Research

Hormonal

Daily oral administration of 100 mg DHEA for six months significantly decreases fat body mass and increases muscle strength in age-advanced men, but not in women.

If you are a man between 50 and 65, taking 100mg of DHEA daily for six months may help reduce belly fat and increase leg and back strength. However, if you are a woman, this specific protocol did not result in fat loss or muscle gain in this study, likely due to different hormonal interactions or concurrent hormone replacement therapy.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
In men, but not in women, fat body mass decreased 1.0 ± 0.4 kg (6.1 ± 2.6%, P = 0.02) and knee muscle strength 15.0 ± 3.3% (P = 0.02) as well as lumbar back strength 13.9 ± 5.4% (p = 0.01) increased.
Arlene J. Morales et al. · Clinical Endocrinology · 1998

Why this rating

Double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over trial with statistically significant results in the male subgroup, though sample size is small (n=9 men).

Source

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

Arlene J. Morales et al. · Clinical Endocrinology · 1998

DOI 10.1046/j.1365-2265.1998.00507.x

crossover · n=16Cited 418×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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