Dhea Hormone

The government is organizing a television blitz to warn Americans who gulp hormone pills to restore their youth and strength that they could be flirting disastrously with high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer. The heavily promoted "miracle" compounds--melatonin and DHEA--promise to eliminate sleepless nights, stave off the ravages of time and give a 50-year-old couch potato the sexual performance of a 20-year-old.

The government is organizing a television blitz to warn Americans who gulp hormone pills to restore their youth and strength that they could be flirting disastrously with high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer. The heavily promoted "miracle" compounds--melatonin and DHEA--promise to eliminate sleepless nights, stave off the ravages of time and give a 50-year-old couch potato the sexual performance of a 20-year-old.

All right, it's not the fountain of youth. But a study published in the Nov. 10 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Assn. has found that DHEA, a hormone widely marketed as a nutritional supplement, decreases belly fat and improves the body's use of insulin among the elderly when taken daily for six months. Earlier studies have shown that DHEA supplementation led to improved bone density and an enhanced sense of well-being. "We were surprised that there was such an effect," said Dr.

Santa Barbara resident Richard F.X. O'Connor has just signed on as executive editor of Renaissance Books, a new publishing company at 5858 Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles. He will seek nonfiction titles for publication next year. During his 35 years in publishing, O'Connor has worked both sides of the aisle as author, audio-books editor and marketing director for Doubleday Publishing and the Waldenbooks chain. This week he adds to his credits publication of "How to Market You & Your Book."

Researchers, homing in on the chemistry behind putting on pounds, have come up with some compounds that hold promise for combatting obesity, middle-aged spread and more. Recent findings on the hormones that govern waist size help explain why people tend to gain weight as they get older despite no change in diet or exercise patterns, and why some people gain 10 pounds eating the same amount of food as someone who gains no weight. Although the findings are preliminary and most involve animal research, some scientists are excited about the results.

THE little blue pill known as Viagra is keeping many men in pleasure, and for a while there was hope that it would do the same for women. But now researchers know that women need something different to improve their desire for sex, and their enjoyment of it. "A number of compounds effective in men have limited utility in women," says Dr. Taylor Segraves, a psychiatrist at Case Western School of Medicine in Cleveland.