Other names: Pregnenolone, MS
Optimal Result:
22 - 237 ng/dL,
or
0.22 - 2.37 ng/mL.
Pregnenolone is a precursor to many critical steroid hormones in our bodies including:
- Progesterone
- DHEA
- Corticosteroids
- Estrogens
- Androgens (male hormones such as testosterone)
Pregnenolone as a supplement:
Pregnenolone can be valuable as an alternative treatment for improving memory and alertness, while reducing stress, depression and fatigue. Although the current research is inconclusive there are also claims that the hormone helps to prevent cancer, obesity, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, premenstrual syndrome and menopause. Pregnenolone levels decline more than 60% as we age. Chemically modified or synthetic pregnenolone supplements are taken to counteract some of the typical signs of aging and increase the levels of DHEA and other steroid hormones, including testosterone, in the body. High levels can cause adverse side effects such as aggression, irritability, insomnia, and the growth of body or facial hair in women. Pregnant women should not take pregnenolone.
Pregnenolone and congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH)
High pregnenolone levels may be caused by an inherited condition called congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). CAH causes a deficiency or dysfunction in the enzymes required to convert pregnenolone into steroid hormones. This can cause a deficiency of cortisol and an overabundance of male hormones or androgens. The pregnenolone test is often used in suspected cases of CAH for infants whose external sex organs are not clearly defined or for teens who do not develop secondary sexual characteristics or who has delayed puberty. If there is an enzyme deficiency in the steroid hormone process the levels of pregnenolone may be elevated. This can help to determine which enzyme is deficient or defective.
What is congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH)?
CAH is a group of inherited disorders associated with deficiencies in the enzymes required for the production of the steroid hormones.
In congenital adrenal hyperplasia, one or more of the enzymes is deficient or dysfunctional and inadequate amounts of one or more final products are produced.
With CAH, the enzyme deficiency can cause a decrease in cortisol and/or aldosterone and, in some cases, an increase or decrease in androgens. Deficient androgens can cause male newborns to be born with external sex organs that are not clearly male or female (ambiguous genitalia) and can affect the development of secondary sexual characteristics of both males and females at puberty.
What are the causes of CAH?
Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is caused by inherited defects in steroid biosynthesis. The resulting hormone imbalances can lead to life-threatening, salt-wasting crisis in the newborn period and incorrect gender assignment of virilized females.
What are the various Pregnenolone reference values?
CHILDREN
Males
- 0-6 years: not established
- 7-9 years: <206 ng/dL
- 10-12 years: <152 ng/dL
- 13-15 years: 18-197 ng/dL
- 16-17 years: 17-228 ng/dL
Tanner Stages:
- Stage I: <157 ng/dL
- Stage II: <144 ng/dL
- Stage III: <215 ng/dL
- Stage IV-V: 19-201 ng/dL
Females
- 0-6 years: not established
- 7-9 years: <151 ng/dL
- 10-12 years: 19-220 ng/dL
- 13-15 years: 22-210 ng/dL
- 16-17 years: 22-229 ng/dL
Tanner Stages:
- Stage I: <172 ng/dL
- Stage II: 22-229 ng/dL
- Stage III: 34-215 ng/dL
- Stage IV-V: 26-235 ng/dL
ADULTS
or =18 years: 33-248 ng/dL
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26433186
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25030803
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12918023
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8395958
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20070787
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20493557
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/pcn.12150
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20493557
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3008321
Elevated levels of pregnenolone can signify a variety of underlying conditions and factors. Pregnenolone is a precursor hormone involved in the synthesis of other hormones, including progesterone, estrogen, testosterone, and cortisol. Here's a detailed overview of what elevated levels might indicate and the associated considerations:
Conditions Associated with Elevated Pregnenolone Levels:
- Adrenal Hyperplasia: This condition can cause an overproduction of adrenal hormones, including pregnenolone.
- Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS): Hormonal imbalances in PCOS can sometimes result in elevated pregnenolone.
- Adrenal Tumors: These can lead to an overproduction of adrenal hormones.
- Stress: Chronic stress can increase the production of pregnenolone as the body ramps up steroid hormone production in response to stress.
- Pregnancy: Naturally higher levels of pregnenolone occur due to increased steroid hormone production.
Possible Reasons for Elevation:
- Endocrine Disorders: Conditions like congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) or Cushing's syndrome.
- Medication Use: Certain medications that influence hormone levels.
