I hear a lot about the 3 youth hormones - Pregnenolone, Progesterone, DHEA - and have some questions about supplementing with them. Been trying to wrap my head around Ray's essay here: Progesterone Pregnenolone & DHEA - Three Youth-Associated Hormones
Main question: does taking Pregnenolone and/or DHEA (my understanding is men would benefit from those two mostly) suppress the body's own natural production of said hormones?
Anyone who's done a bit of research into bodybuilding and steroids (e.g. synthetic testosterone) knows that taking exogeneous T for example will suppress the body's internal production of said hormone. I've also read about steroid users having shrunken testes... yikes lol.
Pregnenolone is interesting because it's upstream of a lot of hormone production, but moreso, might not have this effect? Here's a passage from the essay above:
"Pregnenolone is largely converted into two other "youth-associated" protective hormones, progesterone and DHEA. At the age of 30, both men and women produce roughly 30 to 50 mg. of pregnenolone daily. When taken orally, even in the powdered form, it is absorbed fairly well. One dose of approximately 300 mg (the size of an aspirin tablet) keeps acting for about a week, as absorption continues along the intestine, and as it is "recycled" in the body. Part of this long lasting effect is because it improves the body's ability to produce its own pregnenolone. It tends to improve function of the thyroid and other glands, and this "normalizing" effect on the other glands helps to account for its wide range of beneficial effects."
OK so if I'm understanding that correctly, this has a positive-feedback effect, as opposed to the Testosterone mentioned above which would have a negative-feedback effect.
Is that correct? That would be really great because it's something that, if you forget or just stop taking, you've still benefitted at least transiently from when you were taking it. So if I understand that right, this seems like a fantastic substance to take. And being upstream of everything it seems likely it would improve any adult's overall hormone profiles.
Or maybe I've misunderstood..? Basically I'm trying to research other types of hormone supplementation that would be beneficial and not have you become "shut down".
Input appreciated :)
Main question: does taking Pregnenolone and/or DHEA (my understanding is men would benefit from those two mostly) suppress the body's own natural production of said hormones?
Anyone who's done a bit of research into bodybuilding and steroids (e.g. synthetic testosterone) knows that taking exogeneous T for example will suppress the body's internal production of said hormone. I've also read about steroid users having shrunken testes... yikes lol.
Pregnenolone is interesting because it's upstream of a lot of hormone production, but moreso, might not have this effect? Here's a passage from the essay above:
"Pregnenolone is largely converted into two other "youth-associated" protective hormones, progesterone and DHEA. At the age of 30, both men and women produce roughly 30 to 50 mg. of pregnenolone daily. When taken orally, even in the powdered form, it is absorbed fairly well. One dose of approximately 300 mg (the size of an aspirin tablet) keeps acting for about a week, as absorption continues along the intestine, and as it is "recycled" in the body. Part of this long lasting effect is because it improves the body's ability to produce its own pregnenolone. It tends to improve function of the thyroid and other glands, and this "normalizing" effect on the other glands helps to account for its wide range of beneficial effects."
OK so if I'm understanding that correctly, this has a positive-feedback effect, as opposed to the Testosterone mentioned above which would have a negative-feedback effect.
Is that correct? That would be really great because it's something that, if you forget or just stop taking, you've still benefitted at least transiently from when you were taking it. So if I understand that right, this seems like a fantastic substance to take. And being upstream of everything it seems likely it would improve any adult's overall hormone profiles.
Or maybe I've misunderstood..? Basically I'm trying to research other types of hormone supplementation that would be beneficial and not have you become "shut down".
Input appreciated :)