Featuring Dr. Ronald Goldenberg, MD, FRCPC, FACE, Endocrinologist

Duration: 1 minute, 38 seconds

The adrenal glands are actually tiny little glands. They sit on top of each kidney.

They each weigh, remarkably, only one tenth of an ounce, but these little glands are responsible for producing key hormones that help keep you healthy. And the adrenal glands actually have two glands in one, or two components.

There’s the outer cortex, and the outer cortex produces three types of hormones: glucocorticoids, or cortisol; mineralocorticoid or aldosterone, that’s responsible for blood pressure and sodium and potassium maintenance in the body; and androgens, or male hormones that are responsible for growth of hair under the arms, pubic hair, for example. And the inner medulla of the adrenal gland produces catecholamines.

Diseases of the adrenal gland can come under two main categories: disorders of the structure of the adrenal gland or disorders of the function of the adrenal gland. From a structural point of view we’re talking about tumours, they could be benign or malignant.

And these tumours can sometimes overproduce tumours, which can cause various diseased states, and then there’s functional problems of the adrenal gland so you could have under functioning of the glands, we call that adrenal insufficiency. Or, you can have over production of the various hormones that are produced by the gland, producing various disease states.

At the end of the day, if you think you might have an adrenal problem, please see your physician and go for appropriate tests.

Video Title: The Adrenal Glands Role and Various Ways They Can Dysfunction

Presenter: Dr. Ronald Goldenberg, Endocrinologist, Thornhill, ON

Local Practitioners: Endocrinologist