Okay, this gets really interesting really fast. Could one make a case that SHBG is actually anti-inflammatory (like testosterone)? Well, I don't know about that. To me it looks like it's a middle man, but you never know...
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5457423/"Although both TT and SHBG levels are significant predictors for the risk of MetS in our initial analyses, only SHBG retains its significance after adjustment of both TT and SHBG levels. Some studies have reported SHBG as a dominant predictor for prevalent and incident MetS, independent of TT, while TT lost its significance as a predictor for the risk of MetS after adjustment of SHBG16, 17. In our study, we also found that serum SHBG levels were significantly correlated with adiponectin and leptin levels even after controlling for age, lifestyle factors, BMI and TT level. Both adiponectin and leptin levels were significantly associated with all individual MetS components.
Adiponectin and leptin are two important cytokines secreted from adipose tissues that play important roles in the pathogenesis of MetS.
Adiponectin has been found to have antidiabetic, anti-atherogenic, and anti-inflammatory properties, while leptin can regulate body weight by modulating appetite and energetic balance, and upregulate proinflammatory cytokines that are associated with insulin resistance and endothelial dysfunction5, 25. Aside from our study, only limited epidemiologic studies have evaluated the relationships among SHBG, adiponectin and leptin in men26–28.
Gannage´-Yared et al. first reported that serum SHBG level was positively correlated with adiponectin level and negatively correlated with leptin level in men26. The relationship between SHBG and adiponectin persisted after adjustment for waist or BMI, while SHBG lost its relationship with leptin after adjustment for BMI26. "