Evidence Level
DHEA is a hormone precursor with established therapeutic applications. For adrenal insufficiency, it serves as standard adjunctive therapy, supported by Arlt et al.'s 1999 landmark study in the New England Journal of Medicine, which found significant quality-of-life improvements in women taking 50mg daily. In anti-aging contexts, evidence is mixed: while some studies suggest benefits for mood and bone density (Jankowski et al., 2006), others like the DHEAge trial indicate limited effects.
Recent research highlights additional applications. Zhu et al. (2023) conducted a systematic review of 16 RCTs involving 2323 women, finding that DHEA improved clinical pregnancy rates in poor ovarian response patients undergoing IVF-ET. Chen et al. (2021) demonstrated that DHEA supplementation significantly reduced cortisol levels without impacting adipokines or liver enzymes across 10 trials.
However, Qin et al. (2020) noted that DHEA supplementation decreased HDL-C levels (-3.1 mg/dl, p<0.05), with a greater effect in women than men, while having no significant impact on TC, LDL-C, or TG. Wang et al. (2020) found that DHEA lowers fasting plasma glucose (-2.185 mg/dl, P=0.029) but does not affect insulin levels or resistance.
In summary, DHEA has well-supported uses in adrenal insufficiency and fertility, with mixed evidence for anti-aging effects.