I’ve got a question, and hoping that Bill or Brock will answer. My mother is starting go through “the change of life.” She read that DHEA could be beneficial and could alleviate the fatigue that she is feeling as of lately. She certainly is NOT looking to build muscle, she just wants to feel better. She made the mistake of bringing this up to her MD, who of course scared he away from it by telling her that if she took it, she would be virilized. Is there any truth to this? Should she take it, and if so, what dose? Now don’t worry, if she takes it according to your recommendations, and she ends up looking like a Hasidic Rabbi, I PROMISE you will not be sued. I’m just asking your opinion!
High doses of DHEA can be somewhat virilizing because DHEA is in the skin fairly efficiently converted to testosterone
(it is not very well converted so far as overall levels
in the body go, however.)
Fifty mg/day is considered a very reasonable dose for
women and may give benefits to men or women of your
mother’s age or older, particularly with regard to
mood, “energy,” and the immune system.
Another thing to look at would be 7-keto-DHEA, sold
by Twinlab at a very high price. It’s non-virilizing
and seems to offer some good benefits… if spending
a few hundred dollars a year on it is something that
just is no problem, I’d recommend that one… if the
money is an issue at all, 50 mg/day of DHEA is quite
likely about as good or who knows, maybe better in
some ways.
Thanks for the info Bill.