Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 12, 1995 TAG: 9501130033
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: PARIS LENGTH: Medium
Imagine baby boomers less prone to fatigue, forgetfulness, brittle bones or weight gain, better able to navigate stairs and use public transport instead of being stuck at home by physical limitations.
According to recent clinical tests carried out at the University of California at San Diego by endocrinologist Samuel S.C. Yen, the molecule dehydroepiandrosterone, better known by its initials DHEA, produced a general feeling of well-being in patients who took small doses over six months.
Far from a wishful fantasy, DHEA is the brainchild of Dr. Emile-Etienne Baulieu, inventor of the French abortion pill. That pill isn't yet available in the United States, though clinical trials are under way.
``DHEA won't make people live longer, but it will improve the quality of life over a longer period of time and will postpone some of the unpleasant effects of aging, such as fatigue and muscle weakness,'' Baulieu said Wednesday at his Paris laboratory.
Baulieu isolated DHEA more than 30 years ago while working on testosterone and estrogen, the sex hormones of which the compound is a key component.
He gives most of the credit for the subsequent advances on aging to Yen, noting that the American's publications went virtually unnoticed in the United States last June.
The French media have given big headlines to the story - the news magazine Le Point trumpeted Baulieu's ``fantastic discovery.'' But Baulieu deplores journalists who have presented DHEA as a panacea for all the ills of aging.
``A single compound can't repair everything,'' he said. ``This would be worse than wishful thinking. This is impossible.''
Baulieu says at least two or three years of clinical tests are necessary before the compound could be manufactured for the general public.
by CNB