Fortunately studies indicate we can counteract the negative effects of stress hormones and very likely alleviate depression by increasing DHEA in the body. A study at Temple University's School of Medicine found that elevated levels of DHEA caused weight loss without a change in appetite. This is not weight loss due the breakdown of lean muscle tissue or fluid loss. Increased DHEA appears to create a stabilizing effect on all body systems. It can help overweight people to lose fat and underweight people to gain weight.
Calories convert to heat rather than get stored as fat.
Simultaneously, DHEA helps the body to build lean muscle tissue. When DHEA levels decrease, the enzyme system accelerates, increasing production of both fatty acids and cholesterol. This promotes obesity and arteriosclerosis. She correlated this to increases in DHEA sulfate blood levels found in a group of men over 50 she tracked for 12 years. A study done at the Houston Immuno Institute in Texas found that the majority of AIDS patients on DHEA and adjunct therapy experienced significant increases in both CD4 and CD8 counts.