ArticleFrontiers in endocrinology2020
DHEAS and Human Development: An Evolutionary Perspective.
Article in Frontiers in endocrinology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- Key Factors Impacting Performance Health During Growth and Maturation in Adolescent Competitive Aesthetic and Acrobatic Athletes: A Systematic Review.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Pooled it
- Adrenarche, social cognition, and the development and evolution of autism spectrum traits.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Increases in fecal testosterone precede increases in fecal dehydroepiandrosterone in wild male mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei).Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2026Article
- Anti-aging effects of the adrenal androgens dehydroepiandrosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate: mechanisms of action and beneficial effects in older people.Endocrine journal · 2026Review
- Genetic analysis of stress hormone levels in hair of healthy nursery pigs and their relationships with backtest responses.Genetics · 2025Article
- Article
- Lower Cortisol and Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate and Higher Food Addiction in Childhood Obesity: Associations With Stress and Dietary Parameters.Journal of the Endocrine Society · 2025Article
- Dehydroepiandrosterone and Bone Health: Mechanisms and Insights.Biomedicines · 2024Review
- Associations Among Birth Weight, Adrenarche, Brain Morphometry, and Cognitive Function in Preterm Children Ages 9 to 11 Years.Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging · 2024Article
- Metabolic characteristics and pathogenesis of precocious puberty in girls: the role of perfluorinated compounds.BMC medicine · 2023Article
- The Association of Accelerated Early Growth, Timing of Puberty, and Metabolic Consequences in Children.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2023Review
- Age-related changes and longitudinal stability of individual differences in ABCD Neurocognition measures.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2022Article
- Article
- Normal and Premature Adrenarche.Endocrine reviews · 2021Review
- The Enigma of the Adrenarche: Identifying the Early Life Mechanisms and Possible Role in Postnatal Brain Development.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- The timing of adrenarche in Maya girls, Merida, Mexico.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2021Article
- Update on adrenarche.Current opinion in pediatrics · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Adrenarche, the post-natal rise of DHEA and DHEAS, is unique to humans and the African Apes. Recent findings have linked DHEA in humans to the development of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (LDPFC) between the ages of 4-8 years and the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) from 7 to 12 years of age. Given the association of the LDLPFC with the 5-to-8 transition and the rTPJ with mentalizing during middle childhood DHEA may have played an important role in the evolution of the human brain. I argue that increasing protein in the diet over the course of human evolution not only increased levels of DHEAS, but linked meat consumption with brain development during the important 5- to-8 transition. Consumption of animal protein has been associated with IGF-1, implicated in the development of the adrenal zona reticularis (ZR), the site of DHEAS production. In humans and chimps, the zona reticularis emerges at 3-4 years, along with the onset of DHEA/S production. For chimps this coincides with weaning and peak synaptogenesis. Among humans, weaning is completed around 2 ½ years, while synaptogenesis peaks around 5 years. Thus, in chimpanzees, early cortical maturation is tied to the mother; in humans it may be associated with post-weaning provisioning by others. I call for further research on adrenarche among the African apes as a critical comparison to humans. I also suggest research in subsistence populations to establish the role of nutrition and energetics in the timing of adrenarche and the onset of middle childhood.
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Registered trials
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