Ray Peat on pregnenolone

Reversal of liver degeneration through diet

"Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) accumulated over a lifetime gradually impair the protective functions of the liver, but these functions can be gradually restored by providing carbohydrates and saturated fats without polyunsaturated fats, along with some of the factors that were depleted along with free cholesterol, especially pregnenolone and progesterone."

September 2018 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Progesterone therapy for male infertility and infertility in athletes

"Progesterone is the precursor (after acetate and cholesterol) for all other steroid hormones, so it can also be used in men. It (or its precursor pregnenolone) has been used for prostatitis, arthritis, and male infertility. Large amounts would likely suppress LH and lower testosterone synthesis, but smaller amounts (especially in older men) appear to increase sperm count and motility. In male and female athletes becoming infertile, it seems to be the appropriate therapy, usually in combination with thyroid hormone."

Nutrition For Women

Progesterone's effect on allopregnanolone levels in the brain

"Progesterone supplementation reliably increases allopregnanolone levels in the brain, with a small oral dose of progesterone tripling allopregnanolone concentrations (196% increase) (Andréen et al., 2006). Pregnenolone supplementation also increases allopregnanolone."

May 2019 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

The role of cholesterol in the production of neurosteroids

"Cholesterol is the precursor of pregnenolone, progesterone and other neurosteroids, and its own properties include stabilizing effects similar to those of progesterone."

May 2019 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Factors for healthier pregnancies and life after birth

"The most important factors that can be optimized with existing resources. Healthier pregnancies lead to a healthier and happier life after birth. These factors include sunlight, vitamin D, milk, cheese, eggs, fruit and well-cooked vegetables, high-fiber foods, and optimizing thyroid function and pregnenolone and progesterone (which support mitochondrial function, protect against aldosterone, parathyroid hormone, excess serotonin, CRH, and cortisol, while also increasing allopregnanolone), as well as using the safest anti-inflammatory and antiserotonergic medications, such as aspirin and cyproheptadine, when needed."

May 2019 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Progesterone and its non-suppressive effect on endogenous synthesis

"The fact that progesterone (and probably pregnenolone) stimulates its own synthesis means that taking it does not suppress the body's ability to produce it itself, as is the case with cortisol. Sometimes a single dose or a few doses can restore the body's ability to produce enough of its own progesterone."

Generative Energy Restoring The Wholeness Of Life

Higher concentrations of certain hormones in the brain decrease with age.

"The brain contains significantly more pregnenolone, DHEA and progesterone than other organs or the blood, and these levels decrease continuously with age."

Generative Energy Restoring The Wholeness Of Life

Steroids: Reversing skin aging and restoring hair growth

"Researchers investigating the effects of steroids on aging skin found that the steroids that reversed age-related structural changes in the skin (progesterone, testosterone, pregnenolone) sometimes also restored hair growth."

Generative Energy Restoring The Wholeness Of Life

Concerns about administering DHEA without balanced hormone levels

"Since DHEA can easily be converted into testosterone (for example, through the skin) and into estrogen, I consider it problematic to ever administer it alone without a roughly natural balance of pregnenolone and progesterone."

Generative Energy Restoring The Wholeness Of Life

Pregnenolone as a precursor, significance for DHEA

"Pregnenolone is the substance the body uses to make either progesterone or DHEA. Other natural hormones, including DHEA, have not been studied as long, but the high concentrations normally found in healthy people suggest that replacement doses to restore these normal levels would probably not produce toxic side effects."

Generative Energy Restoring The Wholeness Of Life

The importance of the thyroid gland, pregnenolone, and vitamin E for fertility

"The thyroid gland, pregnenolone, and vitamin E are just as important for male fertility as the thyroid gland, progesterone, and vitamin E are for female fertility. (For example, supplemental thyroid and pregnenolone can increase a man's sperm count by overcoming the effects of stress.)"

