Summary
Paul Saladino breaks down his March 2023 bloodwork, reviewing his levels and ratios while explaining which tests listeners should consider ordering and how to interpret results. He covers fasting insulin, prolactin, cortisol to DHEA-S ratio, sex hormones, and what he eats in a day on his animal-based diet.
Key Points
- Which blood tests to order and why
- Fasting insulin and prolactin as key markers
- Cortisol to DHEA-S ratio interpretation
- Sex hormone panel analysis
- How animal-based diet affects bloodwork markers
Key Moments
Ketogenic diets raise cortisol and harm hormones
Saladino presents evidence that ketogenic diets raise cortisol, shift hormone precursors away from sex hormone production, and can elevate SHBG, reducing free testosterone levels.
"And I thought, you need to work that up. You need to look and see if you have a little adenoma in your brain. That's not a normal level of prolactin in the human body, especially for a male or any woman who is not breastfeeding. So prolactin is something that can interfere with sex drive, with erectile function, with weight loss, with libido, all of these things. And so you want to know what your prolactin is, and it should kind of track with metabolic health. The thing to know about prolactin also is that it is elevated after an orgasm. So, if you've had sex or an orgasm the night before you get your blood work, it might be a little higher. But in metabolically healthy males specifically, there should be a quick return to baseline of prolactin after orgasm. I imagine it's the same for women. We can look into that data on a future podcast as well. So start your blood work with a fasting insulin and a prolactin. Make sure you get those two, know what levels are normal for you. You definitely want your prolactin, I would say less than 15, which is the reference interval. And I would say."
Blood work interpretation for electrolyte status
Saladino walks through comprehensive metabolic panel results showing electrolyte levels and explains how fasting blood work reveals tightly regulated serum sodium, potassium, and other electrolyte values.
"We're leaving that on the table by not checking some of these labs. So, this is, like I said, the third episode in which I've talked about my blood work. This is blood work from March of 2023. I did previous episodes, August 2022 and November 2022. And this is in an effort to continue to open the kimono, as it were, and show you all what my blood work looks like as a 45-year-old male taking no drugs, no hormones."
