posted August 04, 2000 04:23 AM            

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Growth Horomone:
The Real "Fountain of Youth"

On July 5, 1990, America's most prestigious medical journal, the New England Journal of Medicine, publishe the results of a human clinical study that changed the world of anti-aging medicine forever.

Daniel Rudman, M.D., and colleagues reported the results of their six-month trial of synthetic human-growth hormone (hGH) with 12 older men, aged 61 to 81. Astoundingly, without any change in diet, exercise, lifestyle or smoking, the 12 men gained muscle, lost fat, increased their bone density, thickened their skin and expanded their livers and spleens almost 20 percent. In effect, hGH reversed the biological age of the subjects by 10 to 20 years!

Prior to Rudman's landmark study, hGH use had been restricted to two classes of people: young children, whose growth was severely stunted due to serious hGH deficiency, and adults whose pituitary glands had been damaged or destroyed by injury, illness or radiation. Prior to 1985, hGH was in extremely short supply. It was painstakingly extracted from the pituitary glands of cadavers.

Human use of hGH began in 1958 when endocrinologist Maurice Raben injected hGH into a dwarf child. The child began to grow normally and over the next 30 years thousands of children were injected with cadaver-derived hGH.

By 1985 the company that pioneered recombinant DNA technology, Genetech, had produced the first synthetic hGH, opening the way to mass production of hGH. It is an extremely large and complex hormone, consisting of 191 specific amino acids linked in a three-dimensional structure. Because it is a complex protein, hGH cannot survive digestion, and must be taken by injection.

Genetech's product, Protropin, differed from natural hGH by one amino acid, but this did not affect its performance in the human body. The following year, the drug company Eli Lilly succeeded in making a 191-amino-acid hGH that was 100 percent physically, chemically and biologically identical to hGH produced by the human pituitary gland.

Lilly's Humatrope was also approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for both research and medical use and became what many clinicians now consider the "gold standard" of recombinant DNA-produced hGH. Finally, in 1996, thanks to the pioneering medical and legal work of Dr. Edmund Chein, the FDA lifted its ban on the use of hGH for adult patients.

***hGH Clinical Studies***
From 1994 through 1996, over 800 people were treated with hGH at Chein's clinic. In 1995, Chein began his collaboration with Dr. L. Cass Terry. Terry used his skills as an academic researcher to help Chein turn the mass of clinical data gathered from his patients, into a meaningful statistical profile. The results demonstrated, to both scientists and the public, the safety and efficacy of hGH in improving a broad array of human health parameters in adults. Chein and Terry's data were published for the first time in Dr. Ronald Klatz's 1997 book, "Grow Young with hGH."

hGH is secreted by the pituitary gland, a tiny gland at the base of the brain. It is normally secreted in pulsatile bursts, with the largest daily amount being secreted in the first few hours of deep, slow-wave sleep. For reasons of convenience, Rudman in his 1990 study had given his 12 older men only three injections of hGH per week, at a high dose of 16 IU. In a study published in 1996, Dr. Maxine Papadakis of UC San Francisco reported mixed results with the identical high-dose, low-frequency protocol of hGH injections.

Although both Rudman and Papadakis found significant multiple benefits, especially on the body composition of the subjects, they also reported some unpleasant side effects. These included carpal tunnel syndrome (wrist pain), gynecomastia (enlarged breasts), pains in both large and small joints, and edema (excess fluid) in the legs. Papadakis' team also noted, however, that the side effects disappeared or decreased markedly within two weeks after the hGH dose was lowered by 25 percent to 50 percent.

Chein and Terry chose to adopt an injection regimen that more closely approximated the natural rhythms of normal hGH secretion. Their clinic patients were taught to self-adminitster hGH injections subcutaneously (just below the skin) just before bedtime and upon arising six days per week. A weekly day of rest from injections was taken to prevent the patients' pituitary glands from getting "lazy" and ceasing whatever hGH secretion their gland was still releasing.

