Mayo was the seventh player to test positive for performance-enhancing drugs since the league began testing in 1999. Olympic 400-meter champion Lashawn Merritt tested positive for prasterone in 2010 and was banned from the sport for 21 months. Tennis player Venus Williams had permission from the International Tennis Federation to use DHEA along with hydrocortisone as a treatment for "adrenal insufficiency," but it was revoked in 2016 by the World Anti-Doping Agency, which believed DHEA use would enhance Williams athletic performance. Research
Anabolic uses
A meta-analysis of intervention studies shows that prasterone supplementation in elderly men can induce a small but significant positive effect on body composition that is strictly dependent on prasterone conversion into its bioactive metabolites such as androgens or estrogens. Evidence is inconclusive in regards to the effect of prasterone on strength in the elderly. In middle-aged men, no significant effect of prasterone supplementation on lean body mass, strength, or testosterone levels was found in a randomized placebo-controlled trial. Cancer
There is no evidence prasterone is of benefit in treating or preventing cancer. Cardiovascular disease
A review in 2003 found the then-extant evidence sufficient to suggest that low serum levels of DHEA-S may be associated with coronary heart disease in men, but insufficient to determine whether prasterone supplementation would have any cardiovascular benefit.Prasterone may enhance G6PD mRNA expression, confounding its inhibitory effects. Lupus
There is some evidence of short-term benefit in those with systemic lupus erythematosus but little evidence of long-term benefit or safety.
Canada
In Canada, prasterone is a Controlled Drug listed under Section 23 of Schedule IV of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and as such is available by prescription only. United Kingdom
Prasterone is listed as an anabolic steroid and is thus a class C controlled drug. United States
Prasterone is legal to sell in the United States as a dietary supplement. It is currently grandfathered in as an "Old Dietary Ingredient" being on sale prior to 1994. Prasterone is specifically exempted from the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 1990 and 2004. Sports and athletics
Prasterone is banned from use in athletic competition. It is a prohibited substance under the World Anti-Doping Code of the World Anti-Doping Agency, which manages drug testing for Olympics and other sports. Yulia Efimova, who holds the world record pace for both the 50-meter and 200-meter breaststroke, and won the bronze medal in the 200-meter breaststroke in the 2012 London Olympic Games, tested positive for prasterone in an out-of-competition doping test. Rashard Lewis, then with the Orlando Magic, tested positive for prasterone and was suspended 10 games before the start of the 2009–10 season. In 2016 MMA fighter Fabio Maldonado revealed he was taking prasterone during his time with the UFC. In January 2011, NBA player O. J. Mayo was given a 10-game suspension after testing positive for prasterone. Mayo termed his use of prasterone as "an honest mistake," saying the prasterone was in an over-the-counter supplement and that he was unaware the supplement was banned by the NBA.