“Serum levels of estrone (E1) and estradiol (E2) did not change following DHEA administration by any of the three formulations, while serum androstenedione (4-dione), testosterone, DHEA sulfate (DHEA-S), E(1)-S, androsterone glucuronide (ADT-G) and 3alpha-androstanediol-G (3alpha-diol-G), increased in all cases, the effect on these parameters being more important after oral than percutaneous administration due to the metabolism of DHEA into these metabolites in the gastrointestinal tract and liver.“
Well there you have it. The study goes on to say that DHEA is absorbed equally well as a transdermal drug or an oral drug but it converts more successfully into androgens through oral consumption. It also states that it converts more readily into androgens then into estrogens. That’s good news for us.
But here’s the bad news:
“Most importantly, the present data show that changes in serum DHEA following oral or percutaneous DHEA administration are not a valid parameter of DHEA action since the increase in serum DHEA is at least 100% greater than the increase in the formation of active androgens and estrogens and thus much higher than the potential physiological effects.”
So basically what I’m getting out of that is that the vast majority of the DHEA absorbed doesn’t convert into anything but remains DHEA and is therefore potentially useless. But even so, science still doesn’t understand all the functions of DHEA. Maybe it’s good to have high DHEA even if a lot of it isn’t converting.