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Article: DHEA access threatened?
- Article from:
- AIDS Treatment News
- Article date:
- March 25, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 John S. James. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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DHEA is the most abundant hormone in the human body. Blood levels peak in early adulthood, around age 20, and then decline greatly during the human lifespan, falling by about 80% in the elderly. Blood levels also decline in many illnesses. Human studies of DHEA supplementation to restore normal levels are promising: for example, a recent small but careful study, not in persons with HIV, found that DHEA was an effective treatment for midlife-onset major and minor depression in both men and women [1].
But there has never been a large, long-term, placebo-controlled trial--and most doctors want more information before accepting DHEA treatment in standard medical ...