Generative Energy Restoring The Wholeness Of Life

Optimizing energy production for renewable energy capabilities

"If we optimize the known factors that improve energy production (for example, red light, short-chain and medium-chain saturated fats, and pregnenolone) so that our metabolism resembles that of a ten-year-old child, I see no reason to assume that we would not have the regenerative and healing abilities that are common at that age. I suspect that both brain growth and remodeling could continue indefinitely."

Generative Energy Restoring The Wholeness Of Life

Mitochondrial damage affects hormone production and energy levels.

"Since protective hormones depend on the mitochondria's ability to convert cholesterol into pregnenolone, it's clear that mitochondrial damage impairs our supply of protective hormones, coinciding with the collapse of our energy supply. This forces us to switch to atrophy-inducing stress hormones, including cortisol."

Generative Energy Restoring The Wholeness Of Life

Thyroid hormone and cholesterol metabolism

"The thyroid gland tends to lower cholesterol by converting it into pregnenolone and other steroids."

Email reply from Ray Peat

Pregnenolone: ​​Indirect role in hormonal balance and during stress

"Pregnenolone has no direct hormonal effects, but it is the precursor substance, and by preventing excessive stress responses, it probably helps."

Email reply from Ray Peat

Pregnenolone: ​​Influence on steroid hormones and stress reduction

"Pregnenolone is not a hormone, but it normalizes steroid hormones, prevents excess cortisol and helps regulate aldosterone, so it should be helpful in any stressful situation, including surgery."

Email reply from Ray Peat

Neuroprotection against excitotoxicity and excess intracellular calcium

"The neuroprotective steroids progesterone and pregnenolone, as well as magnesium and carbon dioxide, all protect against excitotoxicity and the associated excess of intracellular calcium, while promoting normal calcification."

December 1999 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Support measures for fundamental organizational areas

"The safest and most effective measures are those that support our basic organizational areas (for example, sodium, carbon dioxide, balanced proteins, fruit, thyroid, pregnenolone) and do not introduce distortions, as some drugs, foods, hormones and supplements do."

1998 – Ray Peats Newsletter – 2

Decrease in thyroid hormone T3 and effects of aging

"The active thyroid hormone T3 decreases with age, and this necessarily lowers the production of pregnenolone and progesterone."

May 1998 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Decline in progesterone and pregnenolone in older men

"Progesterone and pregnenolone levels also decrease in older men."

May 1998 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Importance of anti-catabolic steroids in the brain

"The other anti-catabolic steroids, pregnenolone, progesterone and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), are present in larger quantities and are generally more important than testosterone, especially in the brain, where their concentration is very high."

June 1992 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Systems that counteract the toxic effects of adrenaline

"There are several systems that counteract the toxic effects of adrenaline. GABA, dopamine, and adenosine have numerous anti-adrenergic effects. In many situations, the parasympathetic system is protective against adrenaline. The protective steroids also act on many levels. Magnesium, which is largely retained in the cell under the influence of ATP and the thyroid gland, is our fundamental calcium blocker or calcium antagonist. GABA and dopamine inhibit the ACTH-glucocorticoid system and shift the steroid balance in favor of the protective anti-glucocorticoids progesterone, testosterone, pregnenolone, and DHEA."

June 1992 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Effects of endotoxins on mitochondrial respiration and pregnenolone

"Bacterial endotoxins inhibit mitochondrial respiration, and this respiration is needed for the intramitochondrial conversion of cholesterol to pregnenolone."

August/September 1992 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Age-related decline in brain-stabilizing hormones

"With age, pregnenolone and its derivatives, progesterone and DHEA, decline sharply. The brain, the organ with the highest concentration of these stabilizing substances, has many systems to adapt to their decreasing concentration, but the immune system is probably less able to compensate for these age-related changes."

