The supplement market is saturated with many choices for women, and it can be difficult to determine which ones are right for your specific needs. When it comes to selecting the right vitamins and supplements it’s crucial to do your homework. Determining whether a product may help you address a particular symptom or condition is essential before adding it to your daily supplementation regime.
Among the most beneficial supplements for women is pregnenolone. Continue reading to learn more about pregnenolone and whether it could help you achieve your wellness goals.
What Is Pregnenolone?
Pregnenolone is important not only in creating other hormones that regulate the body, but also the hormones that “cascade” directly from them. All these hormones work in tandem with one another to help balance the body’s response system. Hormones are especially important in balancing the responses of everyday stressors from environmental factors as well as mood and the immune system.
Why Is Pregnenolone So Important?
Maintaining hormonal balance within the body is key to feeling healthy, and pregnenolone specifically works to regulate the balance between the hormones cortisol, DHEA, and progesterone. Together, these hormones function to enhance the body’s ability to cope with stress by producing the correct amounts of cortisol. This can be true even if you have a high-stress lifestyle due to work-life balance, environmental factors, or illness.
As early as the 1930s, pregnenolone was recognized for its important benefits to the brain. Although it is considered a steroid, it is essentially inactive in its isolated state, but it is critical because it acts as the precursor to other essential hormones. As a result, pregnenolone can influence brain functions in memory, learning, mood, and cognitive function. In addition, people with neuroinflammatory diseases typically show a lower level of pregnenolone, which indicates that this hormone can also benefit the body by reducing inflammation and protecting the immune system.
How Does Pregnenolone Affect Women?
Women who choose to take pregnenolone supplements often seek to alleviate excessive fatigue and boost their energy; others may use it to improve memory function, particularly as a result of the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Still, others find that pregnenolone can help to address symptoms of trauma, promote healing from injuries, and aid in coping with stress and immune problems. Topically, pregnenolone has also been used to treat skin disorders, including psoriasis and scleroderma.
Because of the synthetic version’s positive effect on the regeneration of vital hormones, women also use pregnenolone to address fibrocystic breast disease, which causes breast tissue to form lumps. Other uses include the treatment of endometriosis, which causes excess uterine tissue to grow outside the uterus. Another common use is to alleviate symptoms of menopause, such as hot flashes, weight gain, fatigue, night sweats, sleep problems, and vaginal dryness, as well as premenstrual syndrome (PMS), which can cause painful uterine cramping, mood swings, and irritability, depression, bloating, and difficulty sleeping.
Other uses of pregnenolone supplements are to help with the swelling and inflammation associated with arthritis. Pregnenolone may also enable the skin to maintain its elasticity, slowing or reversing wrinkles and lines. This supplement may alleviate feelings of depression and hopelessness, strengthen the heart’s ability to circulate blood throughout the body, and improve the ability to withstand different levels of exercise. Additionally, some try pregnenolone because it can help reduce symptoms of autoimmune disorders like multiple sclerosis (MS), lupus, or other hereditary afflictions like seizures.
Benefits of Pregnenolone for Women
Naturally occurring pregnenolone is a staple of the human body because it is the basis for the material that makes a number of essential hormones in women, who tend to experience greater hormonal fluctuations at certain periods of their lives or as a result of immunocompromisation. Women who suffer from depression, stress, anxiety, and other mood disorders may find relief from taking this in supplement form. In addition, pregnenolone may help improve sleep quality and duration, which can also have an even more beneficial impact on mood regulation and mental well-being.
Women who are trying to lose weight may also notice benefits from pregnenolone because it can increase energy and improve sleep quality, which in turn helps motivate people to move their bodies and exercise more often. It may also inhibit the production of cortisol–which may, in fact, be stress-induced–and begin to reduce bloating and fat deposits in the midsection.
If memory loss, lack of focus, or learning difficulties are posing problems, women may take this as a supplement to boost their brain power. Because pregnenolone helps the brain regenerate myelin, the brain then benefits from the increased protection surrounding its neurons. These can more quickly reform new synapses, potentially improving many aspects of memory, learning, and cognition.
