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DHEA Is Latest Supplement Craze | |
| By IRA DREYFUSS Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - It's a legal substance, it's not hard to buy, and the body can turn it into the muscle-building hormone testosterone. But even supporters of DHEA say athletes should stay away from it. Known short-term side effects range from acne to aggression, any long-term side effects are not yet known, and there's no evidence that it can build muscle in healthy young people, they say. The steroid chemical is banned by the International Olympic Committee and National Collegiate Athletic Association. Nonetheless, some researchers say athletes are experimenting with it. "I have no real objective hard data on how many people are using it, but I know it is being used at the high elite levels and at what you could call the gym level," said researcher Charles E. Yesalis of Penn State University. "I have talked to people who are using this drug." "I do not want kids and people in their 20s to abuse this," said Dr. Ray Sahelian, head of the Melatonin and DHEA Research Institute in Marina del Rey, Calif. "Those using it as muscle building are taking amounts that ... I don't feel comfortable with at all." DHEA, an abbreviation of its chemical name, dehydroepiandrosterone, is itself a hormone, made in the adrenal glands located just above the kidneys. The body uses it to, among other things, make the male hormone testosterone, although the main source of testosterone is the testes. Because levels of both hormones decline with age, some researchers believe that boosting DHEA could boost the other. Some studies have found that DHEA can improve feelings of vigor and energy in older men and women, Sahelian said. But when DHEA is prescribed as hormone replacement therapy, there commonly are side effects such as oily skin, acne, additional body hair growth and aggressiveness, he said. Other side effects may not have shown themselves yet because people have not been taking DHEA long enough, said Dr. Gary I. Wadler, an expert on supplement use and an assistant professor of medicine at Cornell University Medical College. "When people say it's a hormone and it's safe, I say, "Yeah?'," Wadler said. Adverse effects of hormones can take decades to show up, he said. He gave as an example the higher cancer rates of children born to mothers who were given diethylstilbestrol -DES. The synthetic estrogen, now banned, had been used to prevent pregnancy complications. Judging from discussions on Internet newsgroups, many athletes are experimenting with DHEA, said Wadler's son, David, a Brown University graduate who monitors the Internet as he starts his own software company. And some doctors are becoming concerned about the experimentation. Dr. James E. Meade, medical director of the Penn State Family Health clinic, recently put out a call for more information via an Internet newsgroup on sports medicine. He found little research. Despite the researchers' misgivings about DHEA, it is easy to buy. Unlike some other hormones, such as estrogen and testosterone, DHEA is sold over the counter and by mail order as a nutritional supplement. It is one of a group of hormones that were freed for nonprescription sales through a 1994 law that changed the powers of the Food and Drug Administration to regulate such products. The law allows sales provided no drug claims are made in the packaging or promotion, according to Brad Stone, an FDA spokesman. Under the law, the FDA can't have DHEA taken off the market unless the agency proves that using the hormone would create a medical problem. Weider Nutrition Group, a Salt Lake City-based branch of the Weider publishing and exercise product empire, is among those marketing DHEA. The hormone is safe if used as directed, said Luke R. Bucci, Weider Nutrition's vice president of research. But it's meant for older people who may have a deficit, not younger people whose bodies make all they need, Bucci said. "Any time something is pegged as anabolic (muscle-building), a lot of weight lifters are very interested," he said. "But we don't know about younger people." And athletes who expect DHEA to help them bulk up may be disappointed, said Dr. Andrew L. Pipe, director of the Canadian Centre for Drug-Free Sport in Ottawa. DHEA is "anabolic slightly - very weak," he said. Copyright 1996 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | |