Growth hormone 'not' the magic anti-aging solution

The findings of a long-term study headed by Dr. Hau Liu found that healthy elderly people who took the synthetic hormone reported small changes in body composition, but not in body weight or any other 'clinically important outcomes'.

Many industry experts and consumers have been looking for further evidence to suggest that growth hormone may hold back, or even reverse the signs of aging, as previous reports have indicated the possibility of significant potential in this area.

However, Dr Liu's study even reveals the possibility of undesireable side affects, including increased rates of soft tissue swelling, joint pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, together with abnormal breast development in men.

The findings, which were published in the January 16 edition of the Annals of International Medicine, under the title The Safety and Efficacy of Growth Hormone in the Healthy Elderly, will dash the hopes of many who had thought it might prove to be the ultimate anti-aging therapy.

"But the scant clinical experience of GH in the healthy elderly suggests that although GH may minimally alter body composition, it does not improve other clinically relevant outcomes such as bone density, cholesterol levels, stamina, and longevity in this population,"​ said Dr. Liu.

"And it's associated with high rates of adverse events,"​ he added.

Growth hormone rates start to slow in the late teens and its reduction is usually associated with the first physical signs of aging, leading to the first gray hairs or light wrinkling around the eyes or forehead.

The measureable level of human growth hormone depletes so much that a man of 60 years-old only produces about one quarter the level of growth hormone produced by a 20 year-old.

The Rudman study on growth hormones, carried out in 1990, claimed that a six-month course of growth hormones could cause the skin to thicken, reducing the effect of facial wrinkling by between 10 - 20 years.

The study was a catalyst, causing many people to take courses of growth hormones with the aim of achieving anti-aging solutions such as wrinkle reduction.

However, as further evidence of the side affects the drug can have on adults, the FDA later introduced rules outlawing the marketing of synthetic growth hormone for anti-aging purposes. Currently it is only used to treat children with growth deficiencies and adults with metabolism problems.

Despite this measure, it is still estimated that between 20,000 and 30,000 US adults were using growth hormone for anti-aging purposes in 2004, with a plethora of such products still freely available on the internet to date.

Dr. Hau hopes that his study findings will warn many elderly adults about using such products for anti-aging purposes.

"On the basis of available evidence, we cannot recommend growth hormone use for anti-aging in the healthy elderly,"​ he said.