If you’re over 35, perhaps you’ve noticed that stress affects you differently than when you were younger. That is, it’s become more difficult to manage.
After the start of puberty and onwards into one’s 20s, the human body is remarkably resilient to stress. However, this changes between the ages of 30 to 35, when hormones decline dramatically.
You see, when young, healthy people are exposed to stress, there’s a spike in the release of cortisol, and that’s closely followed by the release of other hormones that help the body adapt. For males, that’s pregnenolone and DHEA, and for females, that’s pregnenolone, DHA, and progesterone.
At about the age of 35, the delayed release of these hormones drop off a cliff. However, cortisol remains the same.
So, that means, as you age, your levels of cortisol don’t decline (unless you become very ill), but your levels of pregnenolone, progesterone and DHEA fall rapidly.
Why might this be a problem?
The primary stress hormone, cortisol, turns on your body’s “fight-or-flight” response. Cortisol can be a lifesaver by helping your body stay on high alert while increasing your blood sugar levels to survive a threat.
However, cortisol is also the primary aging hormone. If levels remain elevated, it can be detrimental to your body and cause it to age more quickly.
Being a catabolic hormone, cortisol causes inflammation and can shred your muscles, tissues and bones.
Excess cortisol can cause a buildup of fat tissue, weight gain, food cravings, a weakened immune system, make it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep at night, and make you look older than you are.
To maintain health, you must do everything you can to help protect your body from the ravages of excess cortisol. Stress management is essential, along with eating a healthy diet.
Supporting your other hormones, like pregnenolone, progesterone and DHEA, may help, too, as they play important roles in maintaining balance in your body’s stress response system.
Let’s take a closer look...
How Your Body’s Hormones Help Protect You From Stress
You have one hormone in particular that plays a major role in protecting you against the effects of stress – pregnenolone.
Pregnenolone is a steroidal hormone that your body naturally produces from cholesterol in your brain, adrenal glands and gonads. It is also produced in your central and peripheral nervous system, mainly in neurons and glial cells.
As you can see in the diagram below, pregnenolone acts as a precursor for your other hormones, including your “youth hormones” DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) and progesterone. Because of this, pregnenolone is often called the “mother hormone.”
As the precursor to DHEA and progesterone, pregnenolone helps maintain a normal balance between these hormones, and helps modulate the cortisol-driven stress response system in your body.
For many years, researchers believed pregnenolone’s primary function was to produce these other hormones. However, it was soon realized that it had biological effects of its own, too.
How Pregnenolone Supports Your Brain and Body
Pregnenolone is one of the major hormones in your brain. As we’ve already seen, it is produced by certain brain cells. And it’s absorbed into your brain from your blood.
This “brain hormone” helps protect your brain cells from injury caused by fatigue and can have a calming effect. This is part of the reason it helps protect you from the stress response that can lead to an excessive production of cortisone.*
With adequate amounts of pregnenolone, people report feeling a greater sense of resilience and an ability to confront challenges.*
Pregnenolone offers many potential benefits for your well-being, including the following:
- Supports cognition, memory, learning and brain function*
- Promotes an already normal inflammatory response throughout your body*
- Supports your body’s energy production*
- Acts as an “anti-stress” hormone and helps protect against excess levels of cortisol*
- Promotes a positive mood*
- Supports healthy thyroid function*
- Promotes healthy aging of your skin*
- Supports your body’s healthy detoxification processes*
Some of these potential benefits aren’t surprising, as pregnenolone is found in much higher concentrations in nervous tissue than in your bloodstream. And concentrations in brain tissue range tenfold higher than other similar hormones.
Interestingly, individuals with cognitive concerns often have “significantly lower” pregnenolone levels than those without those issues.
Why You Might Need More Pregnenolone
Young people typically have very high levels of pregnenolone, mainly to protect their developing bodies from the potentially harmful effects of other natural hormones – such as estrogen and cortisol – if they become too elevated.
But, like with many other hormones, pregnenolone levels drop with age.
For example, a 75-year-old produces about 60% less pregnenolone than he or she did at age 35. This decline is considered one of the biomarkers of aging and is associated with signs of both physical and mental decline.
Low levels of pregnenolone can prevent your body from producing other hormones, leading to hormonal imbalances that can affect your well-being, both mentally and physically. In short, hormonal imbalances can wreak havoc on your health.
