Hormonal & Sexual Health

DHEA

DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) is an adrenal steroid that does almost nothing on its own. The receiving tissue converts it, into androgens in some cells and oestrogens in others, so the same molecule arrives as a different hormone depending on where it lands. It is also three regulatory objects at once. Oral DHEA is sold over the counter in the United States with no FDA-approved dose, indication or safety labelling; the identical substance as a 6.5 mg vaginal insert, prasterone, is a prescription medicine approved in the US in 2016 and the EU in 2018 for painful sex after the menopause; and in sport it is named and prohibited at all times. The two randomised trials behind that approval tested the insert, in 813 postmenopausal women, for that one symptom.

Last updated 12 August 2026

Studied forDyspareunia due to menopausal vulvar and vaginal atrophy: studied in two 12-week placebo-controlled trials of the 6.5 mg vaginal insert (n=255 and n=558), which reported a change in dyspareunia severity of -1.27 vs -0.87 (p=0.0132) and -1.42 vs -1.06 (p=0.0002) · Vaginal cytology and pH in postmenopausal women: superficial cell percentage, parabasal cell percentage and vaginal pH were co-primary endpoints in the registrational trials and moved in favour of prasterone · Health-related quality of life in women with adrenal insufficiency: studied with oral DHEA across 10 randomised placebo-controlled trials, pooled effect size 0.21, which the authors described as small and possibly trivial and as insufficient to support routine use · Serum androgen and oestrogen concentrations after oral dosing: measured as a pharmacokinetic outcome, not as a clinical outcome

Evidence on fileFDA-approved · 5 randomised human trials · 1 theoretical paper

Strongest sourceINTRAROSA (prasterone) vaginal insert - FDA prescribing information (randomised human trial)

Mechanism

DHEA is described in its own FDA label as an inactive endogenous steroid that is converted inside target cells into active androgens and/or oestrogens. Conversion runs through 3-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase to androstenedione, and from there to testosterone, or via aromatase to oestrone and oestradiol. Circulating DHEA is largely present as the sulfate ester DHEA-S, and the two interconvert. The FDA label states that the precise mechanism by which vaginally administered prasterone relieves dyspareunia has not been fully established.

Regulatory status

Approved by the FDA.

An approval grades as rung 1 on this site, because 21 CFR 314.126 requires adequate and well-controlled human investigations and one cannot be granted without them. It covers specific indications and doses, though, and does not transfer to other uses of the same molecule.

Reported effects

What sources associate with this compound. Reported categories, not outcomes we have graded — each would need its own citation and rung.

Dyspareunia due to menopausal vulvar and vaginal atrophy: studied in two 12-week placebo-controlled trials of the 6.5 mg vaginal insert (n=255 and n=558), which reported a change in dyspareunia severity of -1.27 vs -0.87 (p=0.0132) and -1.42 vs -1.06 (p=0.0002)
Vaginal cytology and pH in postmenopausal women: superficial cell percentage, parabasal cell percentage and vaginal pH were co-primary endpoints in the registrational trials and moved in favour of prasterone
Health-related quality of life in women with adrenal insufficiency: studied with oral DHEA across 10 randomised placebo-controlled trials, pooled effect size 0.21, which the authors described as small and possibly trivial and as insufficient to support routine use
Serum androgen and oestrogen concentrations after oral dosing: measured as a pharmacokinetic outcome, not as a clinical outcome

Dosing on file unverified

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Carried from a source that labels it unverified, and reproduced with that label attached. A record of what is reported, not a recommendation. No citation on this page establishes it.

Half-life, storage & sport

Elimination half-life: Blood DHEA showed an apparent terminal half-life of more than 20 hours after oral dosing, of the same order as DHEA-S, which the authors attributed to back-hydrolysis of the DHEA-S formed after an oral dose (human, oral) — study. Measured in 24 healthy elderly subjects (mean age 67.8 years, men and women) given 25 mg or 50 mg oral DHEA daily for 8 days. This figure is oral and human and must not be applied to the vaginal insert: the FDA label reports vaginal-route steady-state exposure on day 7 as prasterone Cmax 4.4 ng/mL and AUC0-24 56.2 ng*h/mL, with no terminal half-life stated..
Storage: not on file — no stability record found.
In sport (WADA): not recorded as a yes or no — Listed by name in the WADA 2026 Prohibited List as "Prasterone (dehydroepiandrosterone, DHEA, 3ß-hydroxyandrost-5-en-17-one)" under S1.1 Anabolic Androgenic Steroids, within S1 Anabolic Agents, in the list of endogenous AAS prohibited when administered exogenously. Prohibited at all times (in- and out-of-competition). The list marks all substances in S1 as non-Specified Substances. the list The prohibition attaches to the substance, not to the formulation. The FDA- and EU-approved 6.5 mg vaginal insert delivers the same listed substance, so an approval in medicine does not create an exemption in sport. Related compounds 7a-hydroxy-DHEA, 7ß-hydroxy-DHEA and 7-keto-DHEA are separately named in the same section..

