Human Growth Hormone - Caveat lector
Of all the substances with potential anti-aging
properties, none has aroused such widespread
excitement or generated such widespread
controversy as Human Growth Hormone.
Secreted by the pituitary gland, human growth
hormone (also known as hGH or somatotropin)
was shown in a widely reported 1990 study by
Daniel Rudman, M.D., and his colleagues at the
Medical College of Wisconsin to trim fat, build
muscle and improve skin tone in a dozen elderly
men. In the wake of Rudman's report, headlines
around the country trumpeted hGH as a
rejuvenator and age-reverser. Since then, medical
journals around the world have bulged with new
reports of hGH's many potential benefits,
including the possibility that it may help the body
fight off infectious diseases and cancer.
Of the many animal experiments using hGH,
perhaps the most exciting has been a 1991
study by Michael Torosian, M.D., and Robert
Donoway, M.D., of the University of Pennsylvania
School of Medicine in Philadelphia, in which hGH
significantly slowed the spread of lung cancer in
rats. The researchers now hope to apply for
permission to do human tests.
In addition to hGH's ability to trim fat and
increase muscle mass, newer studies are
beginning to show that it may play an important
role in combating age-related diseases. In 1991,
a team led by Christian Wiedermann of the
University of Innsbruck Medical School in Austria
reported that hGH had stimulated the functioning
of polymorphonuclear neutrophils,
immune-system cells that fight off bacterial
infections. (Age-related declines in the activity of
these cells leave older people more vulnerable to
infectious diseases.) In 1992, Fran Kaiser, M.D.,
of the St. Louis University School of Medicine
reported that injections of synthetic growth
hormone stimulated appetite, induced weight
gain and increased muscle mass in five elderly
patients who were suffering from chronic
malnutrition. Since other studies have shown that
up to 65 percent of older people in hospitals and
nursing homes may be malnourished, Kaiser
suggests that hGH be further considered and
tested as a possible treatment for age-related
malnutrition.
Taking large doses of hGH may result in
acromegaly, a condition in which the bones of
the face are grotesquely enlarged, and which has
been associated with high blood pressure and
cardiovascular disease. Some experts fear that
hGH may stimulate tumor growth in people with
cancer, although this has not been scientifically
established.
Human growth hormone is approved by the FDA
for the physician-supervised treatment of
unusually short children, meaning that it is
available by doctor's prescription. Because of its
muscle-building propensities, hGH is in
considerable demand among athletes, many of
whom consider it a legal and relatively safe
alternative to anabolic steroids.
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