Page 15 - The DHEA Debate - Life Extensions Magazine

Naysayer: What about people undergoing surgery?

Stephen Cherniske: Surgical stress has been shown to seriously deplete DHEA, leaving the
patient in a more vulnerable state.147,148 Post-surgical use of DHEA is one of the most
appropriate uses of this repair and regenerative signaling molecule.

Naysayer: Who else would be a candidate for DHEA? Don’t say, “76 million baby boomers.” I
want solid science.

Stephen Cherniske: How about 19 million Americans with depression?149 That’s nearly 10% of
the adult population.

Naysayer: Studies do show that depressed individuals have much lower levels of DHEA
compared to age-matched controls.10 But that doesn’t mean DHEA is a treatment for
depression.

Stephen Cherniske: Yes, it is. Numerous studies show that DHEA has profound antidepressive
benefits.17,20,150 Here is one example:
“Elevated cortisol-DHEA ratios may be a state marker of depressive illness and may
contribute to the associated deficits in learning and memory. Administration of DHEA
may reduce neurocognitive deficits in major depression.”151
We now know that the brain manufactures large amounts of DHEA. In fact, brain concentrations
of DHEA are much higher than plasma concentrations. And just like blood levels, brain levels of
DHEA fall dramatically with advancing age.152 DHEA is now recognized as a critically important
neurosteroid, playing an active role in neurotransmitter function, memory, and cognition. And
while I am not suggesting that DHEA can treat Alzheimer’s disease, it is certainly interesting to
note that DHEA levels in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients are far lower than in age-matched
controls.153 A study reported in the Journal of Endocrinology Investigations explores the
mechanism by which DHEA may block the toxic effects of stress hormones, and concludes that
because aging is associated with increasing stress, DHEA may well be of benefit to the normal
aging brain.154A report in the World Journal of Biological Psychiatry concludes that restoring
hormone balance in the brain via supplemental DHEA may significantly reduce risk for many
psychiatric diseases.20
Importantly, the area of the brain most vulnerable to age-related degeneration is the
hippocampus. In healthy elderly subjects, hippocampal volume has been found to correlate
directly with DHEA levels,155 and in animal studies, DHEA supplementation has been found not
only to protect the hippocampus from stress hormone-related damage, but also to promote the
anabolic repair of nerve tissue and even promote the formation of new neurons. A study just
published in the European Journal of Neuroscience concludes:
“These results show that DHEA, a steroid prominent in the blood and cerebral
environment of humans, but which decreases markedly with age and during major
depressive disorder, regulates neurogenesis in the hippocampus and modulates the
inhibitory effect of increased corticoids on both the formation of new neurons and their
survival.”156
In other areas of mental health, DHEA levels were found to correlate directly with better
symptom scores in a group of schizophrenic patients. The authors note:

“Higher DHEA levels were significantly correlated with lower symptom ratings, better
performance on some measures of memory and lower ratings of Parkinsonian
symptoms.” A follow-up placebo-controlled human trial published in the Archives of