Free Ageless: The Naked Truth About Bioidentical Hormones by Suzanne Somers

on the brain, immune system, reproductive organs, muscles, and other organs and tissues. DHEA also helps to maintain collagen levels in the skin, promoting smoother, younger-looking skin. French scientists studied the effects of DHEA replacement therapy in about three hundred men and women between the ages of sixty and eighty over the course of a year. One of the findings to come out of this well-known study (known as the DHEAge study) was that DHEA supplementation greatly improved the color, tone, thickness, and hydration of the subjects’ skin.
    DHEA begins to drop off after age thirty and can be almost negligible after the age of sixty. This drop-off parallels the general decline in our health and vitality as we age. Stress accelerates the natural decline of DHEA levels.
    HOW TO TEST: To determine your DHEA levels, you can have your hormone levels checked by saliva or blood test. If you are a female of any age, you would want your levels to be at optimum, which would be between 150 and 350. If you are a male of any age, you would want your optimal levels to be between 250 and 450.
    USING DHEA SUPPLEMENTS: DHEA is available over the counter as a nutritional supplement, but before you use it, make sure your levels have been tested and your doctor feels you would benefit from taking this supplement.
    SAFETY AND SIDE EFFECTS: Too much DHEA in women can lead to some undesirable side effects (not serious ones) such as increased sweating, oilier skin, acne, or hair growth. These effects are generallynot seen in dosages below 50 mg a day. If these side effects do occur, simply reduce your dosage.
    With proper monitoring by your doctor, DHEA replacement therapy is a very safe and extraordinarily effective antiaging therapy for most people. However, those with certain types of cancer are an area of potential concern. This is why any hormones should be monitored by a qualified doctor.
    T HYROID
    WHAT IT IS : The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland located in the lower part of the neck just below the Adam’s apple. The thyroid secretes iodine-containing hormones, triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4), which regulate body temperature, heart rate, and metabolism. Thyroid hormones have a profound impact on weight. They control how the body burns up carbohydrates and fats by increasing enzyme levels that produce energy. Thyroid function is very complex and exerts a profound effect on the function of nearly every other organ in the body. If your thyroid isn’t functioning optimally, neither are you.
    HOW IT WORKS: The thyroid takes its orders from the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus, which are constantly monitoring the amount of thyroxine circulating in the blood. When the level of thyroxine gets low, the pituitary gland releases thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), produced in the pituitary gland. As the name suggests, thyroid-stimulating hormone signals the thyroid to produce more thyroxine. As the amount of thyroxine in the blood increases, the production of TSH is suppressed. This in turn slows the production of thyroxine. This feedback loop between the pituitary and thyroid works to keep the level of thyroid hormone relatively constant in the body.
    Once in the body, circulating T4 is converted to the active form of T3. As we age, the production of T4 diminishes. In addition, the conversion of T4 to T3 also diminishes, resulting in less stimulation of the cells.
    When T4 is not converted to T3, hypothyroidism (low or underactive thyroid) occurs. The most common thyroid disorder, underactive thyroid, typically strikes after age forty but is underdiagnosed and undertreated. Untreated thyroid disease leads to elevated cholesterol levels, heart disease, infertility, fatigue, muscle weakness, poor mental function, depression, weight gain, and an increased risk of cancer. Endocrinologists estimate that one in five women and one in ten men over sixty suffer from underactive thyroid.
    Dr. Philip Lee Miller says, “Astonishingly, one