DHEA precursor pool
Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)
Also searched as Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA).
Upstream of both sex-hormone arms, Which Makes Supplementation Unpredictable: the direction it is metabolized depends on tissue enzyme expression, age and sex, so the same dose can raise testosterone in one person and estradiol in another.
In depth
The adrenal precursor from which both androgens and estrogens can be made. Its decline is the steepest of any human hormone — which is also why it is among the most over-claimed.
What drives it
Lowers cortisol increases it.
Adrenal production under ACTH. Carried by the intermediary-metabolism, micronutrient and clinical reviews. doi 10.3390/nu18132141 · PMC9967593
Cellular aging reduces it.
Adrenal DHEA output declines markedly with age. Carried by the intermediary-metabolism, micronutrient and clinical reviews. doi 10.3390/nu18132141 · PMC9967593
What it drives
It increases Testosterone.
Upstream of both sex-hormone arms, which makes supplementation unpredictable - direction depends on tissue enzyme expression, age and sex. Carried by the intermediary-metabolism, micronutrient and clinical reviews. doi 10.3390/nu18132141 · PMC9967593
It increases Estrogen balance.
The same precursor feeds aromatisation. Carried by the intermediary-metabolism, micronutrient and clinical reviews. doi 10.3390/nu18132141 · PMC9967593
Blends that modulate it
Each blend page names this pathway and carries the study behind its claim.
See it on the map
Open the causal map to follow this pathway upstream and downstream, arrow by arrow, each with its study.