Multimodal Physiological Medicine and Macular Degeneration

Multimodal physiological medicine is the art of restoring physiology to youthful levels for the purpose of preventing and treating age-related diseases. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is presented as a disease that is caused by multiple errors of physiology including deficiencies of the steroidal hormones dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), pregnenolone, oestriol, oestradiol, oestrone, testosterone and progesterone as well as deficiencies in melatonin, zinc and other nutrients. It is proposed that multiple steroidal deficiency results in a compensatory attempt to synthesise hormones from cholesterol in the macula and that this conversion is dysfunctional in AMD, resulting in cholesterol-laden drusen. Furthermore, it is suggested that physiological errors indirectly lead to retinal pigment epithelial cell failure due to a decline in stem cell function. It is suggested that macular degeneration can be safely and more efficaciously treated with combinations of hormones, nutrients and vitamins and that such treatment strikes at the underlying cause(s) of the disease and may reduce associated cardiovascular risk.