Ray Peat

Ray Peat on Pregnenolone and DHEA

By OxidativeState · · 40 articles · 16 studies

Short answer: Ray Peat grouped progesterone, pregnenolone and DHEA as the three youth-associated hormones. He described pregnenolone as the main brain-protective steroid with a strong anti-stress action, and treated DHEA as useful but easy to overdo.

What Ray Peat wrote about pregnenolone and DHEA

All three are made from cholesterol, and the process depends on thyroid hormone and on vitamin A. Source: Multiple Sclerosis and other hormone related brain syndromes, Alzheimer's: The problem of Alzheimer's disease as a clue to immortality — part 2

He described pregnenolone as having a profound anti-stress action and as the main brain-protective steroid. It is made inside the brain by the cells that form myelin. Source: Multiple Sclerosis and other hormone related brain syndromes

Pregnenolone and progesterone protect nerve cells from excitotoxic damage, while estrogen and cortisol promote it. Source: Multiple Sclerosis and other hormone related brain syndromes, Menopause and its causes

Pregnenolone and DHEA improve memory in old rats and, he wrote, mood stability and mental clarity in old people. Source: Multiple Sclerosis and other hormone related brain syndromes

He noted pregnenolone's face-lifting action, which he attributed to better circulation in the skin and contraction of muscle-like cells. Source: Progesterone Pregnenolone & DHEA — Three Youth-Associated Hormones ↗

On DHEA he gave numbers. Young people produce about 12 to 15 milligrams a day, and production falls with age. Source: Progesterone Pregnenolone & DHEA — Three Youth-Associated Hormones ↗

He added a warning. People who took too much DHEA were found to have abnormally high estrogen, which can enlarge the liver and shrink the thymus. He also mentions a study that found excess DHEA in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Source: Progesterone Pregnenolone & DHEA — Three Youth-Associated Hormones ↗

His conclusion was that replacement doses that restore normal levels are unlikely to be toxic. Source: Blocking Tissue Destruction ↗

What he suggested in practice

  • Keep DHEA near what the body makes, which he put at 12 to 15 mg a day in youth.
  • Thyroid, vitamin A and cholesterol are what let the body make its own.
  • These are hormones. Use them with a doctor.

Where he wrote about it

This topic comes up in 40 of the articles on his site. These are the most relevant ones:

My take

This is why I keep DHEA very low, around 5 mg. If your aromatase is high, more of it turns into estrogen. What happened in the human trials is in DHEA: 280 people took 50 mg a day for a year.

Quick answers

What did Ray Peat say about DHEA?

That it is a protective, youth-associated hormone, that young people make about 12 to 15 mg a day, and that taking too much raises estrogen.

What did Ray Peat say about pregnenolone?

That it has a profound anti-stress action, is the main brain-protective steroid, and is the precursor from which the other steroid hormones are made.

How much DHEA did Ray Peat consider reasonable?

He pointed to the body's own production of about 12 to 15 mg a day and wrote that replacement doses restoring normal levels are unlikely to be toxic, while excess raises estrogen.

16 studies Ray Peat cited on pregnenolone and DHEA

  1. Neuroprotective effects of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) in rat model of Alzheimer's diseaseActa Biochim Pol · 2011 · PMID 22146133 · cited in The dark side of stress (learned helplessness)
  2. Neurosteroids: oligodendrocyte mitochondria convert cholesterol to pregnenoloneProc Natl Acad Sci U S A · 1987 · PMID 3479785 · cited in Multiple Sclerosis and other hormone related brain syndromes
  3. Novel brain function: biosynthesis and actions of neurosteroids in neuronsNeurosci Res · 2000 · PMID 10771104 · cited in Cholesterol, longevity, intelligence, and health
  4. Dehydroepiandrosterone inhibits microglial nitric oxide production in a stimulus-specific mannerJ Neurosci Res · 2000 · PMID 11070493 · cited in Multiple sclerosis, protein, fats, and progesterone
  5. Neurosteroid inhibition of cell deathAm J Physiol · 1997 · PMID 9435674 · cited in Mitochondria and mortality
  6. Ovarian hyperstimulation augments adrenal dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate secretionFertil Steril · 1996 · PMID 8612855 · cited in Estrogen — Age Stress Hormone
  7. Development and regeneration of the nervous system: a role for neurosteroidsDev Neurosci · 1996 · PMID 8840083 · cited in Estrogen — Age Stress Hormone
  8. Neurosteroids, via sigma receptors, modulate the [3H]norepinephrine release evoked by N-methyl-D-aspartate in the rat hippocampusProc Natl Acad Sci U S A · 1995 · PMID 7731982 · cited in Alzheimer's: The problem of Alzheimer's disease as a clue to immortality — part 1
  9. Neurosteroids affect spatial/reference, working, and long-term memory of female ratsNeurobiol Learn Mem · 1995 · PMID 7582815 · cited in Alzheimer's: The problem of Alzheimer's disease as a clue to immortality — part 1, Alzheimer's: The problem of Alzheimer's disease as a clue to immortality — part 2
  10. Biosynthesis and assay of neurosteroids in rats and mice: functional correlatesJ Steroid Biochem Mol Biol · 1995 · PMID 7626480 · cited in Alzheimer's: The problem of Alzheimer's disease as a clue to immortality — part 1, Alzheimer's: The problem of Alzheimer's disease as a clue to immortality — part 2
  11. Pregnenolone sulfate antagonizes dizocilpine amnesia: role for allopregnanoloneNeuroreport · 1995 · PMID 8527744 · cited in Alzheimer's: The problem of Alzheimer's disease as a clue to immortality — part 2
  12. The neurosteroid 3 alpha, 5 apha-THP has antiseizure and possible neuroprotective effects in an animal model of epilepsyBrain Res · 1995 · PMID 8574658 · cited in Epilepsy and Progesterone
  13. The neurosteroid 3 alpha-hydroxy-5 alpha-pregnan-20-one induces cytoarchitectural regression in cultured fetal hippocampal neuronsJ Neurosci · 1994 · PMID 7910201 · cited in Epilepsy and Progesterone
  14. Interaction of insulin-like growth factor-II and estradiol directs steroidogenesis in the human fetal adrenal toward dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate productionJ Clin Endocrinol Metab · 1993 · PMID 8396578 · cited in Estrogen — Age Stress Hormone
  15. Memory-enhancing effects in male mice of pregnenolone and steroids metabolically derived from itProc Natl Acad Sci U S A · 1992 · PMID 1531874 · cited in Cholesterol, longevity, intelligence, and health
  16. Dehydroepiandrosterone feeding prevents aortic fatty streak formation and cholesterol accumulation in cholesterol-fed rabbitArteriosclerosis · 1989 · PMID 2522296 · cited in Cholesterol, longevity, intelligence, and health

Open these in the database →

Not affiliated with raypeat.com. This page describes Ray Peat's published articles in our own words and links to the originals. Educational content, not medical advice.

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