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| (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptors, which affect learning and memory by regulating the function of the synapses on neurons. Pregnenolone may be the best inhibitor of dementia. |
| Pregnenolone can also help protect the body from cortisone toxicity. Cortisone, as well as other steroids, are often used as part of a protocol to treat cancer. Pregnenolone can repair enzymes within the livercytochrome P-450 in particularthat are important to detoxifying hormones and carcinogens. Pregnenolone is indicated for women approaching menopause who are at high risk for breast or ovarian cancer or who are having difficulty with the change of life and want to avoid hormone replacement therapy. 163 In cases of women who have had breast cancer, however, I prefer to begin treating their symptoms using herbal and dietary means. |
| When pregnenolone is indicated, I usually recommend a low dose of 10 mg, taken sublingually. |
| Melatonin |
| Melatonin, a hormone produced by the pineal gland, has gained popularity as a natural sleep aid without side effects. Melatonin levels are low during the day because light inhibits its production, but at night the pineal gland produces melatonin and levels may go up as much as five to fifteen times. As a sleeping aid, it works well for some, but does nothing for others. The key element is to avoid exposure to light during the night because light exposure during sleeping time greatly diminishes melatonin levels. |
| People with cancer who are not sleeping well may indeed have low levels of melatonin and may benefit in at least two ways from taking it as a supplement. First, melatonin supplementation may help a person to sleep longer and more soundly and second, it aids in immune function and is an anticarcinogen. It is an important antioxidant, possibly five times better than glutathione at scavenging free radicals, particularly hydroxal radicals, and better than vitamin E at scavenging lipid peroxidation. Melatonin, due to its lipophilic structure, is readily diffused into all tissues of the body, including intracellular membranes. There it protects against free-radical damage. |
| The melatonin-cancer relationship started with a study published in the early 1980s by the National Institutes of Health. That study found that |
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