Pregnenolone FAQs
While pregnenolone can have many benefits for women, it is essential to consider your condition, how pregnenolone works in the body, and determine your proper dosing before you make a purchase. Here are some of the most commonly asked pregnenolone questions.
Take Charge of Your Health at Any Age
Many women avoid discussing the discomforts of menopause or their lack of interest in sex with their partner with a physician. Others may simply associate joint and muscle pain with old age. However, you should know that you can benefit by kickstarting your hormone production with the reintroduction of the correct levels of pregnenolone in supplement form.
Remember also that supplements are not a magic bullet – the more you make positive changes in your lifestyle, the better they will work. The good news is that starting on a pregnenolone dose can positively impact your energy levels, focus, concentration, mood, weight, and more. This can, in turn, function as positive motivation to embark on a more holistic wellness journey that will benefit you in the long run, not just as a temporary fix. The important thing to remember when considering pregnenolone is that hormone imbalance, fluctuation, and the increase or decrease of levels throughout a woman’s life are completely natural and normal, and you do not need to accept pain, discomfort, mental anguish or a limited quality of life because of it.
Ready to explore how pregnenolone can support your journey to renewed health and vitality?
At Compounding Pharmacy of America, we offer high-quality vitamins and supplements to help you take proactive steps toward a healthier, more fulfilling life. Visit our store today to learn more and make informed choices for your well-being.
Resources :
- Murugan, S., Jakka, P., Namani, S., Mujumdar, V., & Radhakrishnan, G. (2019). The neurosteroid pregnenolone promotes degradation of key proteins in the innate immune signaling to suppress inflammation. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 294(12), 4596–4607. https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.ra118.005543
- Perishable. (2015, September 2). Pregnenolone: What You Need to Know | USADA. https://www.usada.org/spirit-of-sport/education/pregnenolone/
- Trabert, B., Geczik, A. M., Bauer, D. C., Buist, D. S. M., Cauley, J. A., Falk, R. T., Gierach, G. L., Hue, T. F., Lacey, J. V., Jr, LaCroix, A. Z., Michels, K. A., Tice, J. A., Xu, X., Brinton, L. A., & Dallal, C. M. (2021). Association of Endogenous Pregnenolone, Progesterone, and Related Metabolites with Risk of Endometrial and Ovarian Cancers in Postmenopausal Women: The B∼FIT Cohort. Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology, 30(11), 2030–2037. https://doi.org/10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-21-0669
- Cai HL, Zhou X, Dougherty GG, et al. Pregnenolone-progesterone-allopregnanolone pathway as a potential therapeutic target in first-episode antipsychotic-naïve patients with schizophrenia. Psychoneuroendocrinol. 2018;90:43-51. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.02.004
- University of Maryland Baltimore. Pregnenolone: Summary report.
- Spaeth J, Camacho A, Rios B, McKinney T, Miller A. Allosteric modulation of CB1 by pregnenolone. FASEB J. 2015;29(S1):LB50. doi:10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.lb60
- Kashani L, Shams N, Moazen-Zadeh E, et al. Pregnenolone as an adjunct to risperidone for the treatment of women with schizophrenia: A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial. J Psychiatric Res. 2017;94:70-77. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2017.06.011
- Rash, J. A., Toivonen, K., Robert, M., Nasr-Esfahani, M., Jarrell, J. F., & Campbell, T. S. (2017). Protocol for a placebo-controlled, within-participants crossover trial evaluating the efficacy of intranasal oxytocin to improve pain and function among women with chronic pelvic musculoskeletal pain. BMJ open, 7(4), e014909. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-014909
- International Journal of Environmental Science & Technology (IJEST.org). Memory supplements: Best supplements for brain health and memory.
Compounding Pharmacy of America is committed to delivering reliable, accurate, and actionable health information to empower you on your wellness journey. Our content is created and reviewed by a dedicated team of professionals, including experienced writers and licensed healthcare experts.
Learn More About Compounding Pharmacy of America Editorial Team