The Fountain of Youth

   Well, if there is one thing that we should understand about  every new pill or therapy that claims to be the fountain of youth, it is that they all focus on hormones.  Apparently, science agrees that the one thing that keeps us young is our sex hormones; namely testosterone (in women too, more on that later).  I'm not sure if I'm quite on board with this line of thinking as of yet, seeing as there has been mixed results.  My latest studies involve DHEA, the most abundant steroid hormone in the body.  How this hormone works is still up for debate, as it performs differently in different situations/people.  It is converted into all the major sex hormones(testosterone, estrogen, progesterone).  The theory is that supplementation with DHEA balances the hormones that naturally decline with age, leading to more energy, increased lean muscle mass, and a longer life.  While the effects of the hormone do promise this, I have yet to find any well documented research proving the effect of artificial supplementation.  As with any supplement that effects the secretion of hormones, the main concern is with how artificial supplementation alters the body's ability to naturally produce hormones.  In an attempt to keep things balanced, taking a pill that provides something the body does naturally will cause the body to stop producing it.  It will also force the body to over compensate in production of the "counter" hormones (ie, more estrogen production to balance testosterone production).  I am skeptical of anything that alters the body at that level.  We see the effects of steroids all the time.  The question is whether the short term gains are worth the long term side effects.