The human growth hormone (HGH) story is a variation of the others. The punch line is that if it was economical and unrestricted, it might be the most valuable hormone of all. It is likely the safest.
Steven is a gay 72-year-old cosmetic surgeon who practices in West Los Angeles. He hangs out with a string of young, good-looking partners. Steven used testosterone, DHEA, and vitamin D for six months and improved. But he was still sore and fatigued, so he started HGH. After five weeks he said: My sex, energy, and sleep are off the charts. I can work out again without getting sore. And I just got back from a boot camp!
Growth hormone was used to treat a growth hormone deficient boy in the late 1950s. It made him taller, so the idea caught on. A commercial product derived from human pituitary glands became available in the late 1970s, and by 1985, 27,000 children had been treated worldwide. When a few people who received HGH were found to be infected with fatal Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (CJD), the use of pituitary-derived HGH was halted.
In 1985, Genentech developed an FDA-approved “recombinant” bio-identical HGH. It has never caused CJD. Since then, the industry has introduced thirteen other nearly identical products. Their prices are all exorbitant.
In 1990, Daniel Rudman published a six-month study of 21 older men taking HGH (NEJM). Compared to controls, they had an 8.8 percent increase in lean body mass and a 14.4 percent decrease in fat. This was an “anabolic” effect—a proven reversal, in a short time, of the usual aging trend toward muscle loss and fat gain.
This trial was a benchmark that spawned other research. Soon, evidence developed that the medication increased bone density, strengthened immunity, decreased cardiac risk factors, improved cardiac function, decreased cholesterol, improved mental functioning, and improved quality of life. See Appendix C for references about how growth hormone prevents Alzheimer’s disease and improves cognitive function. HGH has also been used successfully to treat burns, heart failure, Crohn’s disease, obesity, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, ulcerative colitis, and other conditions.
Hormone physicians say these findings support using growth hormone to combat aging and improve vitality. And since most adults over 60 have about the same HGH production as people with damaged pituitary glands, they believe prescribing it is reasonable.
Unfortunately, the FDA did not agree. Human growth hormone received approved for AIDS wasting, but strangely, it is off label for most other adult applications including all the above. A 2005 JAMA commentary declared that off-label human growth hormone prescribing was illegal. And a 2019 Drug Enforcement Administration monograph claimed “anti-aging” use was illicit.
The FDA tries to dictate medical practice, which is not their job. Every physician knows that prescribing conventions allow them to treat conditions with any approved medication if they document the reason. Estimates of the total drugs used off-label range up to half of all prescriptions written. We have substantial evidence that HGH improves health, and prescribing it for aging is legitimate.
Athletes have employed growth hormone for forty years. Although it is not a controlled substance like testosterone, HGH has
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