10 Key Hormones

Our body will deteriorate with time as aging and stresses get the better of us. Fortunately we are able to boost and maintain our body with proper food, exercises and good lifestyle. Hormones play a major role in our body. Know your hormone levels with your next medical / blood checkup.

There are 10 key hormones that need to be at optimal levels for you to be healthy and strong. The perfect 10 diet (10 Key Hormones – The secret to feeling great and loosing weight) by Dr Michael Aziz, MD is one of the better books on this subject. He describes the ten hormones below:

SER	HORMONE	SOURCE	LEVELS	REMARKS
1	Insulin	Pancreas	5 IU
2	Glucagon	Pancreas	60 ml
3	Thyroid hormone	Thyroid gland	181 ng/dL
4	Human growth hormone (HGH)	Pituitary gland	< 10 ng/mL
5	Cortisol	Adrenal gland	Morning 1180 ng/mL,	evening 45 ng/mL
6	Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)	Adrenal gland	400-500 mcg/d/L
7	Estrogen	Ovaries	<130pg/mL,
8	Progesterone	Ovaries	< 1.4ng/mL
9	Testosterone	Testes	241 – 827 ng/ML
10	Leptin	Fat cells

As we are more concerned with the level of testosterone, you may want to know what increases and decreases testosterone.

Foods and factors that increases/ boost testosterone include eggs, liver, butter, fish, poultry, sex and weight loss.

Foods and other factors that decrease testosterone production include sugar, fat free food, margarine, excess alcohol, tobacco, recreational drugs, lack of sex and obesity.

Take care and do boost your hormones to their optimal levels.

Allen Lai