HerbalEGram: Volume 5, Number 9, September 2008

The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), a leading trade association for the dietary supplement industry, announced in August that its members have recently agreed to follow voluntary guidelines for the responsible marketing of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA).¹ These new guidelines specify that CRN members will not market DHEA products as being able to provide a general anabolic steroid-like response (such as muscle enlargement or increased strength) and not target consumers under the age of 18 in their marketing or advertisements for DHEA products.

DHEA is a naturally occurring steroid hormone produced by the adrenal glands that serves as an indirect precursor to estrogen and testosterone.² It is not an anabolic steroid, and its use is not associated with the adverse side effects often caused by anabolic steroid abuse. DHEA levels decline rapidly with age, and DHEA supplementation has been show to restore these levels and provide other health benefits in older adults or patients with endocrine deficiencies. DHEA in dietary supplements is typically derived from wild yam (Dioscorea spp.).³

“This is an important step forward in self-regulation by the dietary supplement industry, and we encourage other companies to join our members in following these guidelines,” said CRN President and CEO Steve Mister, in a recent CRN press release about the new voluntary DHEA marketing program.¹ “It’s disturbing to see some of the ads in magazines or online that promote DHEA as if it were a drug or anabolic steroid, when the fact is existing research has not demonstrated that kind of effect. Advertising that over-promises results leads to consumer confusion and casts a negative shadow over the entire industry.”

In 2004, the Anabolic Steroid Control Act was signed into law, placing several steroid precursors—excluding DHEA—on the Controlled Substances List.³ Recognizing that DHEA does not act as a performance-enhancing substance in the same manner as anabolic steroids and is not subject to abuse, addiction or adverse side effects associated with anabolic steroid compounds, Congress specifically and intentionally omitted DHEA from that list. Many herb and dietary supplement trade associations, in addition to healthcare and professional athletics organizations, supported this Act, which was introduced by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Joe Biden (D-DE).

In December of 2007, Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) introduced a bill that proposes to amend the Controlled Substances Act to prevent access of DHEA to minors and create penalties for those providing DHEA to minors.⁴ CRN publicly opposed the introduction of this bill, arguing that such measures are unnecessary, would do nothing to address problems associated with anabolic steroid use, and could negatively impact the availability of DHEA for those consumers interested in its documented beneficial health uses.

“There is no evidence that DHEA is being abused by minors nor is there evidence that DHEA works as a performance-enhancing product in young healthy adults. Restricting the access of DHEA would set an unacceptable precedent and would create the misimpression that DHEA deserves to be hidden behind the counter,” Mister said in a CRN statement in December 2007.⁴

CRN’s voluntary guidelines for the marketing of DHEA instead reinforce self-regulatory efforts within the industry.

According to CRN, DHEA has been on the market for more than 20 years. In older adults with compromised hormone level production, DHEA supplements have shown possible benefits in helping to support immune function, maintain cognitive function and elevate mood, improve sleep patterns, maintain strong bones, and normalize glucose metabolism.^1,2 Long-term controlled studies at varying doses have demonstrated its safety, with no adverse side effects associated with its use.

—Courtney Cavaliere

References

1.    CRN adopts voluntary program for marketing DHEA [press release]. Washington DC: Council for Responsible Nutrition; August 4, 2008.

2.    Shao A. DHEA: the basic facts [backgrounder]. Washington DC: Council for Responsible Nutrition.

3.    Blumenthal M. President signs new law banning designer steroids dietary supplements: DHEA exempted from ban. HerbalGram. 2005;65:58-59.

4.    Council for Responsible Nutrition calls proposed DHEA legislation ‘a solution in search of a problem’ [press release]. Washington DC: Council for Responsible Nutrition; December 18, 2007.