Dangers of DHEA Supplements

[Viperspit]

Dangers of DHEA Supplements
One substance currently available as a dietary supplement is in reality a hormone with potentially harmful effects, says the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR). DHEA, or dehydroepiandrosterone, is a hormone, produced by the adrenal gland which is converted to other hormones in the body, such as estrogen and testosterone.

People who take supplements of DHEA may increase their risk for hormone-related cancers such as breast, endometrial, and prostate cancers. And for a person who has one of these cancers, DHEA could cause tumors to grow more quickly, according to the AICR. To date, the Food and Drug Administration has received over 2600 reports of adverse health problems linked to consumers’ use of DHEA. (See Supplements Must be Safe...Right?, Nutrition: Concepts and Controversies, 8e, p. 240.)

—Barbara Quinn, MS, RD, CDE


What are the benifits of DHEA? I guess I never really looked into it, but have seen people running it. I've read on several boards that it has helped the over 40 crowd, but how?

 

[jjohn]

Not very usefull IMO, the fountain of youth was what it was meant for, but no super-effects are noticed..

 

[CDB]

Adverse Incident Reports are about as reliable as a meth addicted ferrett too. Some guy could funnel a gallon of deisel fuel and then take some DHEA and then blame all his problems on the DHEA, or preexisting problems on the DHEA.

 

[jjohn]

Adverse Incident Reports are about as reliable as a meth addicted ferrett too. Some guy could funnel a gallon of deisel fuel and then take some DHEA and then blame all his problems on the DHEA, or preexisting problems on the DHEA.

:jaw:

 

[Moyer]

Study: DHEA booster reduces 'spare tire'

Taking a supplement that boosts the hormone DHEA significantly reduced abdominal fat and improved insulin action in a small group of elderly patients, according to a new study.

Accumulation of abdominal fat -- the so-called "spare tire" -- is one of the more common effects of aging. The research adds this phenomenon to bone-density loss and perhaps other aging problems brought about at least in part by a plunge in levels of the hormone.

Produced by the adrenal glands, DHEA levels peak in humans at about age 20, and then gradually decline. By age 70, we have only about 20 percent of that young-adult peak amount left circulating.

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis had already found in rat studies that giving a DHEA supplement helped protect against both insulin resistance brought on by a high-fat diet and a decrease in insulin responsiveness that occurs as we age.

"We wanted to test whether our findings in the rat studies would hold true in people, whether DHEA could reverse some of the metabolic complications of aging if DHEA levels in elderly people were returned to the levels of their youth," said Dr. Dennis Villareal, an assistant professor of medicine. He is co-author of the study, published Wednesday in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

The test was carried out on 28 women and 28 men, ages 65 to 78. Half of the patients were randomly assigned to receive a placebo, while the others got 50 milligrams of DHEA daily. Neither the doctors nor the patients knew who got which pill until the six- month study was over.

The researchers used magnetic resonance imaging to measure the amount of abdominal fat and oral glucose-tolerance tests to gauge improvement in insulin action. The images showed significant decreases in both visceral (within the abdomen) and subcutaneous (just below the skin surface of the middle) fat in both men and women.

The improvement in insulin action closely followed the decreases in abdominal fat.

"Among the different fat stores, visceral fat is specifically considered potent and metabolically active, because blood drains directly to the liver," Villareal said. "Fatty acids from visceral fat get deposited in the liver and other organs and then bring about the decrease in insulin action that leads to an increased risk for diabetes."

The researchers found no adverse effects from taking the DHEA supplement, which is already widely available as a dietary supplement without prescription.

Villareal and co-author Dr. John Holloszy are now working to set up a larger study of seniors ages 65-75 to track the effect of the supplement for a full year.

Text of fax box follows:

By the numbers

Abdominal fat fell by an average of 10.2 percent in the women and 7.4 percent in the men on DHEA therapy, and about a 6 percent decrease in fat below the skin surface in both sexes.

I think it has its place, especially for people over 50. I'm not saying it should be used during PCT though.

 

[yeahright]

Dr.D likes it as part of PCT. This caution appears warranted with anything introduced into the body which increases hormone levels or changes their balances. The body is a collection of complicated systems. Something which feeds hypertrophy could simultanously feed a tumor.

