DHEA

(Dehydroepiandrosterone)

• As you get older, some of your body's natural resources get depleted.  This might explain why you're less energetic or why you're noticing more aches and pains than ever before.   Some researchers now believe that many of the effects of aging may be caused by low levels of DHEA.  DHEA levels are even less for smokers and heavy drinkers. People take DHEA for anti-aging, anti-disease, increase energy, or body-building.

• DHEA is referred to as the "Mother Hormone" because it is the raw material for most of the steroid hormones produced by the body. Hormones are chemicals secreted by glands and tissues to give overall body control. The body contains steroidal and non-steroidal hormones, and DHEA is the most abundant out of approximately 150 steroidal hormones and their metabolites.

• So, why take supplements if DHEA is naturally produces in the body? As we age, the body progressively makes less of it, as well as stress. DHEA is synthesized from cholesterol by pregnenolone and other steps in the astrocyte cells of the brain and cortex of the adrenal glands.

• DHEA can be increased by living a healthy lifestyle which includes exercise, caloric restriction, and meditation. However, in order to restore DHEA to the levels of a 20-year-old, supplementation is required. This can possibly make a difference maximizing resistance to stress, or the body's response to a disease.

• Because very few people have taken supplemental DHEA for more than a few years, nothing is considered proven. However, some people have taken 25 to 50 mg per day for about 14 years while others have taken 2 grams a day for two years, and they have not experienced ill effect. Lab animals have been fed as much as a gram a day, which is equivalent of 200 to 400 grams or more for humans and have not experienced death.

• Questions have been raised about natural production of DHEA stopping once supplementation is taken. Although there have not been any long-term studies in humans, taking moderate doses does not seem to decrease natural production. The only effect if one stops taking the supplement appears to be that DHEA will fall back to the level it had been in the body previously.

• Caution: Because of the potential for increased testosterone, estradiol,kand other hormone production, men with prostate cancer should not be usig DHEA, except under medical supervision, even though some doctors believe that DHEA might be a benefit to metastatic prostate cancer patients. Also, women with reproductive cancers and or reproductive pre-cancerous conditions should not use DHEA, except under medical supervision.

Optimal Nutrients Literature: Summarized

Other Prohormone and Hormone Info:

[ Androstendione ] [ DHEA ] [ 19 Nor Androstendione ] [ Pregnenolone ] [ Melatonin ]

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