Will taking DHEA supplements suppress my adrenal glands natural DHEA production?
The production of most hormones is controlled by a “feedback loop,” which means that when hormone levels get too high, the body is told to make less, and when hormone levels are too low, the body is told to make more. Cortisol, testosterone, and estrogen are all regulated by this feedback. In other words, if you take cortisol, or a similar derivative such as prednisone, it will shut off your body’s natural production. Fortunately, DHEA appears to be one of the exceptions. According to Dr. Peter Hornsby at the Baylor College School of Medicine in Houston, Texas, there doesn’t seem to be a feedback mechanism for DHEA or DHEAS. In other words, DHEA supplements, except perhaps in very high dosages, are not likely to stop our body’s own production, although there are no long-term human studies to confirm this. Where does the DHEA that I buy come from? The DHEA pills that you buy are made by vitamin and pharmaceutical companies. They extract sterols from wild yams, the most common sterol bei
