The Testosterone Thief: SHBG

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How to Boost Your Free T​

A lot of your natural testosterone is bound up in your body and can't be put to work. Here's how to free it.​

When you get your testosterone blood test back, one of the numbers is for "total testosterone." And you probably feel pretty good seeing a high number. But having high total testosterone is like having a thousand dollars in your pocket and feeling rich when most of it is just Monopoly money.

Total testosterone levels have almost no value. What matters is "free" and "bioavailable" testosterone. Those things are determined by how much testosterone is bound up by SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin) and serum albumin. These proteins roam around your circulatory system, kidnapping lone testosterone molecules and chemically restraining them.

Of the two, SHBG is much more problematic: it holds your testosterone hostage. You could have high total testosterone because of your genetics, supplements, or because you're getting replacement therapy. However, you might still be experiencing low testosterone symptoms because of SHBG.

Here's how to set your testosterone free.

How Much T Does SHBG Bind Up?​

When you're a kid, levels of SHBG are low, but when you hit puberty, they decrease further so there's plenty of free testosterone available to grow your muscles and manly parts. These levels stay pretty much the same – at least they're supposed to – until old age when SHBG levels increase and tie up even more of the aging body's rapidly depleting testosterone levels.

But even young men in their prime have a lot of testosterone tied up and not available. SHBG typically binds up anywhere from 40 to 70% of a young man's testosterone, but you could have higher-than-normal amounts of SHBG.

That means that while you might have a total testosterone blood level of 1000 ng/dl, your free testosterone might be a measly 15 ng/dl, which most doctors still consider to be in the normal range. However, a level that low puts men at a high risk of every age-related disease and makes it hard to put on muscle. Even sexual energy is sapped.

As a reference point, here are some age-matched "normal" free testosterone ranges:

• 20-25 years old: 5.25 to 20.7 ng/dl
• 30-35 years old: 4.85 to 19.0 ng/dl
• 50-55 years old: 4.06 to 15.6 ng/dl

However, men should try to maintain levels anywhere from a minimum of 20 ng/dl up to around 30, regardless of age. Part of the way we can do that is to lower SHBG.

You might have to increase test levels (naturally or through replacement therapy) to overwhelm your supply of SHBG. Or work to keep SHBG levels on the low side of normal physiological levels: between 10 and 57 nanomoles of SHBG per liter of blood.


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Are My SHBG Levels Too High?​

The symptoms of overly high SHBG are almost the same as the symptoms of low testosterone:

• Lack of energy
• Depression
• General lack of joy
• Low or reduced sex drive
• Small testicles
• Inability to put on muscle or lose fat
• Sperm with no mojo
• Male breasts
• Lack of body hair

High SHBG has far more serious health implications, though. It's also linked to prostate cancer and Alzheimer's.

What Causes High SHBG Levels?​

There are at least a couple of gene mutations that cause increased amounts of SHBG, but here are the usual culprits:

• Alcohol: Drinking affects SHBG levels big time. One study proposed that rapid rises in SHBG levels be regarded as a marker for alcoholism.
• Exercise: Weight training increases SHBG, but only temporarily. Training a lot without proper rest or nutrition (overtraining), though, causes a perpetual and detrimental rise in the binding protein.
• Other Hormonal Imbalances: High thyroid and high estrogen can cause high SHBG levels, as can low growth hormone levels.
• Advancing Age: The older you get, the more SHBG you have to contend with.
• Other Factors: Smoking, stress, malnutrition, and excess fructose intake.

What Can I Do to Lower SHBG Levels?​

Plenty of things will reduce levels of SHBG. You could, for instance, just have a high-carb meal. Insulin blocks SHBG. Similarly, you could rub one out, as orgasms dull SHBG levels. But these remedies are just temporary. For longer-lasting results that might lead to actual changes in how you feel or how easily you put on muscle or lose fat, adopt permanent lifestyle changes or start taking various supplements.

Following a high-protein diet is a big first step. Also, make sure you're doing all the things you're supposed to do to build a healthy body in general, like getting enough sleep, eating the right foods, and not getting so stressed out.

Assuming you're already doing all that, there are various supplements shown in studies to reduce SHBG:

• Zinc and Magnesium: Use only the chelated form for better absorption.
  
• Fish Oil: You'll need a concentrated formula.
• Longjack (Eurycoma)
• Vitamin D:
• Boron and Calcium

Making specific dosage recommendations is hard because SHBG levels and causes are highly individual and multifactorial. Following the general label instructions on the fish oil and Longjack is a viable approach, though. As far as the vitamin D, boron, and calcium, it depends largely on whether you're deficient in any of them or not.

If you're deficient, you need to at least get up to RDA-snuff by following the label recommendations. If you're not deficient in them, consider taking an extra softgel or tablet of each of the vitamins or minerals for their specific, "drug-like" effect of combating high SHBG.