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10 November 2004
DHEA Study Finds Decrease In Abdominal Fat 
The dietary supplement DHEA could play a role in reducing abdominal fat in elderly men and women with age-related decreases in DHEA levels, says a study appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Dennis T. Villareal and co-researcher John O. Holloszy, of the Washington University School of Medicine, found that DHEA replacement therapy induced significant decreases in both visceral fat (within the abdomen) and subcutaneous abdominal fat (below the skin surface) in elderly men and women. "The decrease in visceral fat relative to initial values averaged 10.2 percent in the women and 7.4 percent in the men. The DHEA therapy also resulted in a significant decrease in abdominal subcutaneous fat, averaging approximately 6 percent in both the men and women," the researchers said. The DHEA replacement also resulted in a significant improvement in insulin action that correlated with the reduction in visceral fat. "These findings provide evidence that DHEA replacement may partially reverse the aging-related accumulation of abdominal fat in elderly people with low serum levels of DHEAS. They also raise the possibility that long-term DHEA replacement therapy might reduce the accumulation of abdominal fat and protect against development of the metabolic/insulin resistance syndrome," they said. "Larger-scale and longer-term studies are needed to determine whether DHEA replacement has any adverse effects… and will be needed to verify our findings and should include patient groups that are fully representative of the population at risk."
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