4 replies to this topic

[JohnDoe999]

Hi

 

Does anyone of you have experience with DHEA, theoretically or practically?

 

Several authors recommends DHEA supplementation, at around 25 mg - 50 mg for men daily. I am in the mid 40's. 

 

However, DHEA is also associated with increased risk for prostate cancer.

 

Therefore the general advice is that DHEA supplementation should be supervised by your doctor.

 

Question 1: If one takes blood samples each 6 months, is this "enough" supervision?

 

Quesiton 2: Is there a casual relationship between DHEA supplementation and increased risk of prostate cancer?

 

My DHEA is in the middle of the range. If I take DHEA, and the value on the bloodtests increase by, for example, 25 %, does this also implies that my risk for prostate cancer, theoretically, increases with 25 %, or is this strictly individually?

 

Question 3: My understanding is that 7-Keto-DHEA should have the same effects as DHEA, but without any increases in the risk of prostate cancer? Is this correct, based on your understanding?

 

Question 4: Kyriazis (http://en.wikipedia....Marios_Kyriazis)  states that incresed Q10 lowers PSA, and should thus be used with DHEA to lower the risk of prostate cancer. What are your opinions about this?

 

[Dorian Grey]

Doh!  Confused DHEA with docosahexaenoylethanolamine...  My bad.  

Edited by synesthesia, 15 December 2014 - 06:34 PM.

[Kevnzworld]

I've been taking DHEA for over 10 years, I begun in my mid 40's. One should only take hormones to bring them up to what a healthy 35 yo would have IMO. The only way to know this by getting a hormone panel done every 6 mos. this should include estradiol.
i can only speak anecdotally, but my PSA and digital exam have remained normal.
I take 50 mg daily in divided doses, and 100 mg of 7 keto

[albedo]

I can only rely my own experience. I looked at this because I had (still have?) a deficiency (I am 59 yo) which I can link to some form of adrenal stress and had a prostate condition (BPH) which triggered a surgery two years ago. I posted my experimentation with DHEA (and also partially with 7-keto), my condition and blood tests elsewhere (here and here respectively).  My current take is I would not hugely bother with DHEA (eventually try 7-keto which presumably does not convert to androgens) as you have it in range but definitively you need to have your hormones tested (T, free-T, DHT, E2 (estradiol), cortisol, ...) next to DHEA-S as baseline and have a PSA and DRE (digital rectal exam) prior to any supplementation you might decide. I would care much more if you find anomalies with your testosterone, estradiol and cortisol. AFAIK and also as per a couple of urologists and endocrinologists I consulted, there is no causal relation with prostate cancer but if you do have cancer already, DHEA is no good. Now we all likely happen to have some cancer cell lurking there during our life and I would not take DHEA mindless. I do not recollect studies where the increase of risk of prostate cancer would be related to the dose of DHEA supplementation. If you start (25mg is what I recollect can be considered a physiological dose), I would have all hormones retested at 3 months (with PSA), while 6 months is maybe ok after that. The good news for me is apparently I succeeded to normalize my DHEA-S practically without supplementation and have all the other hormones under control. I also think regular strength exercise makes wonder on hormones, DHEA included, which very likely helped me. I hope all will confirm next summer when I will test again.

Edited by albedo, 15 December 2014 - 10:03 PM.

[albedo]

I also appreciated your last point regarding PSA/Q10 and I report a study below.

 

Again I can only rely my experimenting and experience. I recently decided to increase to 100mg my Ubiquinol intake. On the free fatty acid panel I try to have a good balance. I was found deficient in GLA and D-GLA (both omega-6, GLA is rapidly converted to D-GLA) so I decided to supplement GLA moderately (only 1/2 of the serving, i.e. 150mg) and try to limit D-GLA cascading (*) to the pro-inflammatory arachidonic acid using EPA/DHA. For the latter I only very limited supplement with fish oil as definitively prefer to eat fresh fatty fishes. Again I will run a full free fatty acid panel next summer to check. (Chronic) Inflammation is really bad for the prostate so everything you can do to reduce it is good. Next to the above, I specifically use curcumin, zyflamend, pomegranate and green tea extracts.

 

This a study referring to this matter:

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/23199523

 

Abstract

“The main objective of the present study was to determine the potential of n-3 and n-6 fatty acids or coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) to alter serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in normal healthy men. A total of 504 healthy men with serum PSA level ≤ 2•5 ng/ml were recruited into the study. Serum PSA values were not segregated by decade of age. Participants were randomly assigned to a daily dietary supplement containing n-3 fatty acids (1•12 g of EPA and 0•72 g of DHA per capsule) (group 1, n 126), n-6 fatty acid (600 mg γ-linolenic acid (GLA) each capsule) (group 2, n 126), CoQ10 (100 mg per capsule) (group 3, n 126) or a similar regimen of placebo (group 4, n 126) for 12 weeks. Study medication was administered as two capsules to be taken twice daily. Serum levels of PSA, EPA, DHA, GLA, lipid profile and reproductive hormones were also measured. EPA treatment significantly reduced serum PSA level by 30•0 (95 % CI 25, 36) % (P= 0•004) from baseline. In contrast, GLA therapy significantly increased serum PSA concentration by 15•0 (95 % CI 11, 20) % (P= 0•02). CoQ10 therapy also significantly reduced serum PSA level by 33•0 (95 % CI 27, 40) % (P= 0•002). In multivariable analysis, serum values of PSA were strongly correlated with duration of EPA (r - 0•62; 95 % CI - 0•42, - 0•77; P= 0•003), n-6 (r 0•42; 95 % CI 0•31, 0•58; P= 0•02) and CoQ10 use (r - 0•77; 95 % CI - 0•56, - 0•87; P= 0•001). There were also significant correlations between serum values of DHA, EPA, GLA and CoQ10 and serum PSA levels. The present study demonstrates that dietary supplements containing EPA, GLA or CoQ10 may significantly affect serum PSA levels.”

 

(*) I learned from Dr. Sears (The Anti Inflammation Zone), this is done by an enzyme (delta-5-desaturase), activated by insulin and inhibited by EPA, lignans from sesame oil (already contained in my GLA supplement) and tumeric.

Edited by albedo, 16 December 2014 - 09:22 AM.