Human Growth Hormone

Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is secreted by the pituitary gland. It causes growth and repair of body tissues including the muscles, the skin, the kidneys and more. HGH levels naturally rise sharply throughout puberty, peak at about age 20, and then slowly decrease. HGH has been used to treat children who fail to make sufficient growth hormone and to treat adults with HGH deficiency.

HGH’s anti-aging benefits may include increased vitality and energy, changes in fat levels and location, increased muscle mass, thickening of the skin, improved sleep, enhanced bone growth and maintenance and increased lifespan. A 1990 study conducted by Daniel Rudman, M.D. and colleagues and published by the New England Journal of Medicine reported that HGH reversed aging in human subjects. An experiment conducted by Drs. David Khansari and Thomas Gustad, of North Dakota State initially showed that mice treated with HGH outlived untreated mice, but the study ended before all mice died of natural causes. A two-year trial conducted by Drs. G. Johanson, B. A. Bengtsson and others reported in 1996 that treatment with HGH increased bone growth and maintenance. A study carried out in 2000 by Van der Lely et al found that a 6-week course of HGH treatment significantly improved the rate at which hip fractures healed in those age 75 and older.

Results of a recent study suggest that growth hormone may be able to ward off AIDS by boosting the immune system and stimulating the production of T cells. In 2002, researchers at the University of California San Francisco reported that a daily dose of growth hormone resulted in thymic stimulation that increased circulating levels of T cells in HIV-positive men. The researchers are now planning a larger study to compare the health of HIV patients administered growth hormone versus those not who do not receive it.

In children, HGH deficiency will result in stunted growth. In adulthood HGH deficiencies are associated with increased incidence of cardiovascular disease, decreased lean body mass, increased body fat with distribution around the waist area, decreased bone density, decreased kidney function, loss of concentration, arthritis, increased insulin resistance, adult onset diabetes, arthritis, thinning and loss of hair, and fatigue.

HGH injection treatments are currently very expensive and available at clinics and through prescription for adult HGH deficiency. Therapeutic dose is determined by body weight.

Dependent upon body weight and method of drug delivery.

Side effects may include bloating, carpal tunnel syndrome, gynecomastia (increase in mammary glands in men), slight decrease in response to insulin, slight increase in blood pressure, hypertension accompanied by headaches and swelling of the optic nerve and decrease in thyroid hormone production.

VIDEO: Brain Age Workshop
Dr. Eric Braverman, Director of The Place for Achieving Total Health (PATH Medical), Chairs the Brain Age Workshop taking place Dec. 9, 2009. Held in conjunction with the Winter Session of the 17th Annual World Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine & Regenerative Biomedical Technologies. The Brain Age Workshop features presentations on Brain Mind Assessment via Neuropsychological Analysis, Movement Deficiency Syndrome, Hormones and the Brain, Nootropic Drug Mechanisms, and Traumatic Brain Injury. View this video to learn about Dr. Braverman’s brain-based model of aging and age modulation.