- Genetic Factors: Inherited conditions affecting steroidogenesis.
- Hormone Replacement Therapy: Use of supplements or medications containing pregnenolone.
Potential Treatment Considerations:
- Address Underlying Conditions: Treat adrenal hyperplasia, PCOS, or other diagnosed conditions.
- Medication Adjustments: Review and adjust any medications that might be influencing hormone levels.
- Lifestyle Modifications: Manage stress through relaxation techniques, exercise, and adequate sleep.
- Endocrinological Assessment: Regular monitoring and consultations with an endocrinologist to adjust treatment as necessary.
Correlated Biomarkers:
- Cortisol: As pregnenolone is a precursor to cortisol, levels of this hormone might also be examined.
- Progesterone: Elevated pregnenolone can lead to changes in progesterone levels.
- DHEA: Another hormone in the steroidogenesis pathway.
- Estrogen and Testosterone: These sex hormones can be influenced by changes in pregnenolone levels.
Nutrient Associations:
- Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid): Essential for adrenal function and steroid hormone production.
- Vitamin C: Important for adrenal gland health and function.
- Magnesium: Plays a role in steroid hormone synthesis.
- Zinc: Involved in the regulation of hormonal balance.
Specific Considerations for Males vs. Females and Young vs. Old:
- Gender Differences: Hormonal balances and the impact of elevated pregnenolone can differ between males and females due to different baseline levels and the role of sex hormones.
- Age Differences: Younger individuals may have different baseline levels and responses compared to older adults. In older adults, changes in hormone levels might be more related to age-associated endocrine changes.
Import lab results from multiple providers, track changes over time, customize your reference ranges, and get clear explanations for each result. Everything is stored securely, exportable in one organized file, and shareable with your doctor—or anyone you choose.
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Pregnenolone is a crucial precursor hormone that serves as a building block for the production of other vital hormones such as estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. In females, a low level of pregnenolone can signify various health concerns and hormonal imbalances, potentially leading to specific symptoms. These may include fatigue, mood swings, decreased libido, irregular menstrual cycles, and difficulties with stress management.
Furthermore, low pregnenolone levels can impact overall well-being, cognition, and energy levels.
Treating low pregnenolone levels in females typically involves a combination of lifestyle adjustments and medical interventions. Here are some common approaches:
→ Hormone therapy: Consult a healthcare provider to explore hormone replacement therapy options, which may involve supplementation with pregnenolone or other hormone precursors.
→ Dietary changes: Consume a diet rich in nutrients essential for hormone production, including healthy fats, cholesterol, and vitamins B and C.
→ Stress management: Implement stress-reduction techniques such as mindfulness, meditation, and regular exercise to support hormone balance.
→ Adequate sleep: Prioritize quality sleep to promote overall hormonal health and well-being.
It's crucial to consult a healthcare professional before starting any treatment regimen to ensure personalized care and appropriate management of hormone levels.
Laboratories
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Import Lab Results from Any Source
Easily upload lab results from any provider, whether it's a hospital, independent lab, or home testing service. We support PDFs, scanned documents, and JPEGs from patient portals. No need to log in to multiple platforms — everything is centralized in one secure space.
Easily upload lab results from any provider — we support PDFs, scans, and images. Keep all your reports organized in one secure place.
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Every lab result is automatically organized on a chronological timeline, giving you a complete picture of your health journey. Whether you're tracking a condition, managing treatments, or staying proactive, the timeline helps you and your doctor understand how things progress over time.
Every lab result is automatically organized on a chronological timeline, giving you a complete picture of your health journey.
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Whether it's a blood test, GI panel, urinalysis, or something else, lab reports measure numerous biomarkers that reveal what's happening inside your body. Our extensive database covers over 10,000 biomarkers, providing clear, simple explanations of what each result means and how you can take action—no matter your membership level. Say goodbye to confusion and get the insights you need to better understand your health.
Our database covers over 10,000 biomarkers with clear, simple explanations—so you can finally understand your results and what to do next.
Enter Your Lab Reports Yourself — Always Free
Enter Your Lab Reports — Always Free
If you'd like to handle inputting your health data into your account, you can do so with our easy-to-use data entry forms. Our user-friendly form is designed to guide you through the quick and easy submission process, making it simple to keep track of your health metrics. This is available to both Complete plan and Unlimited plan members.
Our user-friendly form guides you through a quick, simple submission process, making it easy to enter your health metrics.
