Human Growth Hormone (HGH):
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 somatomedin-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." J. 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 (TMJ 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 TMJ 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 a physician skilled in clinical nutrition and preventive medicine to obtain growth hormone therapy. If a person is deficient in an essential micro nutrient, 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.

- by Elmer M. Cranton, M.D.

Growth Hormone Products Approved for Use in the United States*
Product	Manufacturer	Indication (use)
Nutropin (somatropin) Nutropin AQ (somatropin) Nutropin Depot (somatropin) Protropin (somatrem) Humatrope (somatropin) Norditropin (somatropin) Genotropin (somatropin) Saizen (somatropin) Serostim (somatropin)	Genentech Genentech Genentech Genentech Eli Lilly Novo Nordisk Pharmacia & Upjohn Serono Serono	Pediatric GHD, CRI, TS, adult GHD, pubertal dosing Pediatric GHD, CRI, TS, adult GHD, pubertal dosing Pediatric GHD Pediatric GHD Pediatric GHD, TS, adult GHD Pediatric GHD Pediatric GHD, PWS, SGA, adult GHD Pediatric GHD Pediatric GHD AIDS-related wasting
*AIDS = acquired immunodeficiency syndrome; CRI = chronic renal insufficiency; GHD = growth hormone deficiency; PWS = Prader-Willi syndrome; SGA = small for gestational age; TS = Turner syndrome.