The Deal With the D.H.E.A. |
By Dr. Michael Colgan The field of fat control is left mostly to modern-day carpetbaggers, who fleece the public with weight-loss schemes so blatantly false they would raise a blush on PT Barnum. Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) has a bad reputation in Canada. This essential natural hormone is contemptuously labeled a steroid by some medical bureaucrats. With vague references to its use by athletes, they dismiss DHEA as being akin to anabolic steroids, which have no normal function in the human body. These health officials seem to have little idea of what a steroid is, seem unaware that their bodies make DHEA (and dozens of other steroids) every day, and generally exhibit knowledge of human biochemistry that might qualify them to pare toenails. As a result, arbitrary regulations confine DHEA to special prescription status in Canada, with few approved indications for its use in medical treatment. Such senseless restriction deprives the Canadian public of a most important biochemical substance. It is non-toxic in any sensible dose and is essential for the prevention of degenerative disease. I should mention that following submissions to the government to remove restrictions on DHEA by some members of the medical profession, it has become available under the counter. Canadian authorities seem to be turning a blind eye, except for occasional media-invited, highly publicized raids, in which some unfortunate shopkeeper is arrested and fined. Most members of Joe Public, however, are rightly wary of buying banned substances since it is considered a crime to possess it without a prescription. It's time the science of DHEA became widely known. In this series of articles I will present the science of DHEA, both to disseminate the information, and in the hope that someone in Ottawa may be listening. What does DHEA do? The average human adult replaces over 300 billion cells every day, for growth, maintenance and repair. In order to replace those cells successfully, your body must acquire or create enough of each biochemical required to grow them. High on the list, DHEA is made continuously in your adrenal glands, from cholesterol, under the influence of adrenocorticotrophic hormone from the pituitary gland. DHEA is the base hormone used to manufacture all of your steroid hormones, including testosterone and estrogen.1 DHEA is also your most powerful maintenance signaling system. Without sufficient DHEA, numerous scientists now believe it is impossible for the human body to complete essential daily maintenance. Damage slowly accumulates until degenerative disease can gain a foothold.(2,3) Remember, no one dies of old age. No one becomes a doddering geriatric because of the passage of time. We age and die from accumulated damage. By inhibiting that accumulation, DHEA is a primary health promoting, disease preventing, and anti-aging compound. DHEA declines with age DHEA declines with age, likely due to slowly accumulated damage to the brain with a consequent decline in the hormone cascade (interconnected group of hormones in the body).(4) In women, DHEA is the first hormone to decline significantly with perimenopause, at about age 35, thereby starting the downward spiral into the degenerative condition of menopause.(5) The first obvious indication is increasing difficulty in controlling body fat. By age 30, the average blood level of DHEA (measured as the sulfate DHEAS, the form it takes in your blood) falls dramatically from its peak at age 20. Research suggests that the 30-year-old level is likely the minimum amount required for adequate repair signaling.(3) For most people, supplementation with 10 to 50 mg of DHEA daily will maintain a DHEA sulfate level high in the 30-year-old range. We have used this level of supplementation with our American clients for the last two decades, with no side-effects and very few contraindications to use. It is becoming increasingly clear that this form of supplementation can ward off many diseases.(3) Here I will discuss DHEA's multiple roles in helping to control body fat, because being overweight is by far the largest single cause of disease in Canada today.(6) DHEA and Fat Loss Six people out of every 10 in Canada have allowed themselves to become overweight. The evidence is overwhelming that even being moderately overweight is inextricably linked to insulin resistance, adult-onset diabetes, heart disease, stroke, numerous forms of cancer, premature senility and Alzheimer's disease.(4) Clearly, we don't know how to remain slim for life. Judging by the immense popularity of low-fat and low-carb foods, aerobic sweat shops, chub clubs, diet fads and fat-loss fancies it is evident that people would love to know how to stay trim, and they will pay handsomely for any slight chance to come upon that knowledge.
This article has appeared in, and is supplied courtesy of VISTA Magazine |
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