So, how can you tell if you have low pregnenolone? Individuals with low levels report the following types of symptoms:
- Memory issues
- Problems with concentration and attention
- Feeling tired
- Experiencing dry and aging skin
- Joint and muscle pain
- Headaches
- Mood swings
- Decreased libido
- Challenges with managing stress
Supplementing with small amounts of pregnenolone can help support not only your cognition and brain function, but also help maintain a healthy hormonal balance for total body health.*
At the age of 30, both men and women produce roughly 30 to 50 mg. of pregnenolone daily. Therefore, to help restore and maintain youthful values, I recommend taking about 50 mg a day.
When you supplement with pregnenolone, you receive additional potential benefits as well. It supports the healthy function of your thyroid and other glands.
And contrary to popular belief, supplemental pregnenolone actually helps improve your body's ability to produce its own pregnenolone.
Beyond Bodybuilding – How DHEA Supports Your Total Body Health
DHEA, or Dehydroepiandrosterone, is a hormone produced by the adrenal glands in both men and women.
Once produced, DHEA converts into other hormones, as we saw earlier in the diagram – androstenedione, testosterone and estrogen. Because of this, DHEA is sometimes called the “parent hormone.”
DHEA is popular among athletes, as it increases the production of natural growth hormones to help build muscle mass and discourage the accumulation of body fat. In the bodybuilding world, DHEA is often looked at as a “pro-hormone” linked to lean muscle mass and strength.
However, that potential power comes with a warning if you are a competitive athlete...
Because its effects can be powerful, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has banned supplemental DHEA.
Yet, the potential benefits of DHEA go far beyond just your physique... It supports metabolic health, bone health, heart health, energy production and healthy cholesterol levels.*
One of the most abundant hormones in your body, DHEA plays a role in over 150 different metabolic functions.
For example... Have you ever wondered why some younger individuals find losing weight to be less challenging?
This may be because levels of DHEA peak in early adulthood and then naturally begin to decline after age 35, the same time many individuals start to experience weight gain, lower libido and lethargy.
And once you start losing DHEA, its loss only speeds up with each decade of life. By the time a person reaches age 75, their body produces only about 10 to 20% of the DHEA it produced when they were younger.
Your Cortisol-to-DHEA Ratio: A Good Predictor of Life Span?
Could a simple measurement predict how long you might live?
Your ratio of cortisol to DHEA can tell you a lot about your overall well-being. In fact...
Studies show that the cortisol to DHEA ratio is the best predictor for how long you’re going to live.
This is partly because DHEA supports your immune health, and your immune system is your first line of defense against any type of health challenge.
According to Georgi Dinkov, a Bioenergetics research expert, the ideal ratio of cortisol to DHEA is 0-to-3 or lower. He recommends aiming for a level of DHEA around 600 nanograms per deciliter (ng/dL), which is in the upper 50th percentile of a 20-year-old.
So, ideally, if you're older than 35, you'd want your DHEA to be somewhere between 300 and 600 ng/dL. Because the normal daily output of DHEA by the adrenal gland is about 10 mg, for most people, the maximum DHEA dose would be 5 to 10 mg.
But, what about estrogen? Doesn’t DHEA raise estrogen levels – something we don’t want?
That’s where dosage matters. Human studies have shown that taking more than 10 mg of DHEA per day – more like 50 mg – can lead to an increase in estrogen biomarkers.
On the other hand, it can take a while to replenish your stores of DHEA if you are deficient.
An Italian study with postmenopausal women who took 10 mg of DHEA for a full year showed that it took a full six months to restore their levels back to normal and see significant changes.
How fast you see results will depend on your level of deficiency, how long you have been deficient and the state of your adrenal gland.
Another study demonstrated that DHEA starts working immediately. You may not see it reflected in a blood test, however, because that isn’t a good indication of tissue saturation.
Rather, researchers found that taking just 10 mg of DHEA drastically increased valuable downstream hormones, indicating that it begins working right away.
Introducing Liposomal Pregnenolone Plus DHEA
Because I believe pregnenolone and DHEA are two hormones that most adults can benefit from, we’ve released our very own formula.
Our Liposomal Pregnenolone Plus DHEA is a cutting-edge supplement formulated to provide you with the exact amounts of pregnenolone and DHEA based on the latest research.
Each one-capsule serving provides you with 50 mg of LipoVantage® Liposomal Pregnenolone and 10 mg of LipoVantage® Liposomal DHEA – optimal, safe levels to effectively replenish your stores but not too much to overwhelm delicate hormonal balance.
And, best of all, they are delivered in a form that your body can utilize.
Let me explain...
To receive the full potential benefits from these two valuable anti-stress hormones, they must be dissolved in a long-chain fat (14 carbons or more) for optimal absorption and to bypass liver metabolism.
