DHEA Dosages

BENEFITS - Sellers and some researchers report that DHEA supplements may be taken to restore youthful vigor, enhance sexual potency, prevent heart disease, enhance mood and memory, and improve the immune system.

HOW IT WORKS - Supplements can give elderly people the DHEA levels of twenty-five-year-olds.

THE EVIDENCE - In the 1960s, French physician Etienne Emile Baulieu, M.D., discovered DHEA's antiaging properties. (Baulieu also developed the so-called French abortion pill. In a recent study, an endocrinologist at the University of California, San Diego, Samuel Yen, M.D., gave so mg DHEA supplements to thirty men and women, ages forty to seventy, for six months. The subjects felt substantially better physically and psychologically, and they had fewer aches and pains.

HOW TO FIND DHEA - Consumers need to be aware that some over-the-counter products may not actually contain DHEA. Manufacturers can make DHEA from diosgenin, a compound found in a species of wild Mexican yam. But our bodies can't convert diosgenin or the yam product into DHEA. The only sure way to get DHEA is by prescription. However, DHEA is likely to be found in over-the-counter products made by reputable brand name supplement makers.

IS IT SAFE ? Short-term side effects: Even doctors who support the use of supplemental DHEA express caution, noting that high doses of DHEA can cause acne, unwanted hair growth among women, and deepening of the voice. Long-term side effects: DHEA raises estrogen levels in women and testosterone levels in men. Women should have mammograms and men should get prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests before and during DHEA supplementation to ensure that taking DHEA won't trigger the growth of malignancies.

DOSAGE - Ray Sahelian, M.D. author of DHEA: A Practical Guide (Avery Publishing Group, 1996), recommends that people start taking DHEA at a low dose, 5 mg daily. Women may gradually increase the dosage over several months to 25 mg daily and men may gradually increase the daily dosage to 50 mg.

A SAFE APPROACH - "I do not feel comfortable with doses more than 25 mg without a prescription," says Sahelian, "and there are 50,100, and even 200 mg supplements being sold out there." He believes the best approach, if you think you might benefit from DHEA, is to find a doctor willing to measure your body's levels, prescribe the hormone, and monitor your health.