DHEA and lipolysis

RP has been widely cited as recommending very small doses (2-3mg) of DHEA for diabetics. Presumably, this is to prevent low BG problems. But DHEA acts through lipolysis.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18063002
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7611511

Is it simply a lesser of two evils argument or something else going on here?

lipolysis doesn't have to say much. What does it do for free fatty acids?

And no doubt there are many more things going on.

Don't have time tolook up, but mentioned FFA as well. What is the differentiation between lipolysis and FFAs? Is there a way lipolysis may not raise FFAs?

only if you had a huge amount of HDL going around and it happened to be pretty empty at the time...I think inevitably when fat is released from adipose it pretty much attaches to albumin in the blood to move around and hence is 'free'....if it comes from the liver or intestine on first pass, or even a few more than first in the case od LDL its usually all packed in the phospholipids so the fats are in triglyceride form and not free...its mostly just when fat is later released from adipose in large amounts quickly...if its a gentle stream the liver can pretty much take them all up within a pass or two and repackage them into LDL if necessary, or just oxidized them itself and produces ATP or ketones to send out

so free fatty acids would or are only likely a problem if

- you are fasting / starving
- high intensity for too long and sugar mostly or all gone
- glucose metabolism impaired in some way...'poisoned' if you will, so cells cry out for fat instead...basically anything diabetic / pre / hypoglycemia / ketoacidosis
kind of thing

pboy: then I would speculate RP's reason for recommending DHEA in small doses for diabetics is that it somehow facilitates using the (small amount of circulating) FFA to produce ATP. Otherwise, I can't see him recommending it specifically for diabetics. When I get a free moment, I'll research DHEA and ATP.

It could be why the research on DHEA and fat loss is so mixed. Only helpful if metabolism is impaired?

And the $64,000 question: would it just be treating the symptom, or would it be therapeutic in a way that could (along with many other factors) lead to improved metabolism?

ahh not sure, I humbly admit im not versed in the DHEA knowledge...no doubt many else here could probably help

he might recommend it as a gently long term therapy for overweight people...because that alone might be worse as a long term health factor than the occasional free fatty acid realeases. There might be some other methods with which it is protecting, of enhancing the utilization and uptake of the FFA