DHEA may prevent that age related spare tire around the middle

Comment: This JAMA published study went over only 6 months, and only used a little over 100 participants. Serum Levels of DHEA in the active group was raised to that of a normal young person by the end of the study. Remember, DHEA is hormone, and we know there are consequences for taking hormones for replacement or otherwise. DHEA is known to raise testosterone in females, and insulin like growth factor (IGF 1) in everyone. Since we don't know what consequences DHEA can present over longer term, JAMA publishes this under the heading "preliminary communication."

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http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/292/18/2243
Results Of the 56 men and women enrolled, 52 underwent follow-up evaluations. Compliance with the intervention was 97% in the DHEA group and 95% in the placebo group. Based on intention-to-treat analyses, DHEA therapy compared with placebo induced significant decreases in visceral fat area (–13 cm2 vs +3 cm2, respectively; P = .001) and subcutaneous fat (–13 cm2 vs +2 cm2, P = .003). The insulin area under the curve (AUC) during the OGTT was significantly reduced after 6 months of DHEA therapy compared with placebo (–1119 µU/mL per 2 hours vs +818 µU/mL per 2 hours, P = .007). Despite the lower insulin levels, the glucose AUC was unchanged, resulting in a significant increase in an insulin sensitivity index in response to DHEA compared with placebo (+1.4 vs –0.7, P = .005).
Conclusion DHEA replacement could play a role in prevention and treatment of the metabolic syndrome associated with abdominal obesity.