Hormonen man

Hormones man blood test - What is it?

With this blood test you can have your hormones determined. These hormones are important to measure when use of sports supplements in bodybuilders. Hormones such as testosterone provide more muscles, more strength and performance. To see whether your sports supplements bring about the desired hormone balance, you can do this blood test. We also look at kidney function. Excessive use of proteins or supplements can cause kidney damage. If you test in time, you can prevent this.

What do we determine in the blood test for hormones in men?

Blood test: free and total testosterone

Testosterone is the 'male' sex hormone that is mainly produced in the testes in men. It ensures, among other things, the development of adult male sexual characteristics, such as low voice, penis growth, body hair, aggression or alpha behavior and muscle development. In addition, it ensures good strong bones and a desire for sex (libido).

In addition to the production of testosterone in the testicles, it is produced in the adrenal glands in both men and women. In smaller quantities also in the ovaries of women. Testosterone is converted to estradiol in women. The measurement in women is therefore to see whether there is too much testosterone. This may be due to, among other things, poor conversion to estradiol.

Testosterone is approximately 95% bound to the proteins albumin and SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin). Only free testosterone is active. In this blood test for testosterone we look at testosterone, free testosterone and SHBG.

Blood test: SHBG

In women, the SHBG blood test is used to detect excessive activity of male hormone, such as cycle disorders and / or excessive hair growth. An SHBG blood test is therefore also used to investigate reasons for infertility and before starting IVF.

SHBG is a protein produced in the liver. It can bind testosterone and estradiol to keep it inactive. This way it can be transported through the body via the blood. A lot of testosterone inhibits the production of SHBG.

Changing the amount of SHBG affects the amount of testosterone that is freely available. Normally approximately 50% of testosterone in men and approximately 75% in women is bound to SHBG. The remaining 50% respectively. 25% is weakly bound to another blood protein, albumin, or unbound (free). These last 2 forms are the bioactive (readily available) forms.

Blood tests: Creatinine and eGFR

A hormone blood test package should also include kidney function are determined. Kidney function is calculated with the creatinine value. This is a breakdown product of muscles and protein metabolism. Since the release of creatinine occurs at a constant rate, you can make an excellent estimate of kidney function. We then express this in the eGFR, or the estimated GFR, the glomerular filtration ratio. The reason that creatinine can be used for kidney function blood tests is because it passes through the kidneys virtually unchanged. All broken down creatinine is excreted and virtually zero creatinine is reabsorbed by the reabsorption system. The exception is when you use supplements.

In people who gain or lose a lot of muscle mass in a short period of time, the release of creatinine will not occur at a constant rate. So in bodybuilders or anorexia patients, kidney function assessment using the eGFR is not always reliable. But the creatinine value does provide a good reflection of muscle building and muscle breakdown.