Reported adverse effects

Vaginal discharge: 5.71% on the 6.5 mg vaginal insert vs 3.66% on placebo in the 12-week trials, and 14.2% over 52 weeks (FDA label)

reversibility not on file
Abnormal Pap smear: 2.1% in the 52-week open-label study of the vaginal insert (FDA label)

reversibility not on file
Undiagnosed abnormal genital bleeding is a labelled contraindication for the vaginal insert; the label directs that the cause be established before treatment is considered

reversibility not on file
Oestrogen is a metabolite of prasterone, and the FDA label carries a caution for women with a history of breast cancer, in whom exogenous oestrogen is contraindicated

reversibility not on file
The EU authorisation lists further contraindications not carried on the US label: known or suspected breast or oestrogen-dependent cancer, untreated endometrial hyperplasia, acute or unresolved liver disease, previous or current venous thromboembolism, thrombophilic disorders, recent arterial thromboembolic disease, and porphyria

reversibility not on file
Adverse-event profile of ORAL DHEA supplements is not on file from a regulator: no US regulatory safety review exists for the supplement form, because it is not marketed as a drug

reversibility not on file

Literature on file 6

Identity

Also called

dehydroepiandrosterone
prasterone
DHEA-S
Intrarosa

Not on file 8

8 of the 8 fields we track hold nothing on this record, and each says why. A blank field is a bug; a named absence is a finding.

molecular weightnothing we hold supplies it
molecular formulanothing we hold supplies it
CAS registry numbernothing we hold supplies it
PubChem identifiernothing we hold supplies it
amino-acid sequencenot applicable to this compound
SMILES stringnothing we hold supplies it
InChInothing we hold supplies it
InChI keynothing we hold supplies it

Each field links to every other record missing the same thing. The full ledger holds 585 gaps across 140 records.

Listed prices 5

What 3 shops we track listed for DHEA, read from their own public catalogues on 2026-08-12. We take no commission on these and they are not ranked by any payment — how vendors are scored.

Compare prices5 listings from 3 shops

Listed in USD
Vendor	Size	Price	Per mg
Wells Pharmacy Network	size not listed	$0.00 USD	—
Wells Pharmacy Network	size not listed	$0.00 USD	—
PureRawz ships worldwide	size not listed	$15.49 USD	—
Umbrella Labs	size not listed	$15.99 USD	—
PureRawz ships worldwide	size not listed	$26.77 USD	—

Prices are the vendor's own listing, reproduced with the date we read it — never converted between currencies, and compared per milligram only where the vendor states the vial size.

At a glance

Strongest rung: human RCT
Citations: 6
Regulatory: Jurisdiction-, route- and formulation-dependent, and the three statuses are separate objects. (1) United States, oral: sold over the counter as a dietary supplement; there is no FDA drug approval for any oral DHEA product, and therefore no FDA-reviewed indication, dose or safety labelling for it. (2) United States, vaginal: prasterone 6.5 mg vaginal insert (Intrarosa, NDA 208470) was approved by the FDA on 17 November 2016 for moderate to severe dyspareunia, a symptom of vulvar and vaginal atrophy, due to menopause; it is prescription-only. (3) European Union, vaginal: the European Commission granted a marketing authorisation for Intrarosa 6.5 mg pessary on 8 January 2018 (EMEA/H/C/004138); the EPAR states the medicine can only be obtained with a prescription. Several jurisdictions outside the United States regulate DHEA as a prescription medicine rather than a supplement; the specific national instruments are not on file. An over-the-counter oral capsule and an approved vaginal insert are not the same regulatory object and the approval of the second says nothing about the first.
Route: Oral, Vaginal
Declared gaps: 8

Citations by rung

human RCT5
theoretical1

Strongest wins, never an average.