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Dehydroepiandrosterone
may look like something that could benefit only Chess players, but
bodybuilders have made the hormone - better known as DHEA - one of the
most hottest new supplements around. Produced in the adrenal glands,
DHEA is a 19-carbon steroid that functions as a raw material for other
hormones, such as testosterone and estrogen. Yet unlike other adrenal
hormones such as cortisol, DHEA levels in the body aren't stable. It
peaks at 25 years of age and declines after that.
Scientists concluded
that DHEA lowers low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (the bad
cholesterol) and
also enhances the immune system by inhibiting a damaging enzyme know as
glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. Oddly enough, subsequent studies
failed to prove a similar benefit in women.
Great - but what does
it do for bodybuilders? For one, DHEA doesn't get along too well with
cortisol, inhibiting the catabolic substance in the body. But most
relevant is that DHEA has been shown to increase the amount of natural
insulin like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). And unlike anabolic steroids, DHEA
has been shown to not reduce high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (the
good cholesterol). On the downside, DHEA hasn't been shown to increase IGF-1
action.
The consensus is that
DHEA supplementation could be valuable for the aged, especially in
improving their moods and vigor (50mg a day seems to do the trick), but
whether DHEA has any significant benefits to young bodybuilders isn't
clear. More studies are planned to gauge the precise effect of DHEA on
IFG-1 production.
Find out more about Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) ...
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