 

[dannyboy9]

I've read that DHEA isn't at all that much effective unless taken in high doses like say, 1500 milligrams?

 

[yeahright]

I've read that DHEA isn't at all that much effective unless taken in high doses like say, 1500 milligrams?

Yikes, that strikes me as a bad idea.

 

[dannyboy9]

Bump

 

[bioman]

DHEA certainly has it's uses whether or not those uses are linked to BBing and sports. For helping those with low DHEA levels..it's an obvious plus as it was for my wife. She had all kinds of wierd symptoms we could not pin down..anxiety, heart palpitations, low libido. After scores of tests and cardio monitoring the Drs said there was nothing wrong.

We got her hormone levels tested by a naturopath and it was discovered her DHEA levels were low. After several weeks of taking 5 mg doses ED, she felt remarkably better..anxiety stopped, libido increased, heart palpitations were minimized to almost nothing. She's only 30, but after 10 years of oral birthcontrol it seems to have hammered her endocrine system pretty hard. DHEA was the key to reversing this..and I think played a very small role in helping us to get pregnant (gotta have libido).

The claims that DHEA and other hormones are cancer-causing are not very well founded at all. Certainly, some lines of tumors feed off of your own hormones but it would be maladaptive to say the least if your body's own hormones actually caused cell mutation leading to cancer. If it were true that your own hormones..at natural levels no less...could cause your death, then we should be outlawing genitals and endocrine systems worldwide.

Much of the anti-DHEA hype comes from the anti-doping lobby for the sports empire. There basic premise is that all of humanity should be stripped of anything useful IF some stupid athlete can cheat with it. I say they should take care of their own and leave the rest of us be.

 

[JonesersRX7]

:goodpost:

 

[ndfan]

I've read that DHEA isn't at all that much effective unless taken in high doses like say, 1500 milligrams?

Thats alot of pills to be taking:jaw:

 

[motiv8er]

Read Dr. D's posts on DHEA. I have used it in PCT with good results. At 100-200 mgs TOPS. With an AI.

 

[Carl Hungus]

Any substance that enhances hormone levels would increase the risk/growth rate of hormone mediated tumors. Nothing shocking there.

 

[bioman]

Yep. Yet it's strange they don't go into the same convulsions over oral birth control and estrogen replacement therapies. It's all the same..raising of endogenous hormone levels = equals elevation of risk of tumor growth. Some sources play fast and loose over the terms "cancer causing' though and I find that to be irresponsible.

 

[R-Mac]

Read Dr. D's posts on DHEA. I have used it in post cycle therapy with good results. At 100-200 mgs TOPS. With an AI.

same here I had libido issues during PCT and thanks to Dr. D I started taking 100 mg DHEA 2x/day and within days my libido was hoping again...

 

[FYI777]

Seems like you can find both sides to everything if you look hard enough.

Prevention of prostate cancer by androgens: experimental paradox or clinical reality.

Algarte-Genin M, Cussenot O, Costa P.

CeRePP/EA3104, UFR Biomedicale, Universite Paris 5/Paris 7, France.

Androgen replacement therapy in the aging male with partial androgen deficiency improved quality of life. However, such treatment is prohibited for men with a preexisting prostate cancer. The possibility of an increased risk of prostate cancer for healthy men has also been suggested on theoretical basis but recent experimental data showed that androgens may act in prevention of prostate cancer. In this review, we try to evaluate benefits and risks associated to a hormonal replacement therapy in regard to recent data. Several studies analyzing the role of testosterone for prostatic epithelial cells evidenced that testosterone acts in prostatic cell differentiation but does not have a direct role for induction of cell proliferation. Moreover, clinical studies have shown that low free testosterone levels in serum is associated with aggressive prostate cancer, like that has been observed in men with prostate cancer under prostate cancer chemoprevention by finasteride. These data suggest that an androgen pathway disruption in prostate is responsible of cell deregulations that may be associated not only with apoptosis of differentiated prostatic cells but also with potential cell transformation. The effects of androgens withdrawal for prostate cancer therapy induced in a short time the tumor arrest growth. However with time, cells adapt to low levels of androgens leading to the evolution of an androgen-independent tumor, which is more aggressive and most often fatal. The molecular mechanisms of this evolution begin to merge. A hypothesis is that such mechanisms could be initiated in elderly men with an androgen deficiency. The question is raised of whether hormonal replacement therapy could prevent prostate cancer. An encouraging recent study performed on rats demonstrated a protective effect of DHEA for prostate cancer. However, the putative role of the normalization of DHEA or other androgen levels in prevention of prostate cancer should be evaluated in clinical trials.

