It seems that in this hyperkinetic 21st century, we're all looking for an edge. Whether it's for those all-important MCATs or LSATs, for athletic competitions or even in the bedroom, no one wants to come in second place.
To help feed this competitive frenzy, there's now a bevy of companies, both legitimate and shady, that offer a cornucopia of substances that promise to give you that special edge for whatever endeavor in which you're partaking. From sports drinks loaded with caffeine and sugar to supplements promising to make you an athletic or sexual superman (or superwoman), you might think that just by popping a pill, you can be, as the saying goes, "all that you can be."
Unfortunately, there's another saying you need to keep in mind when bombarded with bombastic claims: "If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is." One of the most currently hyped supplements that many claim fall into this category is DHEA, or (take a deep breath) dehydroepiandrosterone. If you Google "DHEA Sports," you'll get well over a million hits. That's because DHEA is touted as a safe alternative to anabolic steroids; it's also marketed as a pro-sexual stimulant that makes you perform like a real "pro."
So just what is this so-called super-supplement? DHEA is a steroid hormone that's secreted by your adrenal glands (small pea-shaped glands sitting on top of your kidneys), as well as your brain, skin, ovaries and testes. Interestingly enough, it's the most abundant circulating steroid in both women and men; levels of DHEA peak when you're in your teens and 20s and then begin a precipitous decline so that people in their 70s and 80s may only have 20 percent of the DHEA they had when they were young.
While DHEA can act on it's own, it's also converted by the body into other steroid hormones, most notably estrogen and testosterone.
It's this last trick of DHEA -- being able to turn into testosterone -- that's gotten it the rep of a wonder supplement. If you read much of the DHEA hype on the Web, you'd get the impression that DHEA can give you all of the benefits of testosterone --increase your muscle mass, decrease obesity and increase your sexual drive and stamina -- without any of the nasty side effects that exogenous testosterone can cause. However, most scientific studies don't seem to bear this wishful thinking out, at least for people in their teens, 20s and 30s. While animal studies have shown that DHEA given to genetically prone obese mice results in significant weight loss, human studies haven't shown the same encouraging responses. In fact, in one study of 659 women, elevated DHEA levels corresponded with increased central obesity!
"So DHEA won't get rid of my beer gut," you say. "At least it'll raise my testosterone levels and help me in the weight room and the bedroom." Again, while I hate to be the bearer of bad news, there just aren't reputable studies backing up these claims.
In one study of young men aged 19 to 27, 50 to 150 milligrams of DHEA taken daily over an eight-week period -- during which the men where engaging in whole-body resistance training -- caused no increase in testosterone levels.
Another similar placebo-controlled study in which young men did resistance training three days a week for eight weeks while taking a combination supplement containing 150 milligrams of DHEA and 300 milligrams of androstenedione (another so-called "pro-testosterone" supplement) showed that those taking the DHEA supplement had no rise in their testosterone levels.
However, there was a rise noted in their estrogen levels, which, in men, can cause loss of libido and breast enlargement.
The bottom line for DHEA supplementation for otherwise young healthy adults is simple -- don't waste your money.
If you want to lose weight and get more muscle mass, doing it the old-fashioned way, with diet and exercise, is still the way to go.
As for pumping up your libido -- that's a subject for another column!