August/September 1992 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Role of pregnenolone in preserving vitamin A for mitosis

"Supplementation with pregnenolone, etc., makes it possible to conserve the vitamin A contained in food for other purposes, including the regulation of mitosis, differentiation, and oxidation."

August/September 1992 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Protective functions of GABA-related metabolites

"GABA-related metabolites such as GHB, butyric acid, succinic acid and the butyrobetaines have numerous protective functions, including promoting respiration and pregnenolone synthesis, regulating gene expression and reducing damage from glucocorticoids."

August/September 1992 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Treatment of stimulant withdrawal with specific medications

"Camphor, adamantanamine (amantadine, symmetrel), and systemically administered local anesthetics can help with stimulant withdrawal. The conventional dose (200 mg) of camphor and adamantanamine should not be exceeded. (The hormones thyroid, progesterone, and pregnenolone alone are sometimes sufficient.)"

June 1991 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Alkaloids and hormones in the treatment of PMS symptoms

"Alkaloids are often effective in altering the water content of physical systems as well as cells. The alkaloids commonly used to treat PMS appear to promote improved oxygenation and the elimination of edema. I suspect that these medications, along with the natural hormones progesterone and pregnenolone, act in the same direction as hyperosmolarity."

July 1991 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Mitochondrial damage impairs pregnenolone production.

"If the mitochondria are damaged, the protective steroid pregnenolone (which is produced in the mitochondria from cholesterol) cannot be produced."

January 1991 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Decline in protective hormones in the aging brain

"In young people, the brain contains a very high concentration of pregnenolone and its derivatives DHEA and progesterone, which stabilize all cells and protect them from the effects of cortisol. However, with age, this concentration drops to about 5% of the normal value, leaving the brain exposed to the destructive effects of cortisol."

January 1991 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Decline in protective hormones in the aging brain

"The levels of progesterone, pregnenolone and DHEA in the brain are normally 20 to 30 times higher than the serum concentration, and these hormones protect against both estrogen and cortisone."

April 1991 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Positive feedback systems with progesterone and thyroid hormones

"However, the existence of some positive feedback (self-stimulation) systems shows that in our basic structure we are inclined in an expansive, upward direction. Progesterone (and its precursors, pregnenolone and cholesterol) as well as thyroid hormones are involved in some important positive feedback systems affecting energy production, stress resistance and brain growth."

October 1990 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Role of Vitamin A in steroid production and in the immune system

"Although one of the important functions of vitamin A is its involvement in the formation of the steroids pregnenolone and progesterone (both of which mitigate the effects of cortisol), it also has some hormone-like effects directly on the cells of the immune system. It stimulates the production of interleukin-2, inhibits the formation of specific suppressor cells, and limits the intensity of suppressor cell activation."

November 1989 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Protective effect of pregnenolone and progesterone in autoimmune diseases

"Pregnenolone and progesterone have a vitamin A-sparing effect, in addition to their direct protective effect on the thymus, and they also possess the very general protective effect that Selye described as catatoxic. Both hormones have been used effectively to treat various autoimmune diseases. They tend to increase body temperature and metabolism, but are anti-catabolic."

November 1989 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Cholesterol conversion in the mitochondria affects hormones

"In the mitochondria, a cytochrome P-450 converts cholesterol into pregnenolone. The loss of both energy and steroid hormones would have significant consequences."

January 1989 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Anesthetic steroids as potential antiviral agents

"The fact that the body is well supplied with substances that—in somewhat higher concentrations—act as anesthetics, and that these substances are depleted by stress that predisposes to viral infections, suggests that they might normally possess camphor-like antiviral activity. Some of these substances, the anesthetic steroids, have been found to prevent some viral infections, and they also possess a wide range of antitoxic effects. Pregnenolone, progesterone, DHEA, and pregnanediol are all good candidates as antiviral agents, but etiocholanolone—which also induces fever—is the most interesting of the group."

August/September 1988 – Ray Peats Newsletter

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Supplements according to Ray Peat

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