DHEA Protects Rat Livers on a High Fat Diet
First of all, rats are not a particularly good model for DHEA metabolism in human beings. Nevertheless, the results of a study by Magyar et al. ( Magyar. 2010 ) would warrant further investigations into the effectiveness of high dose DHEA supplementation on total scavenger capacity and liver fat content in men. In the course of a 28 day intervention the scientists fed rats on either a normal or a high fat diet and supplemented their drinking water with no DHEA (Control), 400µg DHEA (DHEA) and 150µg DHEA-Sulfate (DHEA-S). Table 1: Fresh frozen liver fat content, SOD, catalase and GST activity results on Day 28 As the figures in Table 1 indicate both, DHEA and DHEA-S were able to reduce the negative effect of the high fat diet on liver fat content and oxidant status (as measured by SOD-, Catalase and GST activity). This is an interesting result, of which the scientists write: Our results support the hypothesis that DHEA and DHEAS supplementation can improve the antioxidant status ...