What Helps Turn High Cholesterol Into Hormones

[Frankdee20]

I have high Cholesterol (not too high) and ridiculously high Trigs.... Can I use Vitamin A to help utilize the cholesterol for Testosterone synthesis ? What can help me bring down triglycerides ?

 

[Hans]

I have high Cholesterol (not too high) and ridiculously high Trigs.... Can I use Vitamin A to help utilize the cholesterol for Testosterone synthesis ? What can help me bring down triglycerides ?

What's your stress and diet like? Do you have insulin resistance?

 

[mrchibbs]

I have high Cholesterol (not too high) and ridiculously high Trigs.... Can I use Vitamin A to help utilize the cholesterol for Testosterone synthesis ? What can help me bring down triglycerides ?

Thyroid supplementation.

 

[Frankdee20]

Thyroid supplementation.

Yeah I know Thyroid is important here... Wouldn’t too much sugars turn into triglycerides anyway ? It’s poorly utilized sugars, and too much fat in the blood

 

[Frankdee20]

What's your stress and diet like? Do you have insulin resistance?

Diet is not terrible... I eat eggs, some starch from potatoes, some bread, turkey, tuna, salmon, carrots, cheeses, lots of coffee, a glass of milk, some times fruit, liver, some beef, I try to eat balanced diet.... I haven’t retested the numbers in about a year... what is insulin resistance ? Like getting hungry quickly ?

 

[mrchibbs]

Yeah I know Thyroid is important here... Wouldn’t too much sugars turn into triglycerides anyway ? It’s poorly utilized sugars, and too much fat in the blood

I don't mean to sound like a prick, but it's not merely important, it's essential. If it doesn't work optimally, you won't produce steroid hormones.
And since you have elevated cholesterol, you would probably be able to produce a lot of them, along with proper liver (vitamin A as you've mentioned.)

 

[High_Prob]

@Frankdee20 I recall from a lot of your past posts that you are a heavy drinker. I am a heavy drinker too (vodka mostly). I have triglycerides over 400 and my total cholesterol is 240. Testosterone is 350. I’m 44 years old.

I really think that if we (assuming that you are still drinking) could just stop drinking that it would make a drastic difference (trigs, cholesterol, testosterone, etc)...

Have you ever gone 6 months or more without drinking?

 

[Frankdee20]

I don't mean to sound like a prick, but it's not merely important, it's essential. If it doesn't work optimally, you won't produce steroid hormones.
And since you have elevated cholesterol, you would probably be able to produce a lot of them, along with proper liver (vitamin A as you've mentioned.)

Yeah, Thyroid is the only thing on that list I haven’t tried ... My TSH always comes back in the low end of 1.3 or 1.4.... my free T3 and T4 are always within range.... my vitamin D has been 19, 22, and 32 respectively.... my T is always around 450..... the only thing I can think of is poor pancreatic function from alcohol abuse

 

[Frankdee20]

@Frankdee20 I recall from a lot of your past posts that you are a heavy drinker. I am a heavy drinker too (vodka mostly). I have triglycerides over 400 and my total cholesterol is 240. Testosterone is 350. I’m 44 years old.

I really think that if we (assuming that you are still drinking) could just stop drinking that it would make a drastic difference (trigs, cholesterol, testosterone, etc)...

Have you ever gone 6 months or more without drinking?

You are correct, I have been a bad drinker and I am sure that does not help liver ability to utilize sugars and fats, and I have not gone sober 6 months or more in many years... these days, the desire to drink has subsided quite a bit....

 

[mrchibbs]

Yeah, Thyroid is the only thing on that list I haven’t tried ... My TSH always comes back in the low end of 1.3 or 1.4.... my free T3 and T4 are always within range.... my vitamin D has been 19, 22, and 32 respectively.... my T is always around 450..... the only thing I can think of is poor pancreatic function from alcohol abuse

It's possible. Since liver produces t3. Fructose + Saturated Fats are both protective against alcohol damage. Once thyroid function comes back up, cholesterol naturally goes down, it's a direct relationship.

 

[michael94]

pu erh helped a lot. Ray said pu erh was "ok" because it neutralizes most of the bad things about tea.

 

[Frankdee20]

pu erh helped a lot. Ray said pu erh was "ok" because it neutralizes most of the bad things about tea.

