Progesterone Pregnenolone & DHEA - Three Youth-Associated Hormones 孕酮、孕烯酮、脱氢表雄酮- 三种青春相关激素
PROGESTERONE INFORMATION Raymond Peat, MA, PhD (Univ. of Oregon) Endocrine Physiologist, specializing in hormonal changes in stress and aging 孕激素信息 Raymond Peat，硕士，博士 (俄勒冈大学) 内分泌生理学家 专门研究压力和衰老的激素变化
Sixty years ago, progesterone was found to be the main hormone produced by the ovaries. Since it was necessary for fertility and for maintaining a healthy pregnancy, it was called the “pro-gestational hormone,” and its name sometimes leads people to think that it isn't needed when you don't want to get pregnant. In fact, it is the most protective hormone the body produces, and the large amounts that are produced during pregnancy result from the developing baby's need for protection from the stressful environment. Normally, the brain contains a very high concentration of progesterone, reflecting its protective function for that most important organ. The thymus gland, the key organ of our immune system, is also profoundly dependent on progesterone. 60年前，人们发现黄体酮是卵巢产生的主要激素。由于它对生育和维持健康的妊娠是必要的，它被称为“妊娠前激素”，它的名字有时会让人们认为，当你不想怀孕时，它是不需要的。事实上，它是身体产生的最具保护作用的激素，在怀孕期间产生的大量激素是由于婴儿在成长过程中需要保护，以免受压力环境的影响。正常情况下，大脑含有高浓度的黄体酮，这反映了它对最重要器官的保护功能。胸腺是我们免疫系统的关键器官，它也非常依赖孕酮。
In experiments, progesterone was found to be the basic hormone of adaptation and of resistance to stress. The adrenal glands use it to produce their anti-stress hormones, and when there is enough progesterone, they don't have to produce the potentially harmful cortisone. In a progesterone deficiency, we produce too much cortisone, and excessive cortisone causes osteoporosis, aging of the skin, damage to brain cells, and the accumulation of fat, especially on the back and abdomen. 在实验中，黄体酮被发现是适应和抵抗应激的基本激素。肾上腺利用黄体酮产生抗压力激素，当黄体酮足够时，它们就不需要产生潜在的有害物质可的松。在黄体酮缺乏的情况下，我们会产生过多的可的松，过多的可的松会导致骨质疏松、皮肤老化、脑细胞损伤和脂肪堆积，尤其是在背部和腹部。
Experiments have shown that progesterone relieves anxiety, improves memory, protects brain cells, and even prevents epileptic seizures. It promotes respiration, and has been used to correct emphysema. In the circulatory system, it prevents bulging veins by increasing the tone of blood vessels, and improves the efficiency of the heart. It reverses many of the signs of aging in the skin, and promotes healthy bone growth. It can relieve many types of arthritis, and helps a variety of immunological problems. 实验表明，黄体酮可以缓解焦虑，改善记忆力，保护脑细胞，甚至可以预防癫痫发作。它促进呼吸，并已被用于纠正肺气肿。在循环系统中，它通过增加血管的张力来防止血管膨胀，并提高心脏的效率。它能逆转皮肤老化的许多迹象，促进健康的骨骼生长。它可以缓解多种类型的关节炎，并帮助各种免疫问题。
If progesterone is taken dissolved in vitamin E, it is absorbed very efficiently, and distributed quickly to all of the tissues. If a woman has ovaries, progesterone helps them to produce both progesterone and estrogen as needed, and also helps to restore normal functioning of the thyroid and other glands. If her ovaries have been removed, progesterone should be taken consistently to replace the lost supply. A progesterone deficiency has often been associated with increased susceptibility to cancer, and progesterone has been used to treat some types of cancer. 如果孕酮溶解在维生素E中服用，它会被非常有效地吸收，并迅速分布到所有组织。如果女性有卵巢，黄体酮可以帮助她们产生所需的黄体酮和雌激素，也有助于恢复甲状腺和其他腺体的正常功能。如果她的卵巢已被摘除，应持续服用孕酮以补充失去的供应。黄体酮缺乏通常与癌症易感性增加有关，黄体酮已被用于治疗某些类型的癌症。
