It's believed to be a precursor hormone that's easily converted into other hormones, such as testosterone and estrogen. DHEA levels in your body increase sharply at puberty, peak during early adulthood, then drop gradually.
Levels are quite low at old age.
But no one knows for sure what supplemental DHEA does, how it works, how it may interact with other drugs, and what the long-term effects may be. According to the advertising hype, DHEA supplement pills will slow aging, burn fat, build muscle and strengthen your immune system. In addition, popularity was boosted upon learning that home run king Mark McGuire used DHEA supplements. Despite being a hormone precursor to testosterone it is unclear that DHEA would even work when taken orally. Oral anabolic hormones must be chemically processed to resist inactivation in the digestive system.