What ? Lol

 

[Frankdee20]

Also, cytochrome p450 enzymes help the cholesterol to Pregnenalone conversion

 

[High_Prob]

Substances That Help Conversion Of Cholesterol Into Downstream Steroids And Bile Acids?

 

[bruschi11]

Iron which converts cholesterol to pregnenolone. but don’t take iron. Make it more bio-available from the liver. So b1, b2 I think could help this, I’m sure there’s more to it.

In nutritional balancing, a good sign on the hair tests is increases in iron. Usually happens when the whole system is working better as it uses its own iron stored in the liver.

 

[lampofred]

Iron which converts cholesterol to pregnenolone. but don’t take iron. Make it more bio-available from the liver. So b1, b2 I think could help this, I’m sure there’s more to it.

In nutritional balancing, a good sign on the hair tests is increases in iron. Usually happens when the whole system is working better as it uses its own iron stored in the liver.

Do you have more info on this? I thought I read that iron reduces steroid production in one of Dr. Peat's articles because it stimulates lipid peroxidation, and lipid peroxidation is what harms the mitochondrias' ability to produce pregnenolone.

But in general things that increase iron bioavailability (like vitamin A) also tend to activate metabolism/thyroid and increase conversion of cholesterol, whereas vitamin D lowers iron bioavailability and often increases cholesterol. But that's correlation, not causation.

 

[redsun]

Do you have more info on this? I thought I read that iron reduces steroid production in one of Dr. Peat's articles because it stimulates lipid peroxidation, and lipid peroxidation is what harms the mitochondrias' ability to produce pregnenolone.

But in general things that increase iron bioavailability (like vitamin A) also tend to activate metabolism/thyroid and increase conversion of cholesterol, whereas vitamin D lowers iron bioavailability and often increases cholesterol. But that's correlation, not causation.

If you have too much iron maybe, but its needed for the first conversion as waremu said but quite a few other conversions as well. If you are iron deficient you will end up with less steroid hormone production, just like if you were hypo.

 

[Wilfrid]

Yeah, Thyroid is the only thing on that list I haven’t tried ... My TSH always comes back in the low end of 1.3 or 1.4.... my free T3 and T4 are always within range.... my vitamin D has been 19, 22, and 32 respectively.... my T is always around 450..... the only thing I can think of is poor pancreatic function from alcohol abuse

It can be hard to get a good picture of thyroid function especially when lab values are within range. I found that a software called Spina-Thyr is of a tremendous help in this situation. And since you are not currently taking any thyroid supp, the analyse should be very helpful and even more accurate.
You can download it from here: SPINA: Structure parameter inference approach
You can get also some useful informations about this software here: Analyze thyroid lab results using SPINA-Thyr
And if you happen to be fluent in german, there is also a book made by the software'creator.

 

[LLight]

Also, cytochrome p450 enzymes help the cholesterol to Pregnenalone conversion

Ok. That may be too much. You should try to reduce your fluid intake in order to see if it helps further.

My reasoning (which is highly hypothetical):

1. the enzyme CYP11A1, also called CYP450scc, is in charge of converting cholesterol: "P450scc is a mitochondrial enzyme that catalyzes conversion of cholesterol to pregnenolone. This is the first reaction in the process of steroidogenesis in all mammalian tissues that specialize in the production of various steroid hormones. " (wikipedia)
2. It seems like the transcription factor NFAT5 could have a link with this enzyme, RNA-Seq analysis of high NaCl-induced gene expression:
   • "Categories of NFAT5 Target Genes Upregulated after Adaptation to High NaCl, but Not after as Little as 24 h of High NaCl.
   • Steroid hormones. Cyp11a1 protein localizes to the mitochondrial inner membrane and catalyzes the conversion of cholesterol to pregnenolone, the first and rate-limiting step in the synthesis of the steroid hormones."
3. NFAT5 is downregulated by hypotonicity, which I think could be caused by drinking too much. Note that while it seems like NFAT5 upregulates this enzyme, it could be false to think that by downregulating NFAT5, you would necessarily downregulate its target, the enzyme CYP11A1. Additionally, this is proven in one kind of cell.

 

[HealthisWealth]

Thyroid supplementation.

nice chart