HGH - HUMAN GROWTH HORMONE: JAMA Cites Cancer Risks

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HGH - HUMAN GROWTH HORMONE

hgh risks and side effects

 

 

Honey, I Shrunk My Wallet!

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One of the most important hormones secreted by the pituitary gland

is growth hormone, which stimulates the growth of muscles and bones

and helps regulate metabolism, and influences sexual enjoyment.

 

Growth hormone can sharply increase the flow of sugar into muscle

and fat, stimulate protein production in liver and muscle, and slow

the production of fatty tissue.

 

More prolonged effects of growth hormone--blocking the uptake and

use of sugars, causing blood sugar levels to rise, and increasing

the production of fat and fat levels in the blood--seem to

counteract its immediate effects.

 

These two actions of growth hormone are important because the body

must adapt to the lack of food when fasting.

 

Along with cortisol, growth hormone helps maintain blood sugar

levels for the brain and mobilizes fat, making it available to other

body cells as an alternative fuel.

 

In many cases, growth hormone appears to work by activating a

number of growth factors, the most important of which is insulin-

like growth factor I (IGF-I).

 

Many symptoms being part of the growth hormone deficiency syndrome

in adults like decrease in muscle mass and bone mineral content,

increase in fat mass, and skin atrophy are observed also with aging.

 

Indeed, short term trials with growth hormone administration to

persons over 60 years old revealed that many of these symptoms could

be reversed by growth hormone.

 

However, recent reports of an association of high insulin-like

growth factor-1 (IGF-1)-concentrations and increased risk of

prostate, lung, colon and breast cancer as well as a possible

decrease of insulin sensitivity prohibit currently the use of growth

hormone in an attempt to reverse a normal ageing process.

 

Prospective, randomised and placebo-controlled long-term trials are

necessary to prove safety and efficacy of growth hormone therapy in

the aging population before it can be recommended.

 

In addition, no data are available as to the right growth hormone

dose and the correct monitoring.

 

Expectations of the society and the search for the fountain of youth

should not motivate physicians to leave the firm ground of evidence

based medicine and prescribe experimental therapies to healthy older

persons, the least being the cost of such therapy which could run

into thousands of dollars a year.

 

Although pharmaceutically made HGH (a complicated hormone made by

joining about 190 amino acids) has been shown in certain studies to

have short term anti-aging potential, long term consequences are

unclear.

 

Growth hormone excess can lead to a condition called acromegaly.

 

There is no guarantee that real pharmaceutical growth hormone

extends life span.

 

In fact, in some animal studies, reducing the release of growth

hormone extends life span.

 

Over the past few years, there have been untold number of over the

counter products that claim to work in a way similar to the real

pharmaceutical HGH, or claim that their product stimulates growth

hormone release.

 

At this point none of the companies (as far as I know) have done

any significant research to prove that their product has anti-aging

benefits over the long term.

 

In fact, almost none have done any research at all.

 

Having said all this, it is possible that medical researchers may

someday find a low dose of HGH given at the appropriate times to

appropriate individuals may improve health and extend life span, but

that day is not here yet.

 

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Email Questions-

 

Q. Please could you tell me if homeopathic growth hormone is safe?

I would like to try it if it is and thought you would be the best

person to ask as I have a couple of your excellent books, on DHEA

and Melatonin, and wouldn't take a step into this area without your

advice.

 

 

A. Homeopathic growth hormone, in a nutshell, is a big scam, and

those who make undocumented claims regarding this product make the

natural health industry look quite unreliable.

Q. I am hoping that you will perform an assessment of the efficacy

of the many HGH " boosters " that are currently on the market. Or at

least tell us who has done this type of evaluation.

 

A. There is no point in doing an assessment of over the counter HGH

products since they cannot be the real thing, i.e., pharmaceutically

made growth hormone, a polypeptide with about 190 amino acids

attached together.

If a person needs growth hormone, they should take the real stuff,

if they don't need growth hormone, there is no point in taking any

over the counter products until there is definitive research that

supports their claims.

 

 

Ray Sahelian, MD is the author of Mind Boosters

 

 

Journal takes aim at growth hormone advertisers

Last Updated: 2003-02-26 17:00:15 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Amy Norton

 

 

 

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The New England Journal of Medicine

(NEJM) is taking action against advertisers it says are improperly

using its name to hawk human growth hormone as an anti-aging remedy,

the journal announced Wednesday.

 

Besides posting cautionary information on its Web site about the

anti-aging abilities of growth hormone and supplements that claim to

boost natural growth hormone, NEJM has contacted the attorneys

general of two states to look into advertisers that cite the journal

in marketing their products.

