Anti-Aging Hormone Therapy

Are Anti-Aging Hormone Treatments the New Fountain of Youth?

Although the use of hormones in the treatment of various conditions is not new, it seems to always be shrouded in controversy.

For example, hormones have been prescribed to women undergoing menopause for almost 40 years, but the debate over their safety and efficacy continues to the present day.

There are several hormones that are used to slow aging, cure or prevent disease and maybe even make you live longer. In this article, I'll discuss the Human Growth Hormone.

Human Growth Hormone (HGH) has become a very popular, although expensive, antiaging hormone treatment.

Even the skeptics admit that HGH treatments produce very noticeable results. The question of the safety of long term use is still up in the air.

HGH is a protein naturally produced by the pituitary gland. It stimulates anabolic activity in all areas of the human body. Basically this means that it helps synthesize simple substances into the complex material of living tissue.

Studies performed by the National Institute of Aging have shown that people receiving human growth hormone as an antiaging hormone treatment benefited from a change in body composition. They developed several pounds of extra muscle while losing fat.

Patients receiving HGH report a decrease in pain, an increase in flexibility and a sense of well being they did not have before.

Other antiaging benefits of HGH therapy is that the skin becomes thicker and more flexible, the immune system is enhanced, stamina increases, the cholesterol balance is shifted in a positive way, more calcium is deposited on the bones and glands are restored.

Human Growth Hormone is usually injected. Qualified physicians who prescribe this drug also require testing to make sure the hormone levels are within limits and that other medical side effects are not developing.

However, HGH is also available, less expensively, in spray form.

Some experts maintain that the spray form is not as effective as the injected version and that one would quickly build a tolerence to the hormone taken this way.

If you decide to take HGH as a supplement, I think extra care is needed to make sure you are not harming yourself.

Given some of the dangers of the use of this hormone, you should be very diligent is getting periodic checkups from a qualified physician.

Human Growth