Add your results anytime with our easy entry form. It's quick, guided, and helps you stay organized — free for all members.
Visualize Your Results
View your lab data through easy-to-read graphs and tables. Quickly spot patterns, track changes, and compare results across different dates — all without digging through multiple reports. You can also select and compare graphs of specific biomarkers side-by-side to better understand how they relate and change over time.
See your lab reports in clear graphs and tables. Spot patterns, track changes, and compare results over time — all in one place.
Export Your Complete Lab History in a Single File
Export Your Complete Lab History
After collecting lab results from different providers, you can download your entire history combined into a single file. Choose from PDF, Excel, or CSV formats to easily review, share, or get a second opinion—no more juggling multiple reports.
After collecting lab results from different providers, you can download your entire history combined into a single file.
Comprehensive Data Entry Service for Your Reports
Data Entry Service for Your Reports
Our inclusive service handles the data entry for your lab reports. Just submit your information and we'll take care of the rest. Complete plan members receive one report entered for free, then $15 per report after that. Unlimited plan members receive ten report entries for free, then $15 per report after that.
Our inclusive service handles the data entry for your lab reports. Just submit your information and we'll take care of the rest.
Securely Share With Anyone You Trust
Whether you're working with a doctor, nutritionist, caregiver, or wellness coach, you can securely share your complete lab history by sending an invite link to anyone you trust. You have full control over who sees your information and for how long, ensuring your privacy and peace of mind at every step.
Share your full lab history with your doctor, nutritionist, or coach using a secure invite link.
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I have been using Healthmatters.io since 2021. I travel all over the world and use different doctors and health facilities. This site has allowed me to consolidate all my various test results over 14 years in one place. And every doctor that I show this to has been impressed. Because with any health professional I talk to, I can pull up historical results in seconds. It is invaluable. Even going back to the same doctor, they usually do not have the historical results from their facility in a graph format. That has been very helpful.
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Unlimited Plan Member since 2021
What fantastic service and great, easy-to-follow layouts! I love your website; it makes it so helpful to see patterns in my health data. It's truly a pleasure to use. I only wish the NHS was as organized and quick as Healthmatters.io. You've set a new standard for health tracking!
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As a PRO member and medical practitioner, Healthmatters.io has been an invaluable tool for tracking my clients' data. The layout is intuitive, making it easy to monitor trends and spot patterns over time. The ability to customize reports and charts helps me present information clearly to my clients, improving communication and outcomes. It's streamlined my workflow, saving me time and providing insights at a glance. Highly recommended for any practitioner looking for a comprehensive and user-friendly solution to track patient labs!
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Healthmatters is a personal health dashboard that helps you organize and understand your lab results. It collects and displays your medical test data from any lab in one secure, easy-to-use platform.
With a Healthmatters account, you can:
Professionals can also analyze client data more efficiently and save time managing lab reports.
Healthmatters.io personal account provides in-depth research on 4000+ biomarkers, including information and suggestions for test panels such as, but not limited to:
You can combine all test reports inside your Healthmatters account and keep them in one place. It gives you an excellent overview of all your health data. Once you retest, you can add new results and compare them.
If you are still determining whether Healthmatters support your lab results, the rule is that if you can test it, you can upload it to Healthmatters.
While we work with many popular labs, we welcome reports from lots of other places too.
It's as simple as this: if you can get a test done, you can upload it to Healthmatters and we can interpret results from any lab out there. If laboratories can analyze it, we can interpret it.
If you're on the hunt for a specific biomarker, contact us and we'll add it to our database. Anything from blood, urine, saliva, or stool can be uploaded, understood, and tracked with your Healthmatters account.
The Complete Plan ($15/month) is perfect for individuals who want ongoing access to their health data. It includes unlimited lab imports, visual tracking, custom ranges, result explanations, full account exports, and secure sharing — all with a simple monthly subscription. You can cancel anytime and restart your plan whenever you're ready — your data will still be there waiting for you. You can also upgrade to the Unlimited Plan at any time, with the cost prorated based on what you've already paid.
The Unlimited Plan ($250 one-time) is also designed for individuals but offers lifetime access with no ongoing subscription. You'll get all the same features as the Complete Plan, plus a larger initial data entry allowance (10 reports), making it a great choice if you prefer a one-time payment and long-term use without monthly fees.
In short:
There are two ways to add your test reports to your Healthmatters account. One option is to input the data using the data entry forms. The other method is to utilize our "Data entry service."
Our data entry forms offer an easy, fast, and free way for you to input the reports yourself. Self-entry allows you to add an unlimited number of reports at no cost. We make the self-entry process user-friendly, providing dozens of templates that pre-populate the most popular laboratory panels and offering instant feedback on entered values.
For those who prefer assistance, we offer a "Data entry service" to help you input your data. Simply attach an image or file of your lab test results, and a qualified team member from our data entry team will add the results for you.
We support various file types, including PDFs, JPGs, or Excel. This service is particularly useful if you have many reports to upload or if you're too busy to handle the data entry yourself.
Our Data Entry Service is for when you don't want to manually type in your lab results yourself. You simply upload your report (PDF, image, or screenshot), and our trained team enters the information into your Healthmatters account for you — accurately and neatly organized, ready to view in graphs, tables, and timelines.
The $15 per report covers the time and care it takes for a real person to review your file, make sure each result is entered correctly, and double-check for accuracy. This ensures your health data is precise and easy to work with — without you having to spend the time doing it yourself.
Prefer to do it yourself? You can always use our free self-entry tool to add results manually — it just takes a bit more time and attention.
For users on the Complete monthly plan, the first report is entered free of charge, and each additional report incurs a fee of $15.
Unlimited account holders enjoy the entry of ten reports without charge. Subsequent reports are subject to a $15 fee per report.
Additionally, users on the Complete plan can upgrade to a yearly subscription from the account settings. The annual subscription includes a data entry service for five reports.
All professional accounts allow you to import and onboard an unlimited number of clients and their lab results. The distinction between professional plans lies solely in the data entry service.
The Pro Monthly Plus plan is priced at $75 per month and includes a data entry service for five reports each month. Additional reports can be self-entered at no extra cost or, if preferred, you can use our data entry service for an additional fee of $15 per report.
The Pro Monthly plan is priced at $45 per month and does not include a data entry service. Self-entry is free for an unlimited number of reports, and you can opt for the data entry service at a fee of $15 per report.
You also have the option to upgrade to higher monthly or to annual plans, which come with substantial discounts. All upgrades can be done directly from your account.
Simply log in and navigate to your account settings to cancel your subscription. Scroll down to locate the 'Cancel' button at the bottom of the page. Ensure you cancel at least one day before the renewal date to prevent any charges. Once cancellation is requested, the subscription remains active until the conclusion of the current billing cycle.
Our goal has been to make your Healthmatters account as intuitive as possible.
We've crafted multiple ways for you to navigate your data, whether you're glancing at a single report or delving into your historical test reports.
1. Graph View:Dive into a visual journey with our biomarker graphs, showcasing over 40 data points. Combining years of results unveils trends, empowering you to make informed decisions. Our visualization tools make it a breeze to compare and understand changes over time, even if your results are from different labs. A search function and filters simplify the exploration of extensive data, allowing you to focus on what needs attention.
2. All Tests ViewExplore neatly organized reports on a timeline, highlighting crucial details like dates, critical results, and lab/panel names. Each report opens up to reveal in-depth descriptions and additional recommendations for each biomarker. The history of previous results is just a click away, and you can download a comprehensive report for deeper insights. Color-coded and user-friendly, it's designed for easy reading, understanding, and navigation.
3. Table View:For a holistic view of all biomarkers side by side, our table view is your go-to. Results are neatly displayed in a categorized and dated table, ideal for those with an extensive test history. Utilize sorting, filters, and color-coding to enhance your analysis and gain extra insights.
Yes, you can download your information anytime. We offer two easy ways to export your lab data:
This makes it simple to save, back up, or share your health data whenever you need.
Yes, you can print your report. To do so, navigate to "All tests" and open the report you wish to print. You'll find a print button in the right corner of the report. Click on it, and your browser's print window will open. If you prefer to print in a bigger typeface, adjust the scale using the print window settings.
Yes, you can! We highly recommend activating Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) for your account. To do so, please navigate to the "Profile and Security" section of your account, where you will find instructions for activating 2FA.
Yes, you can. When entering values for the biomarker, you will see an "Edit Range" button. Click this button, and you'll have the option to enter a custom range.
A personal account is all about keeping your own lab test results in check. It's just for you and your personal use.
The professional account is designed for health professionals who wish to track and organize their clients' laboratory results.
To learn more about Healthmatters Pro, please refer to the professional page.
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