 

The moves come in response to consumer complaints NEJM has received

over advertisers' use of the journal's name.

 

In 1990, NEJM published the findings of a small study that suggested

injections of human growth hormone, or HGH, might boost lean body

mass in older men.

 

According to the journal, this article has been cited

in " potentially misleading " advertisements for HGH or dietary

supplements that purport to be " releasers " of the body's natural HGH

supply.

 

" We were getting a lot of complaints about the use of the journal's

name " in marketing HGH products, Dr. Jeffrey M. Drazen, an NEJM

editor, told Reuters Health. " We want to make sure people understand

we're not endorsing any product, " he said.

 

To that end, two articles, one by Drazen, are being published in the

February 27th issue of NEJM. The other article is by Dr. Mary Lee

Vance of the University of Virginia Medical Center in

Charlottesville, who in 1990 wrote an editorial that NEJM published

with the HGH findings in question.

 

In both the new and old articles, Vance stresses that the true

usefulness and safety of giving HGH to healthy older adults is

unknown.

 

In the 1990 study, six months of HGH injections given to 12 men ages

61 to 81 appeared to boost lean body mass while decreasing fat mass.

But whether HGH made a difference in the men's strength, fitness or

quality of life was not measured.

 

What's more, Vance writes in the new article, anti-aging products

sold on a number of Web sites--including oral or inhaled versions of

HGH and supplements touted as natural HGH releasers--have no

evidence to back them up.

 

According to Drazen, ads for these supplements are apparently

directing readers to the journal's Web site. He said that the 1990

article receives far more " hits " than any other article published

that year.

 

From now on, anyone who reads the article on NEJM's site will also

see Drazen's and Vance's articles as a counterbalance. Since January

31, an editor's note has warned readers that the article has been

used in " potentially misleading " ads.

And the full article, plus Vance's original editorial, were made

available for free. Normally, only short summaries of NEJM articles

can be viewed by non-rs.

 

Drazen said the journal has contacted the attorneys general of

Massachusetts and New Jersey and is awaiting their responses.

Whether action can be taken against any advertisers is uncertain,

but " we think their claims are false and misleading, " Drazen said.

 

HGH is naturally produced by the brain's pituitary gland. Because

HGH production declines with age, some have proposed that synthetic

HGH might serve as a potential fountain of youth.

 

Synthetic HGH injections are approved for some conditions, including

HGH deficiency. But whether healthy older adults can benefit remains

in doubt. Some studies have backed up the 1990 research showing that

HGH treatment might alter older adults' body composition, but real

changes in participants' strength and endurance have not emerged.

 

 

 

On the other hand, researchers have found the potential for HGH side

effects, including swelling of the arms and legs, joint pain and

diabetes.

 

SOURCE: The New England Journal of Medicine 2003;348:777-778,779-780.

 

 

 

Growth hormone no fountain of youth, study suggests

Last Updated: 2002-11-12 11:18:50 -0400 (Reuters Health) By

Jacqueline Stenson

 

 

 

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Growth hormone, widely touted as a

restorer of youth for aging Americans, offers limited benefits to

seniors and carries potentially serious risks, new study findings

indicate.

 

Despite its growing popularity, growth hormone as an anti-aging

strategy is " not yet ready for prime time, " said study author Dr. S.

Mitchell Harman, director of the Kronos Longevity Research

Institute, an independent nonprofit group in Phoenix, Arizona. " It's

not a wonder drug, and it has real risks, " he told Reuters Health.

 

Elderly men and women taking growth hormone gained some muscle and

shed some fat over 6 months. But only those men taking both growth

hormone and testosterone saw any functional gains in strength and

cardiovascular endurance, and those gains were modest, Harman and

colleagues at the National Institutes of Health and other centers

report in the November 13th issue of The Journal of the American

Medical Association.

 

 

And along with other side effects, the risk of diabetes and glucose

intolerance, a precursor to diabetes, was heightened among men on

growth hormone.

 

 

Hundreds of anti-aging clinics across the country already offer

growth hormone injections, and health-food stores sell supplements

claiming to contain the hormone, Harman said. While there are no

statistics on how many Americans take growth hormone, the number is

probably in the tens of thousands, he estimated.

 

The injections contain a synthetic version of human growth hormone,

which is naturally produced by the pituitary gland in the brain and

declines with age.

 

The synthetic drug has been approved by the Food and Drug

Administration for children with short stature resulting from very

low human growth hormone levels. It also is used in adults with such

conditions as severe growth hormone deficiency and muscle wasting

associated with AIDS.

