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DHEA
Anti-Fat Nutrient Fat Burning Function
D H E A
(Dehydroepiandrosterone)
In Depth
What is it?
DHEA is a hormone substance secreted by the adrenal glands. It is the second most
abundant steroid produced in the body. DHEA blood levels peak at about age twenty to twenty-five
in both men and women and decline to less than 5% of this peak by the age of eighty. Evidence
indicates that DHEA is very safe- safer in fact than aspirin.
Technically, DHEA is a "pro-hormone" rather than an active hormone. It is the precursor to the
steroid hormones of the body, including estrogen, progesterone, cortisone, testosterone and other
steroid and sex hormones. DHEA can be converted to these otherwise difficult to construct
hormones as needed, and any excess is simply excreted.
How Does It Work?
Besides providing the building blocks for many of the body's most important hormones, DHEA
works by inhibiting an enzyme called G6PD (glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase), which serves to
store fat. The unstored fat is then either shunted into energy pathways or excreted. Obese individuals
have been recognized as excreting less DHM through the urine than do non-obese individuals, and
this suggests that they are producing much less of this pro hormone. Douglas L. Coleman and Edward
H. Leiter of the Jackson Laboratory of Bar Harbor, Maine have found that very large doses of DHEA
can apparently block or even reverse the effects of the genes responsible for obesity and diabetes in
experimental animals. The blockage of G6PD may also explain the anti-tumor activity of DHEA in both animals
and humans.
DHEA is known to increase the insulin sensitivity of cells, an important factor in both diabetes
and obesity. It also increases sensitivity to thyroid hormone, thus improving thermogenesis, fat metabolism and
energy production. Finally, it improves liver function, thus ameliorating a weakness common to obese individuals.
Other Benefits of DHEA
-Improves the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis.
-May be a chemopreventative agent against cancer.
-May prevent or reverse some forms of diabetes.
-Enhances the functions of the immune system.
-Improves brain function.
-Protects against infections.
-May be a substitute for estrogen replacement.
-Exhibits life extension properties in laboratory animals.
How Is It Available and How Should It Be Taken?
Steroid precursors to DHEA occur naturally in the Mexican wild yam (Dioscoria floribunda) and in some
other plants. Chinese medicine has long used species of yam to supply the building blocks for the body's own
hormones. However, there is considerable dispute as to whether the human body can transform these steroid precursors
into DHEA. For those who want to give one of these substances a try, there are various products on the market
which include Mexican yam or its extract.
Dallas Clouatre, Ph.D.
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