The Effect of DHEA on Abdominal Fat and Insulin Resistance
The November 10^th issue of the AMA journal, JAMA, included a study of DHEA replacement therapy in patients between 65 and 78 years old who had tested low on DHEA. Most of them were overweight. Specifically the researchers tracked cell responsiveness to insulin via insulin levels and glucose tolerance testing, and the thickness of abdominal fat via MRI scanning after 6 months of 50mg of DHEA daily. The results were rather dramatic. Insulin levels secreted in response to glucose challenge were significantly reduced, indicating reduction in insulin resistance. Also, there was about a 10% drop in the thickness of the abdominal fat pad, the main reservoir of fat deposition in insulin resistant patients. 

This study is important both for its conclusions, and for its appearance in the AMA journal. It occasionally happens that plain old good science breaks through political, economic, and scientific bias. DHEA is available over the counter. It is inexpensive and not patentable, and it was the subject of considerable “hype” in the alternative medicine world 10 years ago. All these things normally act as a catalyst for establishment medicine to attempt to “trash” the supplement. There were plenty of those type of article in the past. Yet here we have a positive study appearing in the AMA journal. I don’t know that the media has picked up on it. Thoroughly controlled by the medical-industrial-governmental complex, it is usually only adverse supplement study results that make the nightly news. The recent report on Vitamin E is a good example of this, and of course, there have been many others over the years.

The results of this study clearly point to DHEA as an important therapy for obese and insulin resistant patients. Individuals who have disproportionate accumulation of fat around the belly area are known to be at high risk of metabolic syndrome X, also known as insulin resistance syndrome. Please check my prior newsletters for more detail on this crucial and common health problem. Such patients, as well as those with already diagnosed adult onset diabetes need to have their DHEA levels checked. Even with results in the “normal” range, consideration should be given to the prescription of DHEA replacement therapy in individuals with abdominal obesity with or without impaired glucose tolerance or elevated insulin levels. It is also possible that further study may reveal that DHEA replacement may have a role in the prevention of the increasing adiposity that occurs even at a stable weight as individuals age. In other words a patient at 25 years old may be 15% body fat at 170 pound, but when that same individual gets to be 65 and manages to maintain the same weight, he will probably test out at 25% body fat, or higher. It also may be able to prevent the development of metabolic syndrome, which would have huge beneficial effects on the overall health of affected individuals. I would caution my patients that indiscriminate self prescribing of DHEA is inadvisable. Baseline and post replacement hormone levels should be done. As a “prohormone” (hormone precursor) DHEA is partially converted into testosterone in females, and into estrogen in both males and females. Work with your natural medicine doctor to get the best results from DHEA replacement therapy.

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