It is important to emphasize that progesterone is not just the hormone of pregnancy. To use it only “to protect the uterus” would be like telling a man he doesn't need testosterone if he doesn't plan to father children, except that progesterone is of far greater and more basic significance than testosterone. While men do naturally produce progesterone, and can sometimes benefit from using it, it is not a male hormone. Some people get that impression, because some physicians recommend combining estrogen with either testosterone or progesterone, to protect against some of estrogen's side effects, but progesterone is the body's natural complement to estrogen. Used alone, progesterone often makes it unnecessary to use estrogen for hot flashes or insomnia, or other symptoms of menopause. 重要的是要强调孕激素不仅仅是怀孕的激素。仅仅用它来“保护子宫”就像告诉一个不打算做父亲的男人他不需要睾酮一样，除了孕酮比睾酮更重要和更基本的意义。虽然男性自然分泌黄体酮，有时也能从中受益，但它不是一种男性荷尔蒙。有些人会有这样的印象，因为一些医生建议将雌激素与睾酮或孕酮结合使用，以防止雌激素的一些副作用，但孕酮是体内对雌激素的天然补充。单独使用时，黄体酮通常使它没有必要使用雌激素来治疗潮热或失眠，或其他更年期症状。
When dissolved in vitamin E, progesterone begins entering the blood stream almost as soon as it contacts any membrane, such as the lips, tongue, gums, or palate, but when it is swallowed, it continues to be absorbed as part of the digestive process. When taken with food, its absorption occurs at the same rate as the digestion and absorption of the food. 当黄体酮溶解在维生素E中时，它几乎在接触任何膜(如嘴唇、舌头、牙龈或上颚)时就开始进入血液，但当它被吞咽时，它继续被吸收，作为消化过程的一部分。当与食物一起服用时，它的吸收速度与食物的消化吸收速度相同。
PREGNENOLONE 孕烯醇酮
Pregnenolone, which is the raw material for producing many of the hormones of stress and adaptation, was known as early as 1934, but for several years it was considered to be an “inert” substance. A reason for this belief is that it was first tested on healthy young animals. Since these animals were already producing large amounts of pregnenolone (in the brain, adrenal glands, and gonads), additional pregnenolone had no effect. 早在1934年，人们就知道孕烯醇酮是产生应激和适应激素的原料，但有几年它被认为是一种“惰性”物质。这样认为的一个原因是，它首先在健康的幼小动物身上进行了试验。由于这些动物已经产生了大量的孕烯醇酮(在大脑、肾上腺和性腺)，额外的孕烯醇酮没有效果。
In the 1940s, pregnenolone was tested in people who were sick or under stress, and it was found to have a wide range of beneficial actions, but the drug industry never had much interest in it. Its very generality made it seem unlike a drug, and its natural occurrence made it impossible to patent. Thus, many synthetic variants, each with a more specialized action and some serious side effects, came to be patented and promoted for use in treating specific conditions. The drug companies created an atmosphere in which many people felt that each disease should have a drug, and each drug, a disease. The side effects of some of those synthetic hormones were so awful that many people came to fear them. For example, synthetic varieties of “cortisone” can destroy immunity, and can cause osteoporosis, diabetes, and rapid aging, with loss of pigment in the skin and hair, and extreme thinning of the skin. 20世纪40年代，怀孕烯醇酮在生病或有压力的人身上进行了测试，发现它有广泛的有益作用，但制药行业从未对它有多大兴趣。它的广泛性使它看起来不像是一种药物，它的自然存在使它不可能获得专利。因此，许多具有更专门作用和一些严重副作用的合成变体获得了专利，并被推广用于治疗特定的疾病。制药公司营造了一种氛围，让许多人觉得每种疾病都应该有一种药物，每种药物都应该有一种疾病。一些合成激素的副作用非常可怕，以至于很多人开始害怕它们。例如，各种合成的“可的松”可以破坏免疫力，导致骨质疏松症、糖尿病和皮肤和头发中的色素流失，皮肤极度变薄。
