Progesterone Lowers Cholesterol

J

j.

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For all you progesterone addicts, make sure it doesn't lower your cholesterol too much, as progesterone reduces cholesterol, if these studies are right.

Boots for Achilles: progesterone's reduction of cholesterol is a second-order adaptation.

Progesterone and cholesterol are both vital to pregnancy. Among other functions, progesterone downregulates inflammatory responses, allowing for maternal immune tolerance of the fetal allograft. Cholesterol a key component of cell membranes, is important in intracellular transport, cell signaling, nerve conduction, and metabolism Despite the importance of each substance in pregnancy, one exercises an antagonistic effect on the other, as periods of peak progesterone correspond with reductions in cholesterol availability, a consequence of progesterone's negative effects on cholesterol biosynthesis.

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Progesterone Inhibits Cholesterol Biosynthesis in Cultured Cells

Cells acquire cholesterol through endogenous synthesis and through receptor-mediated uptake of cholesterol-rich low density lipoprotein (LDL). Esterification of LDL-derived cholesterol is catalyzed by acyl-CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT) in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Progesterone inhibits esterification, and, although the mechanism of inhibition is not completely understood, this inhibition results from progesterone's ability to inhibit the activity of multiple drug resistance (MDR) P-glycoproteins (P. DeBry and J. E. Metherall, submitted for publication). In the current manuscript, we demonstrate that progesterone inhibits cholesterol biosynthesis resulting in the accumulation of a number of sterol precursors. In Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, high concentrations (100 μM) of progesterone completely blocked cholesterol production, resulting in the accumulation of lanosterol and a lanosterol precursor. Lower concentrations (40 μM) of progesterone cause plasma membrane accumulation of several sterol products. The majority of these sterols are precursors of cholesterol since they were efficiently converted to cholesterol upon removal of progesterone from the culture medium. Although very high concentrations (>200 μM) of progesterone killed CHO cells, their growth was restored by the addition of cholesterol to the growth medium, indicating that progesterone toxicity resulted from cholesterol auxotrophy. The effect of progesterone was not unique to CHO cells; progesterone also inhibited cholesterol biosynthesis in all human cell lines tested. These observations suggest that a common progesterone-sensitive pathway is involved in both cholesterol biosynthesis and the processing of LDL-derived cholesterol.
 
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J

j.

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Apparently, DHEA also reduces cholesterol.
 
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J

j.

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I guess pregnenolone supplementation makes sense when one supplements progesterone, so that the production of testosterone and other hormones isn't affected by the reduction of cholesterol.
 

charlie

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Interesting. Thanks j. I have a cholesterol test coming up so it will be interesting to see what it shows. My cholesterol has been pretty high up till this point.
 
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Maybe the sugar that would've gone to cholesterol production goes to triglycerides production. I've been using progesterone for a few weeks, one or two days experimenting with even 100 mg. I recently had my lowest cholesterol level ever, as well as my highest level of triglycerides.
 

charlie

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So this is probably not good right?
 
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Charlie said:
So this is probably not good right?

Maybe it comes down fast, especially if you're using thyroid. It might affect everybody differently. I consume a ton of sucrose. Someone who consumes less sugar or other types of sugar maybe won't see such increase. My levels were low and went up 250%, but I think they came down fast because I don't feel weird anymore.

By the time I saw the high levels and was feeling weird I started consuming a lot of honey instead of sucrose, and stopped feeling weird, maybe that means sugar from honey has a different effect.
 

charlie

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Well you have urged me to go in early next week and get that test done. I am taking a pretty big dose of progesterone.
 
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Haha. You don't feel weird, so maybe you're fine.
 

charlie

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No, not that I can tell.

What did you feel when you felt weird?
 
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Charlie said:
What did you feel when you felt weird?

A hard to describe feeling after eating sucrose, probably when my triglycerides went beyond a certain level. I've heard other people with high triglycerides describe something similar.
 

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