Another problem often linked to aging is lowered insulin sensitivity. That often leads to diabetes, the fourth greatest cause of death. In rats, DHEA lowers insulin and increases insulin sensitivity, but as rats don’t produce DHEA, extrapolating the effect to humans is a stretch. Results in human studies vary, with some subjects who have blunted adrenal gland function showing more effects on insulin when they take DHEA. Longevity is closely linked to insulin; healthy older people always have low resting insulin and higher insulin sensitivity. Having more insulin means more bodyfat gain and buildup of several fat-synthesizing enzymes. In ongoing studies of monkeys on calorie-restricted diets, lower insulin, less diabetes, less bodyfat and more DHEA were consistent results. While having too much insulin points toward atherosclerosis and heart disease, DHEA opposes those effects. In animals DHEA prevents the buildup of plaque in arteries after a high-fat diet and prevents the internal clot formation that is the immediate cause of most heart attacks and strokes.

DHEA may help prevent bodyfat increase. It always has that effect in animals—quite potently. While a study of young men showed that a daily dose of 1,600 milligrams of DHEA significantly lessened bodyfat, follow-up studies failed to confirm the finding. Cell studies show that DHEA prevents development of new fat cells. Other studies show that it inhibits an enzyme required for cells to convert sugar into fat. A 2004 study of older men and women published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that DHEA depleted deep-lying abdominal fat and improved insulin sensitivity.

When you read that an older person died of “old age,” it usually means that the person didn’t die from the usual causes of death, such as heart disease or cancer. What then was the cause? Often it’s related to a loss of immune response. Diseases rarely fatal in the young, such as pneumonia, often prove fatal to older people, who lack the immune defense against them. Cortisol, which suppresses immunities, increases with age, while DHEA levels decline.

That may explain why the immune system fades, setting you up for diseases like cancer. It’s the major reason that cancer is so prevalent in the aged. DHEA may help maintain the immune system. One way it does that is by blocking the impact of cortisol.

A recent review pointed out that exercise helps control cortisol, thereby maintaining immunity. Exercise—but not overtraining—tips the metabolic scales in favor of DHEA over cortisol. Both aerobics and weight training may help too. Calorie restriction, which extends life in many species but remains a speculative issue in humans, increases DHEA. Alcohol intake lowers it, as do caffeine and high-stress conditions.

A study published in the June 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society measured serum DHEA in 940 men and women, aged 21 to 88, and monitored them from 1978 to 2005. The researchers found that having less DHEA-S was significantly associated with shorter life span, and higher DHEA-S counts were a strong predictor of longevity in men even after adjusting for age, blood pressure and plasma glucose. They found no relationship between DHEA and longevity in women, however. Interestingly, they found no significant difference in longevity until after 15 years of follow-up, which they suggest could explain the negative findings concerning DHEA and male longevity in previous studies.

Side effects vary with sex. DHEA should be avoided by men who have prostate disease. In younger men it may convert into a metabolite of DHT, which may or may not lead to male-pattern baldness, acne and prostate problems. The most common side effect in women is acne; DHEA is the major cause of teenage acne too. Some people experience a minor elevation in liver enzymes when using DHEA, but it’s temporary and not considered a major problem. Others report an increase in body hair, likely the result of the androgenic effects of DHEA in women. When such effects do occur, they nearly always happen with doses of more than 100 milligrams daily. The usual replacement dose is 50 milligrams. The use of the word replacement is a bit of a stretch, as there’s no evidence that DHEA is essential to life.

A movement is under way in Congress to have DHEA added to the list of banned anabolic steroids. That’s because it can be a precursor of testosterone, though there’s no evidence that DHEA has any significant anabolic effects. For that reason DHEA remains the sole survivor of the FDA pro-hormone purge of 2005 and is still an ingredient in several “anabolic” supplements. The evidence, however, demonstrates that DHEA, when taken in daily doses of 50 milligrams or less, is benign and may provide some benefits related to the aging process and disease prevention. The best way to determine if DHEA would be helpful for you is to have a blood test for DHEA-S.

About 15 percent of those over 40 have normal DHEA counts, and for them supplementing it would do little or nothing. For the other 85 percent, however, supplemental use of DHEA remains a matter of intense scientific debate, stemming from the fact that most of the research showing its benefits involved animals that produce little or no DHEA and test-tube studies. On the other hand, a body of human research shows that those who are low in DHEA can derive quality-of-life benefits from the still enigmatic substance.

__________________
What a RUSHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!