What is Progesterone

In order to understand what natural progesterone is it is important to understand what role progesterone serves in the body.

Progesterone is Produced by both Women AND Men. Progesterone, also known as the "pregnancy hormone", is both a male and female hormone.

In pre-menopausal women the majority of Progesterone is produced by the corpus luteum of the ovaries and when pregnant, the placenta. The corpus luteum is a yellow mass of cells produced after the release of a mature egg.

Post-menopausal women and men produce most of their progesterone from the adrenal glands. In men some is produced in the testes. Both sexes synthesize a small amount in the nervous system.

Progesterone is one of the hormones produced when the body metabolizes pregnenolone, sometimes referred to as the "mother of all hormones". The reason for this name is because not only does the body use pregnenolone to produce progesterone, it also is used to produce corticosterone, testosterone (both male and female) and estrogen.

While progesterone is produced in more abundance in young fertile women the hormone cannot be called a male or female hormone. Reports indicate that it is used in almost all areas of the body and is highly fat-soluble.

It is reported that progesterone deficiency can produce a variety of effects in both men and women. Some of these reported symptoms are: depression, increased risk of prostate problems (in men), higher cholesterol and more…

Unlike estrogen that generally falls only 40 to 60 percent at menopause, progesterone levels can fall to nearly zero.

As you probably already know, too little or too much of any hormone is a bad thing. Levels of progesterone in the body can decrease due to many factors. The major cause for women is menopause and of course, age reduces progesterone levels in both men and women.

There are two ways to increase progesterone levels in the body, naturally and through synthetics. Pharmaceutical companies produce synthetics. Since you can't patent a natural product they have to produce molecularly different variations of progesterone.