High thyroid hormone T3.

Your thyroid gland produces thyroid hormones, mainly T4. T4 is the precursor to T3, which is the active thyroid hormone.

T3 is our most powerful stimulator of 5AR.

A good marker of 5-alpha reductase is the androsterone (created by 5-alpha reductase) to epiocholanolone (created by 5 beta reductase (5BR)) ratio.

Low T3 shifts the ratio to 5BR, whereas high T3 shifts it to 5AR.

The graph below is from a study where they gave men 200mcg of T3. You can see how dramatically androsterone increases, which epiocholanolone decreases.

5BR steroids are neutral on the androgen receptor but weaken the effect of DHT (by competition).

Increasing 5AR is good. Lowering 5BR and increasing 5AR are the best.

T3 does that.

Which makes T3 the best DHT booster.

When I help a client optimize his thyroid hormone, I start with what might cause it to be low.

Here are the top important ones:

Micronutrient deficiencies
- If you lack specific vitamins or minerals, T4 and/or T3 will be low.
- Even if you eat "enough" of those nutrients, you could still have a deficiency due to genetic issues or impaired digestion and absorption.
Low-grade inflammation
- This can come from many sources, such as gut health, heavy metals, environmental contaminants, mold, nutritional deficiencies, etc.
Gut issues
- Poor digestion
- Slow or fast transit time
- Dysbiosis/SIBO/SIFO, etc.
Low bile release
- Bile is made from cholesterol and about 95% of the bile released by the gallbladder is reabsorbed into the body. That's because bile is extremely important.
- Bile potently stimulates the enzyme that converts T4 into T3, thus activating intracellular T3.
Lots of stress
High estrogen
- Estrogen increases thyroid binding globulin (TBG), which binds up all your free T3. Even if total T3 is high, but free T3 is low, you'll experience hypothyroid symptoms.
- The ideal estradiol range is between 20-30pg/ml and not higher than 40pg/ml as a natural guy.
Poor liver function
- 80% of T4 is converted to T3 in the liver. Poor liver function, due to poor bile flow, insulin resistance, gut dysbiosis, nutritional deficiencies, excess caloric intake, excess alcohol intake, certain medications, viral infections, environmental toxins, smoking and sleep deprivation, can reduce T3 levels.

It might seem overwhelming, but pick the one that you think is the most likely culprit and focus on that one. Do tests if possible.

I've added a "Thyroid Maxxing" bonus chapter to the DHT course to show you exactly how to solve these problems and get high T3, so that you can get high DHT without having to rely on thyroid medications.

You can find it in the DHT course here. Don't let low T3 hold you back from high DHT. Low T3 is one of the most common causes of low DHT in modern society.

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