Anti-aging and HGH
Since times immemorial man has tried to find the elixir of youth and reverse the aging process. Human growth hormone is increasingly being regarded as a substance that can stave off old age. The primary reason being that HGH levels decrease with age.

This has prompted the belief that aging is tied to low HGH levels and that the hormone is an anti-aging agent. Synthetic HGH was engineered 1985 by the drug industry and consequently was approved by the FDA for very specific uses like growth hormone deficiency.

However a study in 1990 by D. Rudman et al published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggested that giving synthetic HGH to healthy males aged over 60 significantly slowed aging. The study involved 12 men ages 61 to 81 who were injected with HGH three times a week. The study found these men to have 9 percent more lean body mass, 14 percent less body fat, 7 percent increase in skin thickness, and a 2 percent increase in lumbar vertebra density after their treatment.

This landmark study spurred excitement and the role of HGH in anti-aging process received a fillip. However is there any truth about HGH being the Fountain of Youth?

The answer must be yes and no. HGH in a pure synthetic form does have the ability to improve the quality of life by overcoming frailty seen in old age. However there is no evidence that taking HGH to start anti-aging process increases one's lifespan.

Many studies have been conducted after the landmark Rudman study and they have reinforced anti-aging effects of HGH. However it must be pointed out that all studies were relatively small in that they had a limited number of subjects and they were all HEALTHY.

The effects of HGH when used as an anti-aging agent in people suffering from chronic medical ailments like diabetes and high blood pressure are bound to be counter-productive as HGH is linked to increasing insulin resistance.

In fact the New England Journal of Medicine was taken aback with many Internet hucksters using the landmark Rudman study to promote HGH scams online.

In an editorial penned by Mary Lee Vance, M.D, University of Virginia on July 5, 1990, NEJM advised caution in using HGH for anti-aging purposes.

"Because there are so many unanswered questions about the use of growth hormone in the elderly and in adults with growth hormone deficiency, its general use now or in the immediate future is not justified," Dr Lee Vance wrote. "Ideally, short-term growth hormone therapy, in conjunction with optimal nutritional and other medical support, may reverse or ameliorate ongoing catabolism, aid in recovery, and shorten the duration of the illness."

In summary, the use of HGH in deficiency states does have significant effects. However its use to reverse the ravages of age continues to be debatable.