CHICAGO, June 26 — Most adults are walking around with suboptimal hormone levels, and a growing number of health experts argue that supplementation could make a real difference. In a recent discussion, Dr. Joseph Mercola and researcher Georgi Dinkov laid out the case for four specific hormones they believe the vast majority of people could benefit from. The problem, as Mercola frames it, is straightforward.
In an ideal world where someone enjoys truly optimal health, hormone replacement therapy would be unnecessary. The body would simply make what it needs.
But Mercola is blunt about the reality: very few people, himself included, meet that standard. We live in a polluted world, he notes, and “optimal health” is a high bar for all of us. So what are the four hormones?
Progesterone, thyroid hormone T3, DHEA, and pregnenolone. Three of these — progesterone, DHEA, and pregnenolone — are available over the counter.
Thyroid hormone T3 is the exception; it requires a doctor’s prescription. That also means regular blood tests, typically two to four times a year, to keep levels in the safe zone. Overtreatment can trigger hyperthyroid symptoms, which is something anyone considering this approach clearly wants to avoid.
Dinkov offers a fascinating window into why these hormones matter. He points out that around ages 11 and 12, just before puberty, boys and girls have remarkably similar hormonal profiles. They produce roughly the same amounts of pregnenolone and progesterone.
This period is also when thyroid hormone levels peak — the highest they will ever be in a person’s life. It is, in other words, a biological sweet spot.
The implication is that as we age, we drift further from that baseline. The practical upshot for the average reader is this: you don’t necessarily need a complex medical overhaul to address hormonal decline. Three of the four hormones Mercola takes are available without a prescription.
But that doesn’t mean you should just start experimenting. The thyroid piece, in particular, requires medical supervision and lab work.
If you’re not getting blood tests, you’re flying blind. Mercola’s own approach is worth noting. He takes all four himself, and he believes most adults can benefit from the same stack.
But he is careful to frame this as a response to a polluted, stressful world rather than a universal mandate. If you are optimally healthy, he says, your body will produce what it needs. The catch, of course, is that very few of us are.
For anyone considering this path, the takeaway is clear. Know your numbers.
Work with a doctor for the prescription hormones. And understand that the goal is not just to replace what’s missing, but to get back closer to that pre-puberty baseline Dinkov describes — when the body’s own production was at its natural peak.
