A hormone supplement marketed as a "fountain of youth" is probably no wonder drug, an expert argued Wednesday.
DHEA, the precursor to a number of hormones, is being sold to counter aging, immune system dysfunction and depression.But research shows that doctors still do not understand how it might work, and animal tests showing remarkable effects might not apply to people, Richard Miller of the University of Michigan said in an editorial in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
"(DHEA) may indeed play a key role in the timing of human life-history events," Miller wrote. But he said taking it in pill form may not counter such natural events.
Made by the adrenal glands, DHEA is at peak levels at age 25 and declines after that. Because levels are lower in older people, it is touted as an anti-aging supplement.
"There was so much of it in young adults, and its levels declined so convincingly in older people that it just had to do something good, didn't it?" Miller said in the editorial.
DHEA injections have been shown to boost the immune systems of mice and levels of the hormone drop in people with AIDS, breast cancer and cardiovascular disease.
But Miller added: "New data and new arguments have begun to temper the excess of enthusiasm for this mysterious steroid."
Tests in rats and mice may not apply to people - particularly since these animals do not produce DHEA naturally. Studies in people have shown that those who have high DHEA levels in middle age are no less likely to die of cardiovascular disease.