Publication Types:

 

[Striate]

DHEA certainly has it's uses whether or not those uses are linked to BBing and sports. For helping those with low DHEA levels..it's an obvious plus as it was for my wife. She had all kinds of wierd symptoms we could not pin down..anxiety, heart palpitations, low libido. After scores of tests and cardio monitoring the Drs said there was nothing wrong.

We got her hormone levels tested by a naturopath and it was discovered her DHEA levels were low. After several weeks of taking 5 mg doses ED, she felt remarkably better..anxiety stopped, libido increased, heart palpitations were minimized to almost nothing. She's only 30, but after 10 years of oral birthcontrol it seems to have hammered her endocrine system pretty hard. DHEA was the key to reversing this..and I think played a very small role in helping us to get pregnant (gotta have libido).

The claims that DHEA and other hormones are cancer-causing are not very well founded at all. Certainly, some lines of tumors feed off of your own hormones but it would be maladaptive to say the least if your body's own hormones actually caused cell mutation leading to cancer. If it were true that your own hormones..at natural levels no less...could cause your death, then we should be outlawing genitals and endocrine systems worldwide.

Much of the anti-DHEA hype comes from the anti-doping lobby for the sports empire. There basic premise is that all of humanity should be stripped of anything useful IF some stupid athlete can cheat with it. I say they should take care of their own and leave the rest of us be.

5 mg ED is the dose she took?

 

[bioman]

Yes, she ramped to 10 mg after 2 weeks and the effects seemed even better. After raising it to 15 mg, we decided that 10 was better as her moods were more even at that dose.

Testing DHEA levels before and after to achieve the proper level is recommended and a naturopath or willing Dr can help with this easily.

 

[bbuck]

Here is alink to a decent read on the subject.

Le Magazine, March 2004 - Cover Story: The Dhea Debate

 

[FYI777]

I didn't know that there were 2 bills in congress to ban DHEA but I'm not surprised 1 iota.

The only reason there is a "debate" IMHO is that big business pharm. co's. want control of DHEA,i.e. make it perscription only,only with a doctor's consent,ect. (they got the andros away from us,God knows what would have happened if they didn't save us from them) Being that the boomers are approaching old age they didn't get to grab DHEA,unlike the andros where there was a smaller population of vested interest.(therefore less protest,no march on Washington,no riots,ect.)Moral majority rules I guess.

Peoples rights are being zapped and unless the American people get wiser faster I don't know what will come of any of our supplements and alternative health care.

 

[Beau]

I didn't know that there were 2 bills in congress to ban DHEA but I'm not surprised 1 iota.

The only reason there is a "debate" IMHO is that big business pharm. co's. want control of DHEA,i.e. make it perscription only,only with a doctor's consent,ect. (they got the andros away from us,God knows what would have happened if they didn't save us from them) Being that the boomers are approaching old age they didn't get to grab DHEA,unlike the andros where there was a smaller population of vested interest.(therefore less protest,no march on Washington,no riots,ect.)Moral majority rules I guess.

Peoples rights are being zapped and unless the American people get wiser faster I don't know what will come of any of our supplements and alternative health care.

At the end of the day, I don't see this in any way as a moral majority issue, and (although I respect your opinion) I don't see that as the driving or opposing force. In contrast, were the issue abortion - I would agree; that is something fueled by morality.

I see this issue as nothing more than your rightfully suggested pharm company ploy. They want control of everything dispensed due to financial implications. Because of the lobbying interest (read = huge campaign contributions), our elected officials (the beneficiaries of those contributions) seem more than happy to "protect us" by making sure we can only obtain these types of substances as prescribed medications that can only be dispensed by a pharm company in response to a script. To the pharm companies, supplements (and those who distribute them) are Satan incarnate - because their sales takes $ out of the pharm companies’ coffers.

Remember, our good pals at the FDA have said that a "disease" may only be treated by a "drug", not a supplement. Gee, I wonder how that came about.

This isn’t postured as a moral issue. It is solely a financial issue covered up by a campaign marketed to an under-informed populace who has been lead to believe all hormones/hormone precursors are evil. Watch out for that awful melatonin – it is out to get you!!!

 

[FYI777]

I meant to imply the "andro issue" and/or steroids was a moral issue i.e.taking supplements to build muscle was somehow wrong,whereby going to a plastic surgeon is alright.
Quite frankly this morality is being forced down our throats by the do gooders,look at that thing with the tour de France issue.I look at as using science to increase ergonomic performance not as cheating.More research should be encouraged not subject to a "witch hunt".This research could help humanity such as the weak people able to care for themselves rather than being resigned to a wheelchair for example.

 

[pmgamer18]

I am taking DHEA been taking it for sometime now but my levels are very low on a blood test. My wife has a bad Thyroid and has not felt right on Thyroid meds. I got her to stop seening Endo's and her new Dr. did a lot of testing things like 24 hrs urine, Hair testing and blood work. He found her to have Adrenal Fatigue and her DHEA was very low. He started treating the worst problem first and this was her DHEA. He started her on 25mgs 2x's a day and now in 60 days she is feeling so much better. So if your low on it take it.
Phil

 

[eisenmench]

New products proved safe?

Dangers of DHEA Supplements
One substance currently available as a dietary supplement is in reality a hormone with potentially harmful effects, says the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR). DHEA, or dehydroepiandrosterone, is a hormone, produced by the adrenal gland which is converted to other hormones in the body, such as estrogen and testosterone.

People who take supplements of DHEA may increase their risk for hormone-related cancers such as breast, endometrial, and prostate cancers. And for a person who has one of these cancers, DHEA could cause tumors to grow more quickly, according to the AICR. To date, the Food and Drug Administration has received over 2600 reports of adverse health problems linked to consumers’ use of DHEA. (See Supplements Must be Safe...Right?, Nutrition: Concepts and Controversies, 8e, p. 240.)

—Barbara Quinn, MS, RD, CDE


What are the benifits of DHEA? I guess I never really looked into it, but have seen people running it. I've read on several boards that it has helped the over 40 crowd, but how?

How many times a year have unknown untested products been advertised as the next muscle builder. They have invested maybe $20.00 in long term health research before putting all this junk on line. Dhea has been around awhile, this cannot be said for every hurriedly developed fad to foist on the public.

 

[ROSSELL_34]

How long is DHEA detectable in your system? I have to take a drug test for a job next month and was wondering if i should worry about this.

 

[RedwolfWV]

DHEA is completely legal. It is sold in most Wal-Marts. No need to worry about it in a drug test.

 

[ROSSELL_34]

thanks for the answer. wasn't sure of that.

 

[Shaolin Style]

At the end of the day, I don't see this in any way as a moral majority issue, and (although I respect your opinion) I don't see that as the driving or opposing force. In contrast, were the issue abortion - I would agree; that is something fueled by morality.

I see this issue as nothing more than your rightfully suggested pharm company ploy. They want control of everything dispensed due to financial implications. Because of the lobbying interest (read = huge campaign contributions), our elected officials (the beneficiaries of those contributions) seem more than happy to "protect us" by making sure we can only obtain these types of substances as prescribed medications that can only be dispensed by a pharm company in response to a script. To the pharm companies, supplements (and those who distribute them) are Satan incarnate - because their sales takes $ out of the pharm companies’ coffers.

Remember, our good pals at the FDA have said that a "disease" may only be treated by a "drug", not a supplement. Gee, I wonder how that came about.

This isn’t postured as a moral issue. It is solely a financial issue covered up by a campaign marketed to an under-informed populace who has been lead to believe all hormones/hormone precursors are evil. Watch out for that awful melatonin – it is out to get you!!!

WORD!!:cheers: