204 lines
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204 lines
14 KiB
HTML
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<head><title>Progesterone Pregnenolone & DHEA - Three Youth-Associated Hormones</title></head>
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Progesterone Pregnenolone & DHEA - Three Youth-Associated Hormones
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<strong>PROGESTERONE INFORMATION</strong>
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Raymond Peat, MA, PhD (Univ. of Oregon)
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Endocrine Physiologist, specializing in hormonal changes in stress and aging
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Sixty years ago, progesterone was found to be the main hormone produced by the ovaries. Since it was
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necessary for fertility and for maintaining a healthy pregnancy, it was called the "pro-gestational
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hormone," and its name sometimes leads people to think that it isn't needed when you don't want to get
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pregnant. In fact, it is the most protective hormone the body produces, and the large amounts that are
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produced during pregnancy result from the developing baby's need for protection from the stressful
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environment. Normally, the brain contains a very high concentration of progesterone, reflecting its
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protective function for that most important organ. The thymus gland, the key organ of our immune system, is
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also profoundly dependent on progesterone.
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</p>
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<p>
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In experiments, progesterone was found to be the basic hormone of adaptation and of resistance to stress.
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The adrenal glands use it to produce their anti-stress hormones, and when there is enough progesterone, they
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don't have to produce the potentially harmful cortisone. In a progesterone deficiency, we produce too much
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cortisone, and excessive cortisone causes osteoporosis, aging of the skin, damage to brain cells, and the
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accumulation of fat, especially on the back and abdomen.
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</p>
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Experiments have shown that progesterone relieves anxiety, improves memory, protects brain cells, and even
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prevents epileptic seizures. It promotes respiration, and has been used to correct emphysema. In the
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circulatory system, it prevents bulging veins by increasing the tone of blood vessels, and improves the
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efficiency of the heart. It reverses many of the signs of aging in the skin, and promotes healthy bone
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growth. It can relieve many types of arthritis, and helps a variety of immunological problems.
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</p>
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<p>
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If progesterone is taken dissolved in vitamin E, it is absorbed very efficiently, and distributed quickly to
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all of the tissues. If a woman has ovaries, progesterone helps them to produce both progesterone and
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estrogen as needed, and also helps to restore normal functioning of the thyroid and other glands. If her
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ovaries have been removed, progesterone should be taken consistently to replace the lost supply. A
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progesterone deficiency has often been associated with increased susceptibility to cancer, and progesterone
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has been used to treat some types of cancer.
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</p>
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It is important to emphasize that progesterone is not just the hormone of pregnancy. To use it only "to
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protect the uterus" would be like telling a man he doesn't need testosterone if he doesn't plan to father
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children, except that progesterone is of far greater and more basic significance than testosterone. While
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men do naturally produce progesterone, and can sometimes benefit from using it, it is not a male hormone.
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Some people get that impression, because some physicians recommend combining estrogen with either
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testosterone or progesterone, to protect against some of estrogen's side effects, but progesterone is the
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body's natural complement to estrogen. Used alone, progesterone often makes it unnecessary to use estrogen
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for hot flashes or insomnia, or other symptoms of menopause.
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</p>
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When dissolved in vitamin E, progesterone begins entering the blood stream almost as soon as it contacts any
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membrane, such as the lips, tongue, gums, or palate, but when it is swallowed, it continues to be absorbed
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as part of the digestive process. When taken with food, its absorption occurs at the same rate as the
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digestion and absorption of the food.
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</p>
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<strong>PREGNENOLONE</strong>
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Pregnenolone, which is the raw material for producing many of the hormones of stress and adaptation, was
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known as early as 1934, but for several years it was considered to be an "inert" substance. A reason for
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this belief is that it was first tested on healthy young animals. Since these animals were already producing
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large amounts of pregnenolone (in the brain, adrenal glands, and gonads), additional pregnenolone had no
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effect.
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In the 1940s, pregnenolone was tested in people who were sick or under stress, and it was found to have a
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wide range of beneficial actions, but the drug industry never had much interest in it. Its very generality
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made it seem unlike a drug, and its natural occurrence made it impossible to patent. Thus, many synthetic
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variants, each with a more specialized action and some serious side effects, came to be patented and
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promoted for use in treating specific conditions. The drug companies created an atmosphere in which many
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people felt that each disease should have a drug, and each drug, a disease. The side effects of some of
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those synthetic hormones were so awful that many people came to fear them. For example, synthetic varieties
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of "cortisone" can destroy immunity, and can cause osteoporosis, diabetes, and rapid aging, with loss of
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pigment in the skin and hair, and extreme thinning of the skin.
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Natural pregnenolone is present in young people of both sexes at a very high concentration, and one reason
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for the large amount produced in youth is that it is one of our basic defenses against the harmful side
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effects that an imbalance of even our natural hormones can produce. In excess, natural cortisone or estrogen
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can be dangerous, but when there is an abundance of pregnenolone, their side effects are prevented or
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minimized.
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</p>
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In a healthy young person or animal, taking even a large dose of pregnenolone has no hormone-like or
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drug-like action at all. It is unique in this way. But if the animal or person is under stress, and
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producing more cortisone than usual, taking pregnenolone causes the cortisone to come down to the normal
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level. After the age of 40 or 45, it seems that everyone lives in a state of continuous "stress," just as a
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normal part of aging. This coincides with the body's decreased ability to produce an abundance of
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pregnenolone.
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When aging rats are given a supplement of pregnenolone, it immediately improves their memory and general
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performance. Human studies, as early as the 1940s, have also demonstrated improved performance of ordinary
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tasks. It is now known that pregnenolone is one of the major hormones in the brain. It is produced by
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certain brain cells, as well as being absorbed into the brain from the blood. It protects brain cells from
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injury caused by fatigue, and an adequate amount has a calming effect on the emotions, which is part of the
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reason that it protects us from the stress response that leads to an excessive production of cortisone.
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People feel a mood of resilience and an ability to confront challenges.
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Many people have noticed that pregnenolone has a "face-lifting" action. This effect seems to be produced by
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improved circulation to the skin, and by an actual contraction of some muscle-like cells in the skin. A
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similar effect can improve joint mobility in arthritis, tissue elasticity in the lungs, and even eyesight.
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Many studies have shown it to be protective of "fibrous tissues" in general, and in this connection it was
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proven to prevent the tumors that can be caused by estrogen.
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</p>
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Pregnenolone is largely converted into two other "youth-associated" protective hormones, progesterone and
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DHEA. At the age of 30, both men and women produce roughly 30 to 50 mg. of pregnenolone daily. When taken
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orally, even in the powdered form, it is absorbed fairly well. One dose of approximately 300 mg (the size of
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an aspirin tablet) keeps acting for about a week, as absorption continues along the intestine, and as it is
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"recycled" in the body. Part of this long lasting effect is because it improves the body's ability to
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produce its own pregnenolone. It tends to improve function of the thyroid and other glands, and this
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"normalizing" effect on the other glands helps to account for its wide range of beneficial effects.
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</p>
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<p><strong>DHEA: ANOTHER YOUTH-ASSOCIATED HORMONE</strong></p>
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<p>
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Raymond Peat, MA, PhD (Univ. of Oregon)
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</p>
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<p>
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Endocrine Physiologist
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</p>
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<p>
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DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) has a technical-sounding name because it has never been identified with a
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single dominant function, in spite of its abundance in the body. Many researchers still think of it as a
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substance produced by the adrenal glands, but experiments show that animals without adrenals are able to
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produce it in normal amounts. Much of it is formed in the brain (from pregnenolone), but it is probably
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produced in other organs, including the skin. The brain contains a much higher concentration of DHEA than
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the blood does.
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</p>
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In old age, we produce only about 5% as much as we do in youth. This is about the same decrease that occurs
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with progesterone and pregnenolone. The other hormones (for example, cortisone) do not decrease so much; as
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a result, our balance shifts continually during aging toward dominance by hormones such as cortisone, which
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use up more and more body substance, without rebuilding it. Protection against the toxic actions of these
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specialized hormones is a major function of DHEA and the other youth-associated hormones.
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</p>
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<p>
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For example, starvation, aging, and stress cause the skin to become thin and fragile. An excess of
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cortisone--whether it is from medical treatment, or from stress, aging, or malnutrition--does the same
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thing. Material from the skin is dissolved to provide nutrition for the more essential organs. Other organs,
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such as the muscles and bones, dissolve more slowly, but just as destructively, under the continued
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influence of cortisone. DHEA blocks these destructive effects of cortisone, and actively restores the normal
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growth and repair processes to those organs, strengthening the skin and bones and other organs. Stimulation
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of bone-growth by DHEA has been demonstrated in vitro (in laboratory tests), and it has been used to relieve
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many symptoms caused by osteoporosis and arthritis, even when applied topically in an oily solution.
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</p>
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Estrogen is known to produce a great variety of immunological defects, and DHEA, apparently by its balancing
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and restorative actions, is able to correct some of those immunological defects, including some "autoimmune"
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diseases.
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</p>
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It is established that DHEA protects against cancer, but it isn't yet understood how it does this. It
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appears to protect against the toxic cancer-producing effects of excess estrogen, but its anti-cancer
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properties probably involve many other functions.
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</p>
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<p>
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Diabetes can be produced experimentally by certain poisons which kill the insulin-producing cells in the
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pancreas. Rabbits were experimentally made diabetic, and when treated with DHEA their diabetes was cured. It
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was found that the insulin-producing cells had regenerated. Many people with diabetes have used brewer's
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yeast and DHEA to improve their sugar metabolism. In diabetes, very little sugar enters the cells, so
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fatigue is a problem. DHEA stimulates cells to absorb sugar and to burn it, so it increases our general
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energy level and helps to prevent obesity.
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</p>
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Young people produce about 12 to 15 milligrams of DHEA per day, and that amount decreases by about 2 mg. per
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day for every decade after the age of 30. This is one of the reasons that young people eat more without
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getting fat, and tolerate cold weather better: DHEA, like the thyroid hormone, increases our heat production
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and ability to burn calories. At the age of 50, about 4 mg. of DHEA per day will usually restore the level
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of DHEA in the blood to a youthful level. It is important to avoid taking more than needed, since some
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people (especially if they are deficient in progesterone, pregnenolone, or thyroid) can turn the excess into
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estrogen or testosterone, and large amounts of those sex hormones can disturb the function of the thymus
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gland and the liver.
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</p>
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People who have taken an excess of DHEA have been found to have abnormally high estrogen levels, and this
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can cause the liver to enlarge, and the thymus to shrink.
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</p>
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One study has found that the only hormone abnormality in a groupt of Alzheimers patients' brains was an
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excess of DHEA. In cell culture, DHEA can cause changes in glial cells resembling those seen in the aging
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brain. These observations suggest that DHEA should be used with caution. Supplements of pregnenolone and
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thyroid seem to be the safest way to optimize DHEA production.
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</p>
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<p>
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© Ray Peat 2006. All Rights Reserved. www.RayPeat.com
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</p>
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</html>
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