Is DHEA good for fertility?

I often get asked whether DHEA itself is a hormone, as most women feel uneasy with that word and would not supplement any hormones. As you may have already realized, the answer is: YES and NO.

YES in the sense that many hormones are built by using DHEA as raw material, and NO in the sense that DHEA itself is not some crazy steroid you should be afraid of.

DHEA is produced naturally in our adrenal glands in large amounts, every day.

Some women are surprised to hear that, as they often expect a synthetic compound to hide behind that name.

The reason why our bodies need a lot of DHEA is because it is a basic building block for most sexual and steroid hormones. Hormones act as important messengers and affect how we act, feel, and sleep; they drive our immune response and basically every other function in our body.

DHEA concentration declines in our bodies as we get older: it peaks between the ages of 20-25 and then declines at a rate of about 20% per decade, falling in the elderly to levels of less than 10% of initial values.

So if you are trying to get pregnant at the age of 35 and above, there is less DHEA for your ovaries to work with from the beginning.

Therefore, if you want to increase your fertility at that age, you will most likely need to supplement DHEA to bring your eggs and ovaries to the best form possible.

However, if you have any medical conditions you should talk to your doctor before self-administering DHEA.

How much DHEA should you take for fertility?

Many women feel unsure about taking DHEA over a longer periods of time. Some are unsure about the potency of the product they’re taking. And almost all wonder about how much DHEA should they take to achieve best effects.

Image courtesy: jannoon028 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This is understandable – supplements are not strictly regulated by FDA meaning that supplements from different manufacturers CAN sometimes have different potencies.

Therefore, if you are taking DHEA supplements similar to this one over a long time or just want to be on the safe side, here is what you should do:

Have your total testosterone levels checked.

Ideally, testosterone should stay around normal YOUNG ADULT levels.

This means, greater than 30 ng/dL (between 1-2  nmol/ml).

To summarize, DHEA is simply an important building block in our bodies.

The nice thing is, cells suck up DHEA directly from the blood and decide themselves what they will transform it into.

And if those cells are your eggs getting ready to ovulate, you need to make sure DHEA is available when they look for it.

See you soon!

A few excellent DHEA supplements: 

Scientific reports on DHEA improving egg and embryo quality:

• Barad D, Gleicher N. Effect of dehydroepiandrosterone on oocyte and embryo yields, embryo grade and cell number in IVF. Hum Reprod . 2006 Nov;21(11):2845-9.
• Barad DH, Gleicher N. Increased oocyte production after treatment with dehydroepiandrosterone. Fertil Steril. 2005 Sep;84(3):756.
• Gleicher N, Barad DH. Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) supplementation in diminished ovarian reserve (DOR). Reprod Biol Endocrinol. 2011 May 17;9:67.
  Morales AJ, Haubrich RH, Hwang JY, Asakura H, Yen SS. The effect of six months treatment with a 100 mg daily dose of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) on circulating sex steroids, body composition and muscle strength in age-advanced men and women. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 1998 Oct;49(4):421-32.
  Tummala S, Svec F. Correlation between the administered dose of DHEA and serum levels of DHEA and DHEA-S in human volunteers: analysis of published data. Clin Biochem. 1999 Jul;32(5):355-61.