Pregnenolone is a steroid precursor hormone produced in the adrenal glands, liver, skin, brain, testicles, ovaries and retina of the eyes. It is made in the body from the bad-rap guy, cholesterol. Naturally, to get pregnenolone, we need adequate amounts of cholesterol plus other nutrients, including vitamin A, thyroid hormone and enzymes. If any of these are inadequate, you will have a less than desired supply of pregnenolone.

In a healthy person, the conversion of cholesterol to pregnenolone occurs inside the mitochondria, nicknamed “the lungs of the cell” because of their role in cell respiration. Once produced, pregnenolone leaves the mitochondria, so it cannot inhibit its own synthesis. In fact, both progesterone and pregnenolone stimulate their own synthesis so that if you take them, the body’s ability to synthesize them is not suppressed. Sometimes short term therapy restores the body’s ability to produce adequate amounts. In the cytoplasm, enzymes convert pregnenolone into either progesterone or DHEA, depending on the tissue and the need.

Brain function, including mood, memory and thinking:

Depressed patients were found to have low levels of pregnenolone in their cerebro-spinal fluid. This fluid circulates throughout the spinal column and brain, any major change in its chemistry is reflected in this spinal fluid. Because the brain concentration decreases from its peak value at age thirty to only 5% of peak value at 90, the need for supplemental pregnenolone increases as we age. In fact, the older and/or sicker you are, the more likely you are to feel an effect from pregnenolone.

Pregnenolone may help restore impaired memory, according to neurobiologist Eugene Roberts of the City of Hope Medical Center in Los Angeles, and his colleagues, biologist James F. Morley, of the St. Louis VA Medical Center. These researchers tested pregnenolone and other steroids on mice. They found that pregnenolone is several hundred times more potent than any memory enhancer that had been tested before. Their report, in the March 1992 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, says that pregnenolone restores normal levels of memory hormones which decline during aging. Roberts noted that pregnenolone was used in the late 1940’s to treat rheumatoid arthritis but fell into disuse when cortisone was discovered. But, says Roberts, pregnenolone was never found to have adverse side effects whereas the toxic effects of cortisone are many and severe.

Pregnenolone also acts on NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptors which affect learning and memory by regulating the function of the synapses on our neurons. Dr. Flood of the Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center in St. Louis writes “Pregnenolone is the most potent memory enhancer yet reported”.

Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other forms of dementia and mental deterioration that occurs with everyone as we age may benefit from pregnenolone supplementation.

Cholesterol-lowering drugs:

Drugs that are used by patients to lower their cholesterol levels inadvertently also block the production of pregnenolone which may lead to impaired brain function. Pregnenolone has a unique ability to repair the enzymes in the cytochrome P-450 system which are responsible for converting cholesterol into pregnenolone. Therefore, pregnenolone supplementation should be considered essential for anyone using cholesterol lowering drugs. Other enzymes in the P-450 system are vital to certain detoxification processes which are also stabilized by pregnenolone.

Pregnenolone doesn’t affect the rate of synthesis of these enzymes, but it stabilizes them against the normal proteolytic enzymes, increasing their activity. This stabilizing action is a general feature of these steroids.

Protection from cortisone toxicity:

The classic effects of toxic levels of cortisol include daytime euphoria, insomnia plus hot flashes at night, osteoporosis, brain aging, atrophy of the skin plus other signs of premature aging and adrenal atrophy (shrinking). Two injections of cortisone can destroy the beta cells of the pancreas in dogs, causing diabetes. Peat believes that stress-inducing elevation in cortisone can cause diabetes in people as well.

Peat reports that pregnenolone can be used to withdraw from cortisone therapy over a one month period without developing “Addison” disease symptoms (from adrenal atrophy), because of its normalizing effects on the adrenal gland. In female patients, progesterone therapy may also be indicated.

Reduced exophthalmia in Graves’ disease patients:

In the 1950’s pregnenolone was tested on patients with exophthalmis (bulging eyes) from Graves’ disease. It was reported that their eyes quickly receded to a more normal position in their sockets. Peat gave pregnenolone to a desperate woman with seriously bulging eyes. After using pregnenolone for just a few weeks, she telephoned him and said that her eyes were completely normal.

Since pregnenolone is a precursor of both progesterone and DHEA, it is a much safer therapy. Peat recommends it for everyone past the age of 40 and even younger, if persistent health problems occur. This includes even the juvenile diabetic. Why? Because pregnenolone was shown to rejuvenate the beta cells of the pancreas in diabetic animals. If it works on animals, its worth a try in humans.