(NOT) FOREVER YOUNG: New study turns up no scientific evidence that human growth hormone can prevent or reverse aging.
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Many people will do almost anything to try to stave off aging--from undergoing painful nips and tucks to slathering on expensive creams to getting injections and downing pills that promise to erase wrinkles, lift sagging skin and keep the body forever young. One of the hottest anti-aging elixirs du jour is human growth hormone (GH), which has been touted for its supposed ability to do everything from build muscle to shave fat to thicken bones to lower cholesterol.
But beware: Eager as you might be to purchase youth in a bottle, a new study says there's zero scientific evidence that growth hormones are any more effective at turning back the clock than tap water or snake oil.
On the contrary: Researchers found that if taken by healthy adults it could cause a host of unhealthy side effects, including joint pain, soft tissue swelling, carpal tunnel syndrome, increased breast size in men, and a heightened risk of diabetes and pre-diabetes.
"Growth hormone should not be used for anti-aging purposes," says Hau Liu, a research fellow in endocrinology and health policy at Stanford University and author of the new study appearing in the January 16 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. "This costs hundreds to thousands of dollars a month and there is no scientific evidence supporting it and very real, potentially serious side effects."
Liu's team reviewed published studies of healthy senior citizens using growth hormones. At best, they found that the drugs increased lean body or muscle mass by slightly more than two kilograms (just over four pounds) and decreased fat mass by roughly the same amount. But Liu says the body changes did not translate into benefits: Longevity, bone density, cholesterol levels, stamina and blood sugar levels did not significantly change or improve.
"If you went to a gym pretty regularly, you might get that change without breaking into too much of a sweat," he says, "and you wouldn't spend $1,000 to $2,000 a month on something that appears to have minimal or no benefit and has the potential of some very serious side effects."
Liu notes that the biggest surprise was the dearth of data in this area, given the widespread popularity of GH as a supposed anti-aging therapy. In fact, he says, researchers reviewing scientific evidence found that there were only about 500 patients involved in rigorous controlled trials and that only a few more than 200 of them actually received growth hormones.
Human growth hormone is a protein naturally produced by the pituitary gland (at the base of the brain) that helps regulate growth during childhood and metabolism in adults. Production peaks during childhood and in the teen years and starts dipping at around age 30 and continues to decline into old age.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has only approved the drug, now produced synthetically, to treat children with short stature (caused by growth hormone deficiency and some diseases and other growth problems)--and to treat adults who suffer from a growth hormone deficiency causing conditions like bone loss, high cholesterol and low energy.
The FDA bars pharmaceutical companies from marketing growth hormones for off-label uses such as anti-aging. But that hasn't stopped mostly Internet vendors from peddling--and thousands of people from snapping up--pills, sprays and injections supposedly containing GH as a passport to the Fountain of Youth. It is estimated that as many as 30,000 people in the U.S. used human growth hormone as an anti-aging agent in 2004, about 10 times as many as in the 1990s, despite the hefty price tag and the fact that it is not approved for such use.
Growth hormones took off as an anti-aging sensation in 1990 after a paper was published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) that presented the findings of a study involving a dozen men over age 60 injected with growth hormones three times a week for six months. At the end of the treatment, they had increases in lean body mass and bone mineral, unlike a group of nine men who had received no treatment.
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8 Comments
Add CommentTo have the audacity to make these conclusions with the paucity of data is what is wrong with traditional medicine. Growth hormone has proved life saving in cardiomyopathy, it reduces a key element in CHF (i.e. norepinephrine), side effects are from doses too high and since there is no patent protection, no one wants to do the studies to show how beneficial this is. If there really are no studies that show a benefit, how can a long list of side effects be produced. If using case reports to report the negative, only fair to use them to report the positive as well. The fact is growth hormone in appropriate doses guided by a doctor who knows his stuff is beneficial, I know as I have been a doctor for 20 years and using GH for the last 12 months and never felt better.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is one thing to desperately seek out a cure and take some untested alternative medicine when one is in a critical health condition, but another when one is relatively healthy to go wild after the latest crackpot remedy which will supposedly eliminate a natural and universal process such as aging.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisApparently no matter how many times Ponce le Leon proves to be Ponzi, the next group of suckers will always be in line to fall for the latest panacea.
It amazes me how scientists are still studying so accutely. Or perhaps we dont have the band with to handle a wholistic research study. For example, a study that does not take into account the intention and state of mind of the patient is contaminated with a big falacy from the beginning. It appears obvious to me that most people who would take this treatment, obviously have a fear of aging and that fear is literally emitting toxins in their blood streams. Whereby, their attention on the fear most likely peaks when they undergoe the treatment. From my perspective this study does confirm something that Human Growth Cells can decrease the aging process; whereby other studies have shown that messages or skin stimulation produce such hormones. Therefore... The Doctor should prescribe courage and massages for those who like to reverse the aging process... A socratic ridle that I have for all of you is as follows... Where is it on yourbody that receives the least amount of touch????
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It is notable that the writers are careful and judicious when they point out that there is no proof of the benefits of HGH, but the same does not apply when they mention the POTENTIAL downside. How much hard evidence is there that this stuff causes cancer, strokes or man-boobs?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI know of several Dr's that use HGH on them selves but it's not for their patients because of side effects. Old age has side effects too; man boobs, cancer,strokes, joint and muscle pains etc.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMaybe its not the fountain of youth But doctors and scientists have continued to study human growth hormones and the body in general. As a result of their research and testing on <a href="http://www.tharc.com">Hgh</a>, doctors are now able to use the human growth hormone to aid in the development of the body
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere are good evidence of such effects when the body produces more amount of the hormone in pituitary hyperplasia, tumor and neoplasia with Growth Hormone production and IGF production and alike. Studies also reveal that aging continues despite normal, high amounts of Hormone levels. Deficit in adult of the Hormone instead do not reveal more aging, understood by aging the definition of higher cancer risk, man boob, etc.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNice blog indeed, thanks. I believe that having HGH pills increases the HGH chemicals in our body; as a result it helps us to gain healthier skin and toned body. These pills work best when taken right after workout sessions. I think that internet is the best place to buy good, genuine and affordable HGH (Human Growth Hormone) pills.Read http://www.besthghpills.com/hgh-advanced-review.html for HGH Advanced Reviews.
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