A dose of 0.3 to 0.7 IU of hGH was given twice daily, for a weekly total of about four to eight IU hGH. Thus, Chein and Terry's weekly dose was only about one-fourth to one-half of the dose Rudman and Papadakis gave their patients three times weekly. Chein and Terry have not found any major side effects among their 800 patients.

Minor joint aches and pains and slight fluid retention are the only side effects they have found, and these generally disappear in the first month or two of treatment. Chein and Terry believe their low-dose, more natural rhythm hGH protocol is responsible for the minimal incidence of severity of side effects in their patients.

Based on the results of randomly selected questionnaires from 202 patients, aged 39 to 74 (15 percent women), Chein and Terry reported many outstanding benefits of their low dose, high frequency hGH program. Over 80 percent improved, while 72 percent found impoved healing capacity and healing of injuries, while 73 percent reported increased resistance to common illness. A high incidence of improvement in sexual functioning and menstrual/menopausal health was noted. Also 62 percent to 84 percent of subjects enjoyed increases in energy levels, emotional stability, positive attitude and memory.

***hGH-The Biology***
To fully understand the significance of the positive results reported by Rudman, Papadakis, Chein and Terry (as well as many others too numerous to mention in this short article), it is necessary to understand the basics of the biology of hGH. hGH is one of many hormones secreted by the pituitary gland. Hormones are chemical messengers that help guide, direct and control the complex integration between (and physiologic functions of) our organs, tissues and cells.

Just as there is a hierarchy of control in an army, with generals directing colonels, who direct majors and captains, with orders eventually directing the corporals and privates to action, so the human glandular system is ordered and functions hierarchically. The general of the hierarchy is the human brain, which affects the connecting link between the nervous system and the glandular system - the hypothalamus.

The hypothalamus portion of the brain, activated by nerve signals from elsewhere in the brain, secretes releasing hormones, which in turn cause the pituitary to release its hormones. Pituitary hormones, such as ACTH, thyrotropin and luteinizing hormone (LH), trigger other glands to release their hormones. ACTH triggers the adrenals to secrete cortisol, thyrotropin causes thyroid hormone release and LH activates the sex glands to release their hormones.

Finally, these primary action hormones affect their target tissues - e.g., the sex hormones control the reproductive organs, thyroid hormone activates brain, liver, heart and muscles, while cortisol alter immune, brain and fat tissue. Out of all the pituitary hormones, hGH has the most universal action, ultimately affecting every cell of the body. Unfortunately, hGH shows the greatest and most precipitous drop with age.

***hGH-Age-Related Decrease
According to data from the April 1995 Journal of NIH Reasearch, a healthy 10-year-old secreting 2,000 mcg hGH per day will only secrete 700 mcg per day by age 20 - a 75 percent drop! This declines further, averaging 400 mcg per day by 30, and from 40 to 80 years of age, hGH drops from about 325 mcg to 225 mcg per day.

Yet, ironically, research has shown that the somatotrophs (hGH producing cells within the pituitary) of elderly people are frequently making as much hGH as young people! The problem, then, lies with defective hGH release and not manufacture.

Many factors (possibly including some nutrients) enhance hGH release; many all too common factors also inhibit hGH release. Intense exercise, adrenaline-mediated stress, emotional excitement, fasting and calorie-restricted diets enhance groth-hormone release. While the "state of siege" stress hormone - cortisol, insulin excess and insulin resistance, obesity (especially abdominal obesity) and high levels of free fatty acids in the blood, all inhibit hGH release and at the same time that our cells are becoming less sensitive to hGH's effects.

When hGH is secreted by the pituitary, in response to hypothalamic releasing factors, it only remains in the blood-stream for minutes. During this brief flare of activity, hGH induces the liver to produce various growth factors, especially insulin-like Growth Factor One (IGF-1). While hGH has some direct benefit on the health, metabolism and structure of our trillions of cells, much of hGH's benefit is mediate through IGF-1 and other growth factors hGH induces. Between them, hGH and IGF-1 help deliver to our cells the raw materials needed for repair and renovation.

