factor for hair loss as we get older, im assuming he means 40+ age....

Regarding SHBG...Low thyroid function (which is typically not acknowledged by testing, since the 'gold standard' fails to reveal an accurate metabolic currency in the cell) is typically responsible for a low SHBG. One of the benefits from iodine, minerals, etc is that it will help normalize SHBG levels.

So yes, at a young age, SHBG is the culprit, and all that free testosterone is going to convert into DHT.

At older ages as estrogen increases, SHBG increases, yet that isn't so good either, since there will be less
testosterone that desired...so there is a happy medium. Getting rid of excess estrogen will keep this in check
along with preventing the thyroid from getting hammered. Estrogen inhibits thyroid function and that issue is quite
confusion to many also, because some types of estrogen are good and some are bad...it's the receptor expressions
that count. "Good" and "Bad" estrogen can be good for hair, but not exactly good for libido, breast sides and other factors.

this subject interests me as well. I remember before I got off avodart my serum test levels were at 1251 ng/dL and SHBG was at 42 nmol/L resulting in my bioavailable test being at about 359.8 ng/dL. i was suffering from sever aggression and brain fog but really no other sides. when i stopped avodart my levels plummeted and I think my test ended up somewhere around 670 ng/dL but bioavailable ended up at a paltry 135 ng/dL with Shbg still hovering in high 40's. Estradiol was on high end and had increased since last test but my doctor was thinking that the shbg was binding up some of my available test as my serum test was still in the good range. I know we want SHBG to be present so as to stop dht but might it not also be hurting our test levels?

For what it's worth I think my TSH was 1.73 mIU/L and my t4 was 1.3 ng/dL. I think those are good numbers right?

I have a blood test coming up this week to see what my levels are looking like these days. curious to see the results.

thank you CS, what is your take of optimal SHBG levels for men over 40+?

san te wrote:this subject interests me as well. I remember before I got off avodart my serum test levels were at 1251 ng/dL and SHBG was at 42 nmol/L resulting in my bioavailable test being at about 359.8 ng/dL. i was suffering from sever aggression and brain fog but really no other sides. when i stopped avodart my levels plummeted and I think my test ended up somewhere around 670 ng/dL but bioavailable ended up at a paltry 135 ng/dL with Shbg still hovering in high 40's. Estradiol was on high end and had increased since last test but my doctor was thinking that the shbg was binding up some of my available test as my serum test was still in the good range. I know we want SHBG to be present so as to stop dht but might it not also be hurting our test levels?

For what it's worth I think my TSH was 1.73 mIU/L and my t4 was 1.3 ng/dL. I think those are good numbers right?

I have a blood test coming up this week to see what my levels are looking like these days. curious to see the results.

Hi San te, your post, information and inquiry is sort of in-line with what i started this post. its confusing to me the right SHBG levels and where it should be to maxmize testosterone and hair...

thanks for posting..

As you age the level of SHBG rises because of increasing estrogen levels. So hair loss at these ages cannot correlate with increasing testosterone, but must be the result of low T and a disproportionate amount of estrogen. This type of hairloss is the type that confuses me the most.

5ar is made in scalp skin. I think this whole paradox arise from missing the paracrine nature of 5aR being produced in tissues producing the DHT right there on the spot, and ignoring the difference between rate of baldness and the accumulated damage done by the balding process.

I could be wrong but I believe RATE OF BALDING actually does decrease with age even if absolute baldness level rises cumulatively! Damage done can not reverse itself. It continues to cumulatively worsen, but the rate it worsens at SLOWS. Change in T/E could account for a change in RATE. In women of course this is different. Their rate of baldness increases as they age.

If you're overweight, try intermittent fasting. I'm currently on a 24-feed-24-fast regimen, and my SHBG levels have tested for 20% above what's considered normal. I'm not sure if that was due to calorie restriction, or due to insulin restriction; since I eat less, I spend less time with insulin in my system, and given that insulin has an antagonistical relation to SHBG, the math is clear. It could be due to calorie restriction, though.

When I reach my desired weight, I'm not sure what I'm going to do, because I'm not sure if it's a good idea to eat twice as much in one day and nothing in the other. Guess I'll just go condensed window eating