 

But whether growth hormone can help reverse the effects of normal

aging is an ongoing debate. The latest study involved 74 men and 57

women, all healthy seniors between 65 and 88 years of age.

 

Participants were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups:

growth hormone plus sex steroid (testosterone for men; hormone

replacement therapy for women); growth hormone plus placebo

(inactive) sex steroid; placebo growth hormone plus sex steroid; or

placebo growth hormone plus placebo sex steroid. All participants

were instructed to maintain their current diet and exercise regimens.

 

By the end of the 26-week study, women on growth hormone had gained

an average of 2 to 5 pounds of muscle and lost about 5 pounds of

fat. Likewise, men on growth hormone had gained 7 to 10 pounds of

muscle and shed about the same amount of fat.

 

Yet only one study group experienced actual functional

improvement. " In men, the combination of growth hormone and

testosterone showed small increases in endurance and strength, "

Harman said. As with growth hormone levels, testosterone levels also

decline with age.

 

In this group of men, cardiovascular endurance increased 8%. Muscle

strength increased 7%, though this latter finding was on the

borderline of statistical significance.

 

 

 

 

Side effects from growth hormone were most common in men and

included swelling of the arms and legs, carpal tunnel syndrome,

joint pain and most worrisome, diabetes and glucose intolerance.

 

 

 

Eighteen men taking growth hormone developed either diabetes or

glucose intolerance during the study, compared with seven men not

taking growth hormone.

 

 

 

And there could be other, unknown side effects as well, Harman said,

noting that seniors are far more likely than children to develop

adverse reactions from growth hormone.

 

 

 

" We don't know whether taking growth hormone long term will put you

at higher risk for cancer but there's certainly reason to think it

might, " he said.

 

 

Growth hormone raises blood levels of another hormone, insulin-like

growth factor, which preliminary evidence indicates may promote

breast and prostate cancers.

 

While the new findings suggest growth hormone may have some role in

fighting aging, small improvements in strength or endurance are " not

the same as being able to carry two bags of groceries up a flight of

stairs " or perform other important tasks of everyday living, Harman

said.

 

More studies are needed to fully understand the effects of growth

hormone in aging people, he said, and to determine whether different

doses for longer time periods would yield more benefits--or risks.

 

 

 

SOURCE: The Journal of the American Medical Association

2002;288:2282-2292.

 

 

 

 

Growth hormone treatment linked to increased cancer risk

 

 

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Results of a cohort study show that the

risk of cancer, particularly colorectal cancer and Hodgkin's

disease,

 

is significantly increased among patients treated with human

pituitary growth hormone.

 

Dr. Anthony J. Swerdlow from the Institute of Cancer Research,

Surrey, UK, and colleagues collected data on 1848 patients who had

received growth hormone during childhood and early adulthood from

1959 to 1985.

 

The researchers obtained followup information on these patients

regarding incidence of cancer until December 1995 and mortality

until December 2000.

 

As reported in the July 27th issue of The Lancet, there was a

significantly increased risk for death from cancer (standarized

mortality ratio 2.8) and from colorectal cancer (standarized

mortality ratio 10.8) and from Hodgkin's disease (standarized

mortality ratio 11.4), the researchers found. The incidence of

colorectal cancer was also increased (standarized incidence ratio

7.9), they add.

 

" Some of the raised risk was because of specific high-risk groups

who received growth hormone, " Dr. Swerdlow told Reuters Health.

 

 

" But even after we removed those people from the analysis, there

was significant raised risk for mortality from colorectal cancer and

from Hodgkin's disease. "

 

 

 

For colorectal cancer, there are reasons to believe that growth

hormone might be involved in the etiology, he added.

 

At this point, physicians need to take these findings into account

when they treat patients with growth hormone, Dr. Swerdlow said, but

there needs to be more research to verify the findings.

 

" It must be emphasized that the treatment of growth hormone

deficiency has established health benefits, and that there is no

evidence that physiological growth-hormone replacement increases

cancer risk, " Dr. Edward Giovannucci from Brigham and Women's

Hospital, Boston, and Dr. Michael Pollak from Jewish General

Hospital, Montreal, comment in a journal editorial.

 

" While the data reported by Swerdlow and colleagues should not

discourage appropriate treatment of growth hormone deficiency, they

should provoke reassessment of the risks and benefits of growth

hormone therapy for more controversial indications that are

unrelated to growth hormone deficiency, particularly if such

treatment is prescribed for long periods, " they advise.

 

Lancet 2002;360:268-269,273-277.

 

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