Here's something that will make your turn gray: a "fountain of youth" is nothing more than a washout, researchers at the Mayo Clinic said.

Touted as an anti-aging supplement, DHEA fails to affect muscle strength, peak endurance, muscle mass, fat mass and glucose tolerance in elderly people, according to a Mayo study.

Furthermore, Mayo researchers say, men who take low-dose testosterone as an anti-aging drug also will see no benefits and could set themselves up for a higher risk of prostate cancer.

The findings come as sales for dehydroepiandrosterone, or DHEA, topped $50 million last year. But the results dispel the belief that DHEA, which is sold extensively in health and grocery stores, can reverse the signs of aging, says Dr. K. Sreekumaran Nair, an endocrinologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and the study's lead researcher.

DHEA is used by the body to make sex hormones. Marketing and advertising on the Internet and publications herald the substance as a "fountain of youth" that can slow the aging process and treat heart disease, depression and Alzheimer's.

"For almost two years, we restored DHEA in older men and women to the high normal levels that are usually observed in young people, but found no beneficial effects on age-related changes in body composition and function," Nair says. "No beneficial effects on quality of life were observed."

Mayo researchers detailed their findings in the latest New England Journal of Medicine. The study involved 87 men and 57 women

In addition, the study found no benefits to giving daily supplements of testosterone, the male sex hormone, to men over 60.
However, their findings contradict previous reports on DHEA, but Nair says the studies covered short periods of time and didn't involve as many participants and were not as medically sophisticated as the Mayo research. 

But Dr. Andrew Shao, a researcher with the Council for Responsible Nutrition, an organization in Washington, D.C., representing the supplement industry, said the Mayo study shows that DHEA in high doses is safe with no side effects.

"We are encouraged by those results, particularly because there is a need for safe bone builders in this age group," Shao said.  "Further, the study found small but significant increases in bone mineral density, consistent with the body of clinical trials on DHEA.  The lack of other significant effects in an elderly population is surprising as that is inconsistent with the published research."

Shao wrote a position paper for the council on DHEA.

'Quakery'

Dr. Nair calls DHEA use a controversial issue, as anti-aging supplements drive sales in the health food industry. He even goes as far as to advise elderly people to stop using it. 

 "DHEA has been promoted as an anti-aging supplement, in part because high levels of DHEA have been associated with longevity in humans and nonhuman primates," Nair says. "But studies involving rodents aren't applicable to humans."

Dr. Paul Stewart, a researcher at Great Britain's University of Birmingham, says in the same Journal that the search for the "fountain of youth" will continue, despite Mayo's findings. e suggests federal regulators view DHEA as a regulated drug rather than a food supplement.

"Appropriate regulation would dispel much of the quackery associated with this elusive hormone," Dr. Stewart writes.

For more information

•  Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research

•  U.S. National Library of Medicine

•  Center for Science in the Public Interest

•  Council for Responsible Nutrition

Source: Newswise
Reference: New England Journal of Medicine

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