X-Message-Number: 8724
Date: Thu Nov 06 03:10:51 1997  PST
Subject: Fwd: 'Fountain of Youth' hormone may not be - journal
From:  (Edgar W Swank)

11:08 AM ET 11/05/97

''Fountain of Youth' hormone may not be - journal

   WASHINGTON5 (Reuters) - A hormone supplement marketed as a
''fountain of youth'' is probably no wonder drug, an expert
argued Wednesday.
   DHEA, the precursor to a number of hormones, is being sold
to counter aging, immune system dysfunction and depression.
   But research shows that doctors still do not understand how
it might work, and animal tests showing remarkable effects might
not apply to people, Richard Miller of the University of
Michigan said in an editorial in the Journal of the American
Geriatrics Society.
   ``(DHEA) may indeed play a key role in the timing of human
life-history events,'' Miller wrote. But he said taking it in
pill form may not counter such natural events.
   Made by the adrenal glands, DHEA is at peak levels at age 25
and declines after that. Because levels are lower in older
people, it is touted as an anti-aging supplement.
   ``There was so much of it in young adults, and its levels
declined so convincingly in older people that it just had to do
something good, didn't it?'' Miller asked in the editorial.
   DHEA injections have been shown to boost the immune systems
of mice and levels of the hormone drop in people with AIDS,
breast cancer, and cardiovascular disease.
   But Miller added: ``New data and new arguments have begun to
temper the excess of enthusiasm for this mysterious steroid.''
   Tests in rats and mice may not apply to people --
particularly since these animals do not produce DHEA naturally.
Studies in people have shown that those who have high DHEA
levels in middle age are no less likely to die of cardiovascular
disease.
   Miller said studies have shown the hormone also does not
seem to protect against memory failure, obesity or glucose
intolerance, which can lead to diabetes.
  ``The current status of DHEA research suggests that learning
more about the basic biology of steroid action should take
precedence over the ever-alluring temptation to rush into
clinical trials,'' he concluded.

Edgar W. Swank   <>
President - American Cryonics Society
http://www.jps.net/cryonics/

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