What are DHEA’s effects on cardiovascular disease?

While lower DHEA-S levels have some associations with worsened health outcomes, such as cardiovascular disease,^[1] supplementation with DHEA has not been shown to improve most of the biomarkers associated with negative cardiovascular outcomes. For example, supplementation with DHEA mostly has no effect on blood lipids, though researchers did note one negative effect: a reduction in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, with a stronger effect noted in women.^[2] Similarly, a meta-analysis found that DHEA does not appear to have any effect on glycemic markers, except by decreasing fasting glucose in a subgroup of adults over 60 who had taken less than 50 mg of DHEA per day for less than 12 weeks.^[3] Furthermore, one randomized controlled trial (RCT) found that supplementation with testosterone and 50 mg of DHEA had no effect on systemic lipolysis (fat metabolism) in adults over 60.^[4] However, one RCT did find that DHEA supplementation decreased (improved) arterial stiffness in men and women over 65 (and increased their estradiol).^[5]