Progress in fertility treatments for older women is continuous.

For example, it only recently became known that low ovarian reserve is associated with low testosterone levels and that testosterone levels, which peak in women 20–25 years, are essential for producing good eggs.

For that reason, there is a growing trend in IVF centers to pre-supplement women who wish to get pregnant after 35 with DHEA in an attempt to raise testosterone levels first.

It will, of course, take time before all clinics acknowledge scientific progress and implement practices aimed at improving egg quality.

In Germany, there are still doctors who say things like “I don’t believe in DHEA” and in fertility clinics all around the world there are certainly gaps in what clinical research knows and what doctors practice. The dogma has existed over many decades that women’s eggs are built like kitchen timers, set at the certain age to expire and resistant to any improvement or intervention from outside. People don’t like to give up their convictions easily and fertility doctors are no exception.

Thanks to the millions of IVF treatments performed around the world, we now understand eggs much better. The landscape of our understanding has changed and we now know much more about how women can make the most of their eggs. DHEA is one of the few powerful weapons that women have on their side.

Many women are still unsure when supplementing with DHEA because many supplement producers provide conflicting reports on what dosage should be used and, in many countries, women need a prescription to buy DHEA.

In this post, you will find a summary of what exactly needs to be monitored if you are supplementing DHEA over a long time and, as a general rule, you can simply remember that with DHEA supplementation, all you are trying to achieve is the testosterone status that you had when you were 25.

You don’t know what it was?

There are tables that can be used for approximation and a woman should take DHEA until their testosterone level reaches the upper one-third of the range or slightly above the level for 20–25-year-old women.

Thus, the whole issue around improving egg quality with supplements boils down to getting your hormones to the levels of a young woman. Makes sense, right?

A few exellent DHEA supplements: