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Article
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"Human Growth Hormone to Reverse
Aging" by Dr. Elmer Cranton
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| Hormones are tiny chemical messengers
continuously secreted into the blood stream by endocrine glands to regulate
activities of vital organs. The word, hormone, is derived from a Greek
word meaning, "to stimulate." Hormones stimulate a multitude of life-giving
processes throughout the body, which maintain health, harmony, growth,
healing and repair. |
| Probably the best known hormone is
insulin, produced in the pancreas. When production declines or ceases,
diabetes results. Scientists long ago discovered a way to duplicate insulin
and administer periodic injections to control the symptoms of diabetes.
The discovery of insulin and the process of injecting man-made insulin
made control of diabetes possible. |
| Growth hormone, secreted by the pituitary
gland, is a small protein-like hormone (peptide), similar to insulin. Commonly
referred to as human growth hormone or "HGH," it is difficult to measure
directly. HGH Is secreted in very brief pulses during the early hours of
sleep and remains in the circulation for only a few minutes. It is quickly
taken into the liver and converted into somatomedln-C, another small peptide
hormone (also known as insulin-like growth factor-one or IGF-I). Somatomedin-C
is then responsible for some of the activity of growth hormone in the body.
Somatomedin-C levels in the blood are much more constant and can be measured
in the laboratory as an indicator of total daily HGH production. During
adolescence, when growth is most rapid, production of HGH is very high.
That is why it was named "growth hormone." Even after growth stops, however,
growth hormone must continue to be present (at somewhat lower levels) throughout
life to maintain physical and mental health and well being. Tissue repair,
healing, cell replacement, organ integrity, bone strength, brain function,
enzyme production, integrity of hair, nails, skin and vital organs all
require the ongoing availability of adequate growth hormone. After age
20, growth hormone production falls progressively and consistently at an
average rate of about 14% per decade. By age 60, it Is not uncommon to
measure a growth hormone loss of 75% or more. Physical decline with age
correlates directly with decreased secretion of growth hormone by the pituitary
gland. |
| Children who develop a pituitary deficiency
of growth hormone at a young age will never grow normally and are destined
to become dwarfs in adulthood if untreated. Human growth hormone therapy
was initially developed to treat those children so they could grow to become
normal adults. Initially, supplies were very limited, expensive and sometimes
contaminated. There was not enough growth hormone available to treat all
the children who needed it. With the development of recombinant DNA technology,
human growth hormone has recently become more available and in very pure
form-but it is still expensive. The easy availability of growth hormone
now provides a new dimension in health care and preventive medicine. Approximately
every three years 90% of the cells in the human body are made anew. The
body is composed of more than 100 trillion cells, which are continuously
dying, and being replaced. Only in the brain and nervous system are the
original cells (neurons) retained. But even in the brain new proteins are
continuously being produced to store memories of each new experience. Learning,
memory and intelligence all depend on adequate growth hormone. As growth
hormone falls with age, functions of all vital organs decrease. Human growth
hormone replacement therapy is now available to reverse and slow age-related
symptoms of physical and mental decline. By measuring blood levels of growth
hormone (somatomedin-C) in older adults, and also in younger patients who
are not doing well despite other therapies, a new advance in health care
and preventive medicine is now available. If somatomedin-C is at the normal
level for a healthy young adult, the use of supplemental growth hormone
is not warranted. If, however, growth hormone is low, then supplementation
can offer the potential for great benefit. |
| Benefits from growth hormone replacement
reported in the scientific literature include increased muscle mass, improved
physical strength, reduced fatigue, decreased fat (especially abdominal
fat), increased bone strength, and revitalization of liver, kidney, spleen,
and brain functions. Skin regains a more youthful appearance with fewer
wrinkles and sexual functioning improves. Cholesterol decreases and cartilage
in joints becomes stronger. Osteoporosis, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's
disease are improved. Healing is speeded. A markedly better quality of
life has also resulted for AIDS patients receiving growth hormone. Like
insulin, growth hormone is given by Injection. A small syringe with a tiny
27-gauge needle is used to give self-administered injections just under
the skin, from 4 to 7 days each week. Benefits accrue slowly during the
first 6 to 18 months of therapy, as adverse effects of aging are reversed.
People who have benefited from this therapy made the following statements:
H.T., a 64 year-old businessman, had been giving himself daily Injections
of growth hormone for 4 years. In his own words, "My energy, stamina and
sex drive are like a 30-year-old. Muscle tone is fantastically improved.
My waist went from 42 inches to 34 and I went from 29 percent fat to 12
percent. I look in the mirror in the morning and can't believe that guy
Is me-it looks like me when I was 30. The palsy in my hand is gone, I discarded
my bifocal glasses and my skin went from tissue-thin to youthful." 3. H.,
a 40-year-old businesswoman, suffered for many years with chronic fatigue
and constant pain in her jaw and head from degeneration in the temporal-mandibular
joints (TM) syndrome). After taking daily growth hormone injections, she
states, "I was previously a 40 year old woman with a 60-year-old body.
On growth-hormone therapy my TM) pain is gone, completely, my energy and
stamina are increased, fat is decreased, and I feel much more alive, blossoming
inside, almost euphoric." Dr. Daniel Rudman conducted a scientific research
project at the Medical College of Wisconsin in 1991 giving growth hormone
injections to elderly men. The results of that study were published in
the
New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Rudman stated in an interview, "We
reversed 10 to 20 years of the aging process. . . fat diminished, muscle
tissue increased." |
| Another important benefit from growth
hormone replacement is strengthening of the immune system. Infections decrease,
recovery from illness is aided, allergies improve and immune related diseases
such as arthritis become less bothersome. The immune system is an important
defense against cancer and it seems logical that cancer might, to some
extent, be prevented by growth hormone. Although it has been speculated
that growth hormone might speed the growth of cancer, that has not been
seen in clinical practice. In fact, improved immunity might logically be
expected to reduce the risk of malignancy and speed healing from a treated
cancer. Side effects reported in medical research were mostly associated
with very large doses. |
| Research doses of growth hormone were
as much as eight times the amount normally produced by the pituitary gland.
Such over dosage caused carpal tunnel syndrome, decreased glucose tolerance
(increased tendency to diabetes), breast enlargement (even in males), and
fluid retention. Using the lower, currently recommended doses, those side
effects are not seen. As tissue repair, healing and cell replacement are
speeded up by growth hormone replacement, the need for nutrients of all
types increases. Protein intake must be adequate to build new tissues.
Vitamins, minerals and trace elements are all utilized in higher amounts,
as the metabolic rate increases. If the body is deficient or borderline
in essential nutrients, an increase in cell growth can aggravate or create
deficiencies. For that reason, it is wise to seek out physician skilled
in clinical nutrition and preventive medicine to obtain growth hormone
therapy. If a person is deficient in an essential micronutrient, such as
vitamin B6, it is no surprise that growth hormone can, In some cases, cause
carpal tunnel syndrome, which is related to B6 deficiency. Side effects
can thus be caused by the poor nutritional status of patients. Low-dose
growth hormone therapy (4 to 8 units per week) is now known to be clinically
effective and free of significant side effects. Side effects, which do
occur, such as mild fluid retention, usually pass within a few weeks as
the body readjusts to a younger metabolic rate. |
| Longevity and health are extremely
complicated goals with many contributing or detracting factors such as
heredity, stress, nutrition, antioxidants, life-style, harmful habits,
tobacco, excessive alcohol, and exposure to chemicals and environmental
pollution-in addition to the usual decline in hormone production with age.
Standard "health care" is largely oriented toward drug or surgical attacks
against disease, a negative approach which usually does not include nutritional
and hormonal support or removal of toxins to stimulate natural healing
and repair. |
| Growth hormone supports health and
healing and mediates cell repair. A sound program of growth hormone therapy
should be built on a foundation of clinical nutrition, vitamin, mineral
and trace element supplementation, EDTA chelation therapy, assessment and
replacement of other deficient hormones (thyroid, DHEA, etc.) and free-radical
antioxidants for optimum results. |
| The present cost of approximately
$6,200 per year remains expensive for many people and medical insurance
will only reimburse for treatment of dwarfism in children. Hopefully the
cost will come down in the future. |
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