Research

Hormonal

Caloric restriction in humans does not significantly alter DHEA-S levels, contrasting with findings in non-human primates, suggesting species-specific or age-specific differences in the endocrine response to CR.

Do not expect caloric restriction to boost DHEA-S levels in young, healthy adults. While CR improves other metabolic markers, its effect on this specific hormone appears to be null in this demographic, likely because human subjects in studies are younger and undergo CR for shorter periods than the primates where this effect was observed.

GoodRefutesMEDIUM confidence
In our 6-month study in young individuals (37 +/- 2 years), we observed no alteration in DHEA-S... To our knowledge, there has been no report of DHEA-S levels in those individuals from the Calorie Restriction Society (CRONIES) who are self-imposing CR. The lack of agreement between the human and nonhuman primate data is believed to be due to, first, the chronological age of the subjects at the onset of CR and, second, the duration of CR.
Leanne M. Redman et al. · Antioxidants and Redox Signaling · 2010

Why this rating

RCT data, but limited by short duration (6 months) and young age of subjects compared to primates.

Source

Caloric Restriction in Humans: Impact on Physiological, Psychological, and Behavioral Outcomes

Leanne M. Redman et al. · Antioxidants and Redox Signaling · 2010

DOI 10.1089/ars.2010.3253

narrative_review · n=48Cited 321×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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