Human growth hormone hGH defeats anti-aging

Researchers Find “Anti-Growth Hormone” Increases Longevity

You must have read me teaching that growth hormone isn’t really the way to go to beat aging. Daniel Rudman’s groundbreaking research in the 1990s on the benefits of human growth hormone (hGH) showed pretty convincingly that it helped reduce wrinkles and increased muscle strength in a group of men in their 70s and 80s.

He never showed it helped women; that’s a reasonable speculation but it’s only a speculation, remember. Also, it has never been demonstrated as conclusively safe (ie. that it does not cause increased cancer growth, for instance).

But the real objection from me is that Rudman failed to show even a one-day increase in lifespan for those men taking growth hormone. What’s the point of that huge expense and the hassle of daily injections if it doesn’t lengthen your life?

To me, anti-aging isn’t about wrinkles and looking good; it’s about vitality and pleasure and increased years. There are many anti-aging interventions today which are capable of delivering 20 – 30 years of extra active life! My own hypo-allergenic diet is one, and that costs next to nothing.

Important nutrients like selenium and coQ10; regular exercize and the avoidance of excessive stress; a loving spouse in your life; having a religious faith and a sense of belonging to a community; all these things have been shown to markedly increase life span.

Compared to these lifestyle factors, hGH is a miserable failure as an anti-aging strategy. Doctors who prescribe it without expressly making it clear to their patients that it does NOT increase lifespan are acting unethically, in my opinion.

Now here is a new study that may put the cap on hGH prescribing, except for dwarfism. It may even show that hGH is dangerous and could shorten your life!

The scientists studied the compound MZ-5-156, a “growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) antagonist.” That is, in simple terms: a compound which blocks hGH release.

They conducted their research on a strain of mice engineered for studies of the aging process. Overall, the researchers found that MZ-5-156 had positive effects on oxidative stress in the brain, improving cognition, telomerase activity (the actions of an enzyme which protects DNA material) and life span, while decreasing tumor activity.

MZ-5-156, like many GHRH antagonists, inhibited several human cancers, including prostate, breast, brain and lung cancers. It also had positive effects on learning, and is linked to improvements in short-term memory. The antioxidant actions led to less oxidative stress and reversing cognitive impairment in the aging mouse.

That’s a pretty good package. So remember, this is brought about by pharmacological action opposite to what hGH does.

If you are taking hGH, I suggest you save yourself some money.

And no, I’m not saying try to get MZ-5-156 as a drug. I’m saying with matters you control, most especially nutrients and what you eat, you can control the anti-aging process to slow it down and get it to work in your favor.

To get the full facts on the models of aging and how to take control over each one and prevent the decline process, you need to get informed. To do so,

Researchers included William A. Banks, M.D., lead study author and professor of internal medicine and geriatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine and Andrew V. Schally, M.D., Ph.D., a professor in the department of pathology and division of hematology/oncology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

For the really good anti-aging stuff you need my new book: How to Live Beyond 100 Years