Effects of DHEA

Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is produced in the adrenal glands through a natural process in the body. DHEA reaches maximum production around 25 years into the organism’s age. Thereafter, production of DHEA steadily declines. The main benefit of DHEA is to strengthen the immune system in addition to improving mental ability by means of increasing testosterone production and IGF-1 (an insulin like factor of increase -1).

What is DHEA?

The production of DHEA is begins with the release of adrenocoritcotropic hormone (ACTH) from the pituitary gland. ACTH then signals the adrenal glands to produce DHEA from available cholesterol, which reaches the blood in the form of sulfate DHEA (DHEA-S). Called the “mother of all steroids”, DHEA is the most abundant steroid in the human organism. It participates in the production of testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, and corticosterone. As a human ages, both DHEA and the Growth Hormone decrease in parallel, such that at the age of around 65, the human organism manufactures only 10-20 percent of what it was able to manufacture at 20 years of age. Supplementation with DHEA in old age has been found to be beneficial to the aging process by many specialists.

Beneficial effects of DHEA:

Since DHEA is the most abundant hormone in the human body, it is responsible for a variety of physical processes. Predominantly produced in the adrenal cortex, small amounts of DHEA are also synthesized in the brain and skin. Through experimentation on animals, it was found that DHEA can be adapted as a means to treat obesity, diabetes, cancer, autoimmune diseases, heart disease, stress, and infectious diseases. DHEA has been found to prolong the life of laboratory animals by 50 percent, while maintaining a younger and healthier appearance, as evidenced by the still youthful color of their skin. It may also prolong human life, although not to with the same success as seen in laboratory mice.

In 1987 Elisabeth Barrett-Konnor and her colleagues from the University of California in San Diego reported a 70 percent reduction in the heart disease mortality rate in men who had high levels of DHEA. However, a subsequent study of the same group of people in 1995 revealed a 20 percent reduction in the mortality rate, compared to men who had low levels of DHEA. Another study which studied women aged 85 years and older, showed that women with high levels of DHEA had a tendency to live longer than other women.

DHEA possess a staggering potential to improve the immune system. Doctor Raymond Deyns, head of the department of cellular biology and immunology at the University of UTI in Salt Lake City, revealed that this hormone rejuvenates many functions of the immune system in mice, including the proliferation of T-cells and 1b-tsitokin-2, which levels tend to decrease with age. A study observing mice with the encephalitis virus showed that DHEA suppresses some related symptoms, in addition to reducing the mortality rate. Nonetheless, it was also observed that older people do not react to the treatment as well as younger people. After adding DHEA to encephalitis vaccines and administrating it to the older mice, Dr. Deyns noticed that their ability to resist such illnesses as hepatitis B, influenza, diphtheria, and tetanus proved to be at the level of that of young animals. The animals, who were subjected to DHEA-substitute therapy, appeared, according to Deyns, "much healthier in their last months of life".

Cerebral tissue contains five to six times more DHEA than any other part of the body. DHEA supplementation can play a big role in the maintenance of brain cells and the protection from Alzheimer's disease. An inspection of 61 men with ages ranging from 57 to 104 years was conducted in nursing homes.  The study showed that the lower the level of DHEA, the more dependent they became on the aid of others thus making it more difficult for them to carry out the basic activities of daily living.

The DHEA hormone also possesses an anti-diabetic effect, increasing sensitivity to insulin in mice and even preventing the disease in rats, whose diabetes was caused artificially. Some clinicians report that the needs of their patients are reduced when they begin DHEA treatment.

One of the most exciting benefits of the hormone is its potential as medicine against obesity. In one experiment high dose DHEA (1600 mg a day) delivered continuously for four weeks, caused a 31 percent decrease in fatty mass in four out of five subjects. Moreover, their total weight did not change, which indicated an increase in the muscular mass. Their levels of NPL fell by 7.5 percent, which means that DHEA also protected the heart. The ability of the hormone to reduce body weight was studied by Arthur Schwarz, a Doctor of Molecular Biology, Professor at the Fels Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Biology with Temple University and pioneer in the study of the properties of DHEA. He revealed that the animals that comsumed the steroid reduced their body weight regardless of how much they ate! When he took mice with a normal body weight and checked their activity and diet during four week time frame, the results where consistent with the human trials: four out of five lost 31 percent fat while retaining their overall body mass.

There are several explanations for the lipid reducing effects. First of all, DGEA inhibits ferment G6DPH (dehydrogenase of glucose -6), which can block the body’s ability to accumulate and manufacture fat. Also, Schwarz revealed that DHEA stimulates cholecystokinin (CCK), which tells the organism that it is satisfied and reduces the likelihood of overeating. Finally, by activating IFR-1, DHEA turns the bodily production of fat into the creation of muscular tissues and energy.

Application of DHEA

Some people now use DHEA as an inexpensive alternative to Growth Hormone therapy. A monthly supply of 100 mg capsules generally costs around 30 dollars. Although this hormone does not seem to be as effective as Growth Hormone in the fight against aging, it might yet be too early to tell until results are compiled from long term studies. While  DHEA can be considered a nutritional supplement, the FDA on permit its distribution by prescription only. Since this hormone can be converted into the estrogen and the progesterone in the blood stream, the same precautionary measures are applicable to it as with any hormone therapy. It should not be consumed by individuals with a history of prostate cancer or ovarian cancer.

Doses usually vary within a range of 25 to 150 mg, but it is best to begin from the low dosages in the region of 25-50 mg a day, and then to increase dosage as needed. In Jaehn's study, a dosage of 50 mg proved to be sufficient to raise DHEA levels to those of a younger health state.

To achieve the best results, DHEA should be take in three of four daily doses through out the day. Since the excessive use of the hormone can completely halt its internal production, it is possible to take the hormone every other day, and substitute the hormone with any other source of DHEA, for example capsules of wild Chinese yam.