***hGH-The Ultimate Antioxidant***
According to Drs. Thierry Hertaghe and Vince Giampapa, the latest European research indicates hGH and IGF-1 can go beyond the current antioxidant based anti-aging remedies in slowing, preventing and reversing aging at the cellular level.

Grace Wong of Genetech has shown that as we age, cell proteins, as well as the DNA and RNA that provide the blueprint for making protein and other needed cell constituents, suffer ever-accumulating damage. A major cause of this age-related cellular degradation is the ever-increasing incidence of free radicals released during normal cellular activity. These free radicals activate protease's, destructive enzymes that damage and degrade essential sell proteins and structures.

But hGH can actually activate a cellular defense force of protease inhibitors. Thus, even if high levels of free radicals can't be avoided, the protease inhibitors prevent the free radicals from triggering cell destructive proteases. Thus Hertoghe and Giampapa note that hGH and IGF-1 can do what antioxidants cannot.

Antioxidants can only reduce damage to already existing cell proteins and structures. hGH and IGF-1 help pull into the cell the nutrients neede to repair, renovate and rebuild cellular structures. IGF-1 can also deliver nucleic acids (the building blocks of the genes) right into the protected citadel of the cell nucleus, where the DNA and genes which direct our cellular architecture reside. Thus, unlike antioxidants, hGH and IGF-1 don't just reduce celluclar damage, they actively promote the healing and regeneration of aging cells.

As recently as the early 1980s, many meical texts focused on hGH's role primarily as the hormone necessary to achieve normal height and bone development. Yet the clinical human research, as well as the basic research on hGH of the past 20 years, has now shown that hGH/IGF-1 affect every aspect of human biology.

***hGH-Enhancing the Immune System***
One of the many systems that weakens as we age is our immune system. Infectious ailments that might barely bother a healthy 20-year-old, may be fatal to a typically immune compromised elderly person. A key biomarker of aging is the "involution" or disappearance of the thymus gland. The thymus gland is the director and activator of the immune system. It secretes hormones such as thymosin and thymoietin which regulate the immune system

They thymus also transforms immature T-cells into programmed germ-killing warriors. Researchers have been able to revers the thymic atrophy of old rats through hGH, so that their thymus glands became as large and robust as the thymus glands of healthy young rats. It is now know that the activity of all major immune cell types, such as T-cells, B-cells, natural killer (NK) cells and macrophages, can be beneficially altered by hGH/IGF-1.

Greg Fahey of the Naval Medical Research Institute, Bethesda MD., has noted that immune restoration has multiple benefits. These include improved ability to make DNA, have normal cell division, normal insulin sensitivity, normal thyroid hormone levels and more normal brain chemistry.

***hGH-Insulin and Physical Makeup***
hGH's ability to normalize age-impaired insulin sensitivity is an exciting area of current research. Clinical studies with hGH routinely show reductions in human body fat with simultaneous increases in lean body mass (muscle and organ tissue).

For example, in six months of hGH treatment at Sahlgrenska Hospital in Sweden, hGH deficient adults lost 20 percent of their body fat. Most of this fat loss occurred in abdominal fat, reduced by 30 percent, compared with a 13 percent reduction in peripheral (e.g., arm and leg) fat. It is increased abdominal fat that is strongly correlated with increased incidence of heart attacks, hypertension and diabetes.

In a short-term 1994 study with nine obese women, just five weeks of hGH treatment was sufficient to show significant fat loss and lean tissue gain. In this double-blind crossover study, the women lost an average of 4.6 pounds of body fat (mostly abdominal), while their lean body mass increased 6.6 pounds.

HGH-induced losses of abdominal fat take on added significance from the viewpoint of endogenous (body produced) hGH release. Obese men make 25 percent less growth hormone daily and have a pulsatile GH release that is only 25 percent as much as men with normal weight!

