Essentials: Tools for Hormone Optimization in Males | Dr. Kyle Gillett

**Andrew Huberman** (0:00)
Welcome to Huberman Lab Essentials, where we revisit past episodes for the most potent and actionable science-based tools for mental health, physical health, and performance.
I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. And now for my discussion with Dr. Kyle Gillett. Dr. Gillett, great to have you back.

**Kyle Gillett** (0:22)
Great to be back, thank you.

**Andrew Huberman** (0:24)
I'd like to begin with a question about what all males ought to do in order to optimize their hormones. What should they be doing? What should they avoid doing if the goal is to have a long arc of healthy hormone optimization throughout the lifespan?

**Kyle Gillett** (0:38)
There's many things that you should do. An analogy that I often make is when there's a brand new car that comes off the assembly line, you do a full scope of diagnostic workup, hook it up to the computer. And I think we should do the same thing with humans as well.
Deer and puberty, obviously you're a functioning human, but I would say there's still development. And I think that the human always develops. I don't think development ever ends, but you want to monitor that progress across a person's lifespan.

**Andrew Huberman** (1:08)
What do you think are the key things to look for in blood work? I mean, testosterone is always the topic that comes up in the context of male hormone optimization, but certainly there are a lot of other hormones that are important as well.

**Kyle Gillett** (1:19)
And with testosterone, you want to get either testosterone and SHBG or a free testosterone.

**Andrew Huberman** (1:25)
Could you define SHBG for our listeners, please?

**Kyle Gillett** (1:27)
It is sex hormone-binding globulin. It is the protein that binds up all androgens and estrogen in the body. So the stronger the androgen, the stronger it binds. Daring puberty, strong androgens, especially DHT, which is the strongest bioidentical androgen, has a huge role, a prominent role in secondary sexual characteristics.
And if your SHBG is very high, then your DHT can run higher because it's not metabolized, but there's not quite as much free DHT. So you want to balance between a high enough free DHT and a high enough total DHT.

**Andrew Huberman** (2:04)
So assuming that there's no major intervention, how often do you recommend that people get their blood work done?

**Kyle Gillett** (2:11)
Using shared decision-making with their physician. Usually a good follow-up is about six months.

**Andrew Huberman** (2:16)
So on a daily basis, maybe you could just take us through the arc of a day and push out some of the protocols that you use or the things that you like to see your male patients use in order to try and optimize their hormones goddess.

**Kyle Gillett** (2:29)
I'll briefly touch on some of the lifestyle pillars to start diet and exercise are the first two. In puberty, sleep is particularly important, of course.
But with diet and exercise, throughout a lifespan, we want to not exclude things that are helping you. For example, during puberty, if you're consuming dairy, and then all of a sudden you cut out all dairy, dairy can help increase IGF-1 and free IGF-1.

**Andrew Huberman** (2:56)
And just for our audience, maybe you just mentioned what having enough IGF-1 can do for us that's beneficial is.

**Kyle Gillett** (3:03)
It helps you grow. It helps with genital development, secondary sexual characteristics, and long bone growth, skin growth, hair growth, a host of things.

**Andrew Huberman** (3:14)
So getting an array of nutrients that include dairy, what other sorts of nutrients are important during development.

**Kyle Gillett** (3:20)
You want to have adequate vitamin D. Vitamin D helps with testosterone production. It helps again with bone mineralization and stature. After an age of about 25, and there's not a strict cutoff, but up to about an age of 25, optimizing your growth hormone and IGF-1 helps with bone density and bone growth.
So from the dietary standpoint, you want to have enough free estrogen, not too much when you're growing, but you want to help basically stockpile bone to prevent a risk of osteoporosis or thin bones fractures when you're older.

**Andrew Huberman** (3:57)
I realize that some of this relates to ethics and food allergies and things of that sort, but would you say that on balance, that most people would benefit from eating a combination of quality proteins from animal sources and non-animal sources, fruits, vegetables, and starches? I mean, what do you think, for instance, about people following a pure carnivore or a very pure vegan diet in their 20s and 30s?

**Kyle Gillett** (4:23)
In their late 20s, it might be a reasonable option. In early 20s and certainly teens, it is a horrible idea because it is likely to significantly decrease your free androgens. So you will have less testosterone acting on receptors through the body.