A desire for eternal youth has led many Americans to take dietary supplements of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). DHEA is a weak male sex hormone (androgen) secreted by the adrenal glands in much larger amounts than the potent androgen testosterone produced by the testes.
Blood levels of DHEA begin to decline starting at about age 30 and reach about half the youthful levels by age 60 in both men and women. Taking DHEA supplementation would seem an understandable choice to prevent aging.
The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) published a study on the effects of low levels of DHEA in elderly men and women. After two years, the researchers found no improvement in quality of life or body composition, physical performance, or insulin sensitivity in those receiving a DHEA supplementation compared with those getting a placebo.
In the NEJM and other studies, DHEA administration was associated with an increase in bone mineral density (BMD), but these increases were about half of what can be achieved with drug treatments for osteoporosis and were not observed in all studies. The NEJM study also found no benefits from administration of small amount of testosterone to elderly men, although a previous study from France reported an increase in libido among elderly women taking DHEA.
The author of an editorial accompanying the NEJM article found more than 5 million hits when he searched Google for DHEA. It's not surprising that many hits were for online vendors who referred to DHEA as the "fountain of youth" and made incorrect and misleading claims.
DHEA users should be aware that the Food and Drug Administration does not check the composition of DHEA or other dietary supplements, but tests by other laboratories have shown that the amount of DHEA in available preparations varies from none to 50 percent more than the stated amount.
I have long been amazed at the number of Americans who continue to be taken in by the quackery of health promotions that tell them what they want to hear. Since studies have at least shown that DHEA supplements are safe, the most serious risk for people who continue to take this hormone may be a somewhat flattened wallet.