It is the interaction of insulin with hGH/IGF-1 that seems to be responsible for hGH's anti-fat pro-muscle benefits. As people age, their cells become more insulin-resistant, frequently accompanied by increased blood insulin levels at the same time. Yet as we age, not all cells become equally insulin-resistant. Unfortunatley, it is the lean body mass cells (muscle and organ tissue) that primarily become insulin-resistant.

Fat cells may even increase their insulin sensitivity! Since insulin helps fats, sugars and amino acids from the blood enter cells, this means that our cardiac, nerve and muscle cells are being starved as we age. Meanwhile, our fat cells are being gorged. But insulin doesn't just help food enter our fat cells; it also directs them to turn that bonanza into body fat!

When hGH levels become adequate once again, however, it seems to revers the situation. It directs the action of insulin toward feeding our precious heart, brain, muscle and other organ cells, while minimizing insulin's direction of food into fat cells. Also, fat cells have hGH membrane receptors and when adequate hGH activates these receptors, it triggers a process called "lipolysis," breaking down existing fat.

In a very real sense, hGH puts fat cells on a diet and on a fat burning "exercise program" at the cellular level!

***hGH-Brain Protection***
hGH has also been shown to benefit the brain and mind in many ways. Scientists have discovered hGH receptors in different parts of the brain, yet it seemed that the giant hGH molecule could not pass through the blood-brain barrier. Reasearch then discovered how hGH injections could influence the brain. When hGH was injected into the let, there was a 10-fold increase in hGH levels in the cerebrospinal fluid that bathes the brain. Researchers also discovered that hGH seems to rebalance neurotransmitter levels, increasing mood-elevating levels of beta-endorphin, one of the brain's chief "feel good" biochemicals, while simultaneously lowering excessive dopamine levels.

Excessive dopamine produces feelings of agitation, irritability and quarrelsomeness - the "grumpy old men" syndrome. Also, research with both pituitar-damaged, hGH-deficient adults as well as age-related, hGH-deficient adults, has consistently shown an antidepressant, mood-elevating hGH effect.

Many of the pituitary-damaged (or removed) adults studied in Sweden became withdrawn, depressed, socially isolated, passive and pessimistic. After hGH treatment, many of these adults became sociable, friendly, outgoing, zestful people. The patients treated by Chein and Terry also noted improved stress resilience, more positive outlook, more joy and peace in life. Neuroscientists have also found evidence in both humans and animals that hGH may actually reverse the typical brain shrinkage that occurs with age. While some brain cells die over the course of a lifetime, it is even more the myriad of dendtitic connections between neurons that disappear with age. It is this ever-changing, ever-renewing (if we're healthy and active) neuronal web that forms the basis for all learning and memory.

hGH/IGF-1 seems to protect brain cells from death under non-ideal conditions. hGH also stimulates nerve growth factors in the brain which in turn cause new dendrites to sprout.

***hGH-In Conclusion***
The 1990's have brought the human race - for the first time in history - the technology to reverse the generally inevitable and debilitating decline in hGH secretion.

hGH research over 30 years has demonstrated with a wealth of detail (way beyond what can even be hinted at in this short article), that hGH is the hormone of human rejuvenation and regeneration. Even the elderly can attain hGH-assisted recovery of lost of strength, health and vigor of body and mind. It is just in time, for the diet and lifestyles of today's Westerners are almost perfect for producing catastrophic hGH decline. Even in late youth and middle age, our carbohydrate, fat and calorie-rich diet promotes insulin excess and high blood fats, combined with abdominal obesity, which reduces hGH secretion and effect.

Our "couch potato" lifestyle fails to provide the intense exercise stimulus needed to produce pituitary hGH release. Our quietly desperate, stressful lives which we can neither flee from nor fight, causes chronic cortiso excess in many, inhibiting hGH release and promoting hGH stultifying obesity. Our modern self-indulgence and lack of discipline makes it hard for most people to benefit from the cheapest and most researched methond of increasing both pituitary hGH secretion, as well as cellular sensitivity to hGH - systematic under-eating, also know as long-term caloric food reduction.

posted August 04, 2000 09:53 AM            

Answered alot of my questions...