Basic Question About Steroid Pathway

cyclops

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There is probably a very simple answer to this, but its something I always wondered about when looking at pictures of the steroid pathway and trying to better understand how these hormones work.

I'm basically wondering why certain hormones that are "good" don't convert into certain hormones that are "bad" when it looks like they eventually would on the charts? For example, progesterone is generally considered good but it looks like it eventually converts to aldosterone and cortisol in the end which are generally considered not good. In fact I've even heard Ray say progesterone strongly opposes aldosterone, but I dont understand how that is by looking at the charts. It looks like it eventually converts into it.

Because I know Test turns into DHT or Estradiol, which seems to be the most downstream hormones on that end. I guess Im just wondering why Preg and Prog dont eventually convert into their most downstream hormones as they appear on the charts. Does it just have to do with "stress" and that progesterone just stays as progesterone? But then how would it oppose the hormones that it looks like it eventually coverts into?

Also I know no hormones are actually "bad" because we need at least small amounts of everything. So its just lack of a better word, but those who know peats work know what I mean.

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Lejeboca

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There is probably a very simple answer to this, but its something I always wondered about when looking at pictures of the steroid pathway and trying to better understand how these hormones work.

I'm basically wondering why certain hormones that are "good" don't convert into certain hormones that are "bad" when it looks like they eventually would on the charts? For example, progesterone is generally considered good but it looks like it eventually converts to aldosterone and cortisol in the end which are generally considered not good. In fact I've even heard Ray say progesterone strongly opposes aldosterone, but I dont understand how that is by looking at the charts. It looks like it eventually converts into it.

Because I know Test turns into DHT or Estradiol, which seems to be the most downstream hormones on that end. I guess Im just wondering why Preg and Prog dont eventually convert into their most downstream hormones as they appear on the charts. Does it just have to do with "stress" and that progesterone just stays as progesterone? But then how would it oppose the hormones that it looks like it eventually coverts into?

Also I know no hormones are actually "bad" because we need at least small amounts of everything. So its just lack of a better word, but those who know peats work know what I mean.

View attachment 16749

I'd like to know the answer too. Thanks for the question.
 
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cyclops

cyclops

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To be fair Progesterone can move to the right on the chart and also down, I dont know why I assume it should/would move downward. I guess what really confuses me is how Progesterone could actually oppose Aldosterone, I mean maybe you hope it doesn't covert into it, even though it looks like it could. I mean testosterone doesn't oppose Estradiol, we just do our best to stop it from converting into it.
 

Mattlebl

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Growth Hormone is a polypeptide hormone. This means it is composed of a long chain of amino acids, 191 to be exact. Under normal physiologic conditions, growth hormone is secreted by the anterior pituitary gland.
 

Mito

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“The reasoning about “pregnenolone steal” is one example of non-productive, and possibly hazardous thinking about hormone pathway charts. As @haidut’s original post excerpts: “..the most common figures used to teach steroidogenesis show a common pathway and typically do not specify the differential regulation of available enzymes between different steroidogenic tissues.”

Primitive ideas about “homeostasis” and “feedback” have real consequences. They are still used widely in medical decision making. Some accurate elements within the chart are mis-interpreted as realistic representation of the situation. Mistaken (or worse) ideas may limit support/supplementation or accelerate decline.

“Until about 1990, the ovaries were believed to be the only significant source of progesterone, and it was clear that stress blocked their synthesis of it, while the presence of progesterone activated the ovary’s synthetic apparatus in a self stimulating process. (The negative feedback idea from cybernetics has been widely misapplied in endocrinology.)”
–Ray Peat Jan 2018 newsletter, “Consciousness, Nootropics, and Progesterone”

The Myth Of Pregnenolone Steal
 

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