Natural pregnenolone is present in young people of both sexes at a very high concentration, and one reason for the large amount produced in youth is that it is one of our basic defenses against the harmful side effects that an imbalance of even our natural hormones can produce. In excess, natural cortisone or estrogen can be dangerous, but when there is an abundance of pregnenolone, their side effects are prevented or minimized. 天然孕烯醇酮在年轻人男女中都有很高的浓度，而在年轻人中产生大量孕烯醇酮的一个原因是，它是我们抵御甚至是我们的天然激素失衡所产生的有害副作用的基本防御手段之一。过量的天然可的松或雌激素可能是危险的，但当有大量孕烯醇酮，它们的副作用被预防或最小化。
In a healthy young person or animal, taking even a large dose of pregnenolone has no hormone-like or drug-like action at all. It is unique in this way. But if the animal or person is under stress, and producing more cortisone than usual, taking pregnenolone causes the cortisone to come down to the normal level. After the age of 40 or 45, it seems that everyone lives in a state of continuous “stress,” just as a normal part of aging. This coincides with the body's decreased ability to produce an abundance of pregnenolone. 在一个健康的年轻人或动物中，即使服用大剂量的孕烯醇酮也不会有类似激素或药物的作用。它在这方面是独一无二的。但如果动物或人处于压力之下，产生比平时更多的可的松，服用孕烯醇酮会使可的松降至正常水平。在40岁或45岁之后，似乎每个人都生活在一种持续的“压力”状态中，就像老化的正常部分一样。这与身体产生大量孕烯醇酮的能力下降相吻合。
When aging rats are given a supplement of pregnenolone, it immediately improves their memory and general performance. Human studies, as early as the 1940s, have also demonstrated improved performance of ordinary tasks. It is now known that pregnenolone is one of the major hormones in the brain. It is produced by certain brain cells, as well as being absorbed into the brain from the blood. It protects brain cells from injury caused by fatigue, and an adequate amount has a calming effect on the emotions, which is part of the reason that it protects us from the stress response that leads to an excessive production of cortisone. People feel a mood of resilience and an ability to confront challenges. 当衰老的大鼠被给予孕烯醇酮的补充时，它会立即改善它们的记忆和整体表现。早在20世纪40年代，对人类的研究就表明，普通任务的表现也有所提高。现在已经知道孕烯酮是大脑中主要的激素之一。它是由某些脑细胞产生的，也可以从血液中被大脑吸收。它可以保护脑细胞免受疲劳造成的损伤，适量的皮质醇对情绪有镇静作用，这也是它可以保护我们免受压力反应的部分原因，压力反应会导致可的松的过量分泌。人们有一种应对挑战的韧性和能力。
Many people have noticed that pregnenolone has a “face-lifting” action. This effect seems to be produced by improved circulation to the skin, and by an actual contraction of some muscle-like cells in the skin. A similar effect can improve joint mobility in arthritis, tissue elasticity in the lungs, and even eyesight. Many studies have shown it to be protective of “fibrous tissues” in general, and in this connection it was proven to prevent the tumors that can be caused by estrogen. 许多人已经注意到孕烯酮有“整容”的作用。这种效果似乎是通过改善皮肤的循环和皮肤中一些类似肌肉的细胞的实际收缩而产生的。类似的效果可以改善关节炎患者的关节活动，肺部组织弹性，甚至视力。许多研究表明，总的来说，它可以保护“纤维组织”，在这方面，它被证明可以防止由雌激素引起的肿瘤。
