In the 500 years since Juan Ponce de León went searching for the fountain of youth, an antidote for the aging process has continued to be a holy grail. With 17% of the North American population aged 60 or older, antiaging medicine remains a fast-growing industry,1 and DHEA supplements have been touted as an antiaging “magic bullet” and cure for myriad health problems. Does the hope match the hype, or are consumers getting more- or less- than they expect when buying DHEA over the counter?
From Stock Hormone to Dietary Supplement
DHEA is a steroid prohormone that the human body transforms into androgens (including testosterone) or estrogens as needed. Our adrenal glands produce most of our DHEA, but small amounts come from the testes, ovaries, and brain. DHEA production changes dramatically with age, peaking between the ages of 20 and 30, then steadily declining. By ages 70 to 80, DHEA levels are about 10% to 20% of young adult levels.
In the United States, DHEA was available as an over-the-counter nonprescription drug for a few years in the early 1980s until the FDA banned its sale in 1985, citing a lack of data on health benefits or long-term safety. However, the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act allowed DHEA to be sold again in the United States as a dietary supplement. Production went through the roof while quality control plummeted. Depending on the brand, the quantity of DHEA found in a supplement could be between 0% and 150% of the amount stated on the label.
A recent Consumer Lab review of the efficacy and safety of several popular brands of DHEA found that while the brands tested did contain the amount of DHEA stated on the label, recommended dosages varied by as much as 2,000%, and the cost to get an equivalent amount of DHEA varied by as much as 500% among brands. This is bad news from both a financial and health perspective because while 50 mg/day is enough to restore DHEA levels to the young-adult range of 1.33 to 7.78 ng/mL,1,5 doses as low as 200 mg/day have caused androgenic side effects such as acne, hair loss, and insulin resistance.
For example, most studies looking at the effects of DHEA supplementation on cognition showed no effect or only a small effect on specific cognitive domains such as verbal fluency or working memory, even when circulating DHEA was restored to “youthful levels”. A 2006 Cochrane review of DHEA supplementation for cognitive function in healthy elderly people concluded that the little evidence there is from controlled trials doesn’t support its use to improve memory or other aspects of cognitive function in non-demented middle-aged or elderly people.
No comments:
Post a Comment