Without this step, the bioavailability of oral hormones can be as low as 10%.
We’ve gone one step further with our Liposomal Pregnenolone Plus DHEA...
What Is LipoVantage®?
We use a state-of-the-art delivery system – LipoVantage® Advanced Liposomal Technology – to provide you with high bioavailability and high potency that you expect.
What is bioavailability? This refers to the amounts of ingredients that get absorbed into your body and reach their intended target where they exert their health-related benefits.
Because the LipoVantage® Pregnenolone and DHEA are wrapped in a protective liposome, the active ingredients are protected as they pass through the harsh environment of your stomach and enter your intestines.
And that means you’re less likely to experience side effects such as gastrointestinal distress, upset stomach and diarrhea that are common to some ingredients.
Once in your intestines, the liposomes assist in carrying the active ingredients through the cell wall and into the bloodstream, where they can then reach their physiological target.
Liposomes are tiny, sphere-shaped structures made up of a phospholipid bilayer membrane, with an aqueous core that can be filled with different types of ingredients – in this case, pregnenolone and DHEA.
The liposome, with the active ingredients inside, is more bioavailable than the ingredient itself, and allows the active ingredient to be delivered to the target inside your body.
LipoVantage® liposomes...
- Are less likely to cause unwanted side effects, such as GI distress.
- Offer protection from the harsh environment of the stomach.
- Are highly permeable in the small intestines, so the liposomes are easily absorbed through the cell lining of the intestines, thus helping the active ingredient get absorbed.
- They are – an optimized size at 100-200 nm – to further improve their solubility and bioavailability.
To provide the hormones with the fat they need for optimal absorption, the liposomes utilize phosphatidylcholine (PC) from sunflower lecithin to form their structure.
Unlike other companies that use soy-based lecithin, for our Liposomal Pregnenolone Plus DHEA, we use a highly concentrated PC sunflower lecithin with about 70% PC, making it a 16-carbon long-chain fat.
What Else Can You Do to Promote a Healthy Hormonal Balance?
There are several steps you can take to promote a healthy hormonal balance:
- Avoid processed foods, refined carbs and unhealthy fats, such as vegetable and seed oils, as they can all disrupt hormone levels
- Optimize your levels of vitamin D, zinc and magnesium
- Avoid endocrine-disrupting chemicals, as they can mimic estrogen and disrupt hormonal balance
- Try adaptogenic herbs like Ashwagandha to help your body deal with stress
For optimal benefits from Liposomal Pregnenolone Plus DHEA, I recommend taking it with our Vitamin E.
Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that plays a crucial role in protecting your body from oxidative stress and excess estrogen. It inhibits the aromatase enzyme, which converts male hormones into estrogens, and it acts as an estrogen antagonist, helping to reduce the damage caused by excess estrogen.
It's crucial to choose the right form of vitamin E. Natural vitamin E, labeled as "d alpha tocopherol," is far superior to synthetic versions. The natural form contains the biologically active D isomer, while synthetic versions often contain a mix of D and L isomers, with the L isomer being essentially useless to the body.
A complete vitamin E supplement should include the full spectrum of tocotrienols, specifically the beta, gamma, and delta types, all in the effective D isomer form, which you’ll find in our Vitamin E.
I also recommend taking Liposomal Pregnenolone Plus DHEA with our Niacinamide Vitamin B3.
Niacinamide turns into something called NAD+, which is a required cofactor for the conversion of pregnenolone into your other hormones that can help protect you against the effects of stress.
Take a Giant Step Now to Take Control of Your Hormonal Health
If you are over 35, I don’t need to tell you that you’re on a downward slide with your hormonal health. You’re probably already feeling and seeing the effects...
Your stress hormones – progesterone, pregnenolone and DHEA – all take a nose-dive around the age of 35, helping to leave you feeling defenseless against everyday stressors.
Liposomal Pregnenolone Plus DHEA can gently encourage your body to help restore hormonal balance and support your physical and mental well-being in many ways.*
Working together to promote hormonal balance, Pregnenolone and DHEA can help support...
- Cognition, memory, learning and brain function.*
- An already normal inflammatory response throughout your body.*
- Your body’s energy production.*
- Bone and heart health.*
- Healthy thyroid function.*
- A positive mood.*
- Healthy skin aging.*
- Your body’s healthy detoxification processes.*
- Healthy cholesterol levels are already in the normal range.*
Why not take action today and see what Liposomal Pregnenolone Plus DHEA can do for you? Order your supply now.