Pregnenolone is largely converted into two other “youth-associated” protective hormones, progesterone and DHEA. At the age of 30, both men and women produce roughly 30 to 50 mg. of pregnenolone daily. When taken orally, even in the powdered form, it is absorbed fairly well. One dose of approximately 300 mg (the size of an aspirin tablet) keeps acting for about a week, as absorption continues along the intestine, and as it is “recycled” in the body. Part of this long lasting effect is because it improves the body's ability to produce its own pregnenolone. It tends to improve function of the thyroid and other glands, and this “normalizing” effect on the other glands helps to account for its wide range of beneficial effects. 孕烯醇酮主要转化为另外两种“与年轻人相关”的保护激素，孕酮和脱氢表雄酮。在30岁时，男性和女性都会产生大约30到50毫克的钙。孕烯醇酮的日常。口服时，即使是粉末状，也能很好地吸收。一次大约300毫克(阿司匹林片剂的大小)的剂量可以持续作用一周左右，随着吸收沿着肠道继续进行，并在体内“循环”。这种持久的效果部分是因为它提高了身体自身产生孕烯醇酮的能力。它倾向于改善甲状腺和其他腺体的功能，这种对其他腺体的“正常化”作用有助于解释其广泛的有益影响。
DHEA: ANOTHER YOUTH-ASSOCIATED HORMONE 脱氢表雄酮:另一种与青春有关的激素
Raymond Peat, MA, PhD (Univ. of Oregon)Endocrine Physiologist
Raymond Peat，硕士，博士(俄勒冈大学)内分泌生理学家
DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) has a technical-sounding name because it has never been identified with a single dominant function, in spite of its abundance in the body. Many researchers still think of it as a substance produced by the adrenal glands, but experiments show that animals without adrenals are able to produce it in normal amounts. Much of it is formed in the brain (from pregnenolone), but it is probably produced in other organs, including the skin. The brain contains a much higher concentration of DHEA than the blood does. 脱氢表雄酮(dehydroepiandrosterone，简称DHEA)有一个听起来很专业的名字，因为尽管它在人体内大量存在，但从未被认为具有单一的主导功能。许多研究人员仍然认为它是一种由肾上腺产生的物质，但实验表明，没有肾上腺的动物能够正常量地产生这种物质。其中大部分是在大脑中形成的(由孕烯酮形成)，但也可能是在其他器官中产生的，包括皮肤。大脑中含脱氢表雄酮的浓度比血液中高得多。
In old age, we produce only about 5% as much as we do in youth. This is about the same decrease that occurs with progesterone and pregnenolone. The other hormones (for example, cortisone) do not decrease so much; as a result, our balance shifts continually during aging toward dominance by hormones such as cortisone, which use up more and more body substance, without rebuilding it. Protection against the toxic actions of these specialized hormones is a major function of DHEA and the other youth-associated hormones. 年老时，我们的产出只有年轻时的5%。这与孕酮和孕烯醇酮的减少程度相同。其他激素(例如可的松)则没有减少那么多;因此，在衰老过程中，我们的身体平衡会不断地转向由激素(如可的松)主导，这种激素会消耗越来越多的身体物质，而不会重建它。抵御这些特殊激素的毒性作用是脱氢表雄酮和其他与青年有关的激素的主要功能。
For example, starvation, aging, and stress cause the skin to become thin and fragile. An excess of cortisone–whether it is from medical treatment, or from stress, aging, or malnutrition–does the same thing. Material from the skin is dissolved to provide nutrition for the more essential organs. Other organs, such as the muscles and bones, dissolve more slowly, but just as destructively, under the continued influence of cortisone. DHEA blocks these destructive effects of cortisone, and actively restores the normal growth and repair processes to those organs, strengthening the skin and bones and other organs. Stimulation of bone-growth by DHEA has been demonstrated in vitro (in laboratory tests), and it has been used to relieve many symptoms caused by osteoporosis and arthritis, even when applied topically in an oily solution. 例如，饥饿、衰老和压力会使皮肤变得薄而脆弱。过量的可的松——无论是由于药物治疗，还是由于压力、衰老或营养不良——都会起到同样的作用。来自皮肤的物质被溶解，为更重要的器官提供营养。其他器官，如肌肉和骨骼，在持续的可的松影响下溶解得更慢，但破坏性同样大。脱氢表雄酮可以阻止可的松的破坏作用，并积极地恢复这些器官的正常生长和修复过程，加强皮肤、骨骼和其他器官。脱氢表氢表酮(DHEA)刺激骨骼生长已在体外(实验室测试)得到证实，它已被用于缓解由骨质疏松和关节炎引起的许多症状，甚至在局部应用于油性溶液中。
Estrogen is known to produce a great variety of immunological defects, and DHEA, apparently by its balancing and restorative actions, is able to correct some of those immunological defects, including some “autoimmune” diseases. 众所周知，雌激素会产生各种各样的免疫缺陷，而脱氢表雄酮(DHEA)显然通过其平衡和恢复作用，能够纠正一些免疫缺陷，包括一些“自身免疫性”疾病。
It is established that DHEA protects against cancer, but it isn't yet understood how it does this. It appears to protect against the toxic cancer-producing effects of excess estrogen, but its anti-cancer properties probably involve many other functions. 脱氢表雄酮可以预防癌症，但尚不清楚它是如何做到这一点的。它似乎可以防止过量雌激素产生的有毒致癌效应，但它的抗癌特性可能涉及许多其他功能。
Diabetes can be produced experimentally by certain poisons which kill the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Rabbits were experimentally made diabetic, and when treated with DHEA their diabetes was cured. It was found that the insulin-producing cells had regenerated. Many people with diabetes have used brewer's yeast and DHEA to improve their sugar metabolism. In diabetes, very little sugar enters the cells, so fatigue is a problem. DHEA stimulates cells to absorb sugar and to burn it, so it increases our general energy level and helps to prevent obesity. 在实验中，某些毒药可以杀死胰腺中产生胰岛素的细胞，从而产生糖尿病。实验使家兔产生糖尿病，用脱氢表雄酮治疗后，家兔的糖尿病得到治愈。结果发现，产生胰岛素的细胞已经再生。许多糖尿病患者已经使用啤酒酵母和脱氢表雄酮来改善他们的糖代谢。在糖尿病中，只有很少的糖进入细胞，所以疲劳是一个问题。脱氢表雄酮刺激细胞吸收糖并燃烧它，所以它提高我们的总体能量水平，有助于预防肥胖。
Young people produce about 12 to 15 milligrams of DHEA per day, and that amount decreases by about 2 mg. per day for every decade after the age of 30. This is one of the reasons that young people eat more without getting fat, and tolerate cold weather better: DHEA, like the thyroid hormone, increases our heat production and ability to burn calories. At the age of 50, about 4 mg. of DHEA per day will usually restore the level of DHEA in the blood to a youthful level. It is important to avoid taking more than needed, since some people (especially if they are deficient in progesterone, pregnenolone, or thyroid) can turn the excess into estrogen or testosterone, and large amounts of those sex hormones can disturb the function of the thymus gland and the liver. 年轻人每天会产生12到15毫克的脱氢表雄酮，然后减少2毫克。30岁以后每十年的平均寿命。这就是为什么年轻人吃得多而不发胖，也能更好地忍受寒冷天气的原因之一:脱氢表雄酮(DHEA)，就像甲状腺激素一样，能增加我们的热量产生和燃烧卡路里的能力。50岁时，大约4毫克。通常会使血液中的脱氢表雄酮水平恢复到年轻时的水平。避免服用过量是很重要的，因为有些人(尤其是孕酮、孕烯酮或甲状腺缺乏的人)会将过量的雌激素或睾酮转化为雌激素或睾酮，大量的这些性激素会扰乱胸腺和肝脏的功能。
People who have taken an excess of DHEA have been found to have abnormally high estrogen levels, and this can cause the liver to enlarge, and the thymus to shrink. 服用过量脱氢表雄酮的人被发现雌激素水平异常高，这会导致肝脏增大，胸腺缩小。
One study has found that the only hormone abnormality in a groupt of Alzheimers patients' brains was an excess of DHEA. In cell culture, DHEA can cause changes in glial cells resembling those seen in the aging brain. These observations suggest that DHEA should be used with caution. Supplements of pregnenolone and thyroid seem to be the safest way to optimize DHEA production. 一项研究发现，在一组老年痴呆症患者的大脑中，唯一的激素异常是脱氢表雄酮过量。在细胞培养中，脱氢表雄酮可以引起胶质细胞的变化，类似于在衰老的大脑中看到的变化。这些观察结果提示，脱氢表雄酮应谨慎使用。补充孕烯酮和甲状腺似乎是优化脱氢表雄酮生产最安全的方法。