Pregnenolone

Research records

Historical source snapshot. Not freshly verified, not a recommendation. Study findings, community accounts and app defaults are not interchangeable.

Publication suitability · 2026-10-15: Historical reference only; not a clinical verification. Clinical, regulatory, efficacy, safety and dose claims are not independently established by this review.

Pregnenolone

A cholesterol-derived steroid precursor to progesterone and DHEA, sold as an unregulated supplement.

Evidence category: Clinical study. This describes the source category, not approval or certainty.

Regulatory statement in source: Not FDA- or EMA-approved; sold as an unregulated supplement.

Pregnenolone is an endogenous steroid synthesized from cholesterol that serves as the biosynthetic precursor to progesterone, DHEA, and other downstream steroid hormones, earning it the nickname of the body's mother hormone. It is sold in the United States as an unregulated dietary supplement and has been studied in placebo-controlled psychiatric trials for conditions including bipolar depression and schizophrenia. No government regulatory agency has approved it as a prescription drug.

Benefits reported in the imported source

• Placebo-controlled trials have reported improvements in negative symptoms and some cognitive measures in schizophrenia when added to antipsychotic treatment.
• Occurs naturally as the shared precursor for progesterone, DHEA, and downstream sex and adrenal steroid hormones.
• Sold over the counter in the United States, giving researchers easy access to a well-characterized neurosteroid for study.

Risks and limits

• A twelve-week placebo-controlled trial in bipolar depression found no significant benefit over placebo on the primary mood outcome.
• As an unregulated dietary supplement, product purity, actual hormone content, and manufacturing quality are not independently verified by any regulator.
• Evidence remains limited to small, short-duration psychiatric trials; long-term safety and effects in healthy adults are not well characterized.

Source bottom line: Pregnenolone is an unregulated over-the-counter steroid precursor with mixed results across small placebo-controlled psychiatric trials, and no regulatory agency has evaluated or approved it as a drug.

Uncertainty: Reference information only. Not medical advice.

Study protocols — reports, not instructions

Community and practice descriptions

Accounts of a practice are not evidence of safety or effectiveness. Words such as “standard”, “safe” or “recommended” describe the source account, not verified consensus or this wiki’s advice. Commercial and self-published citations are retained for traceability, not vendor endorsement or independent clinical corroboration.

No community description recorded. This entry has no final B-82 outcome record; it is not a researched-empty finding.

Pharmacokinetic context

No half-life recorded in this source snapshot. No value has been inferred.

Source references

• A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of pregnenolone for bipolar depression — PubMed
• Proof-of-concept trial with the neurosteroid pregnenolone targeting cognitive and negative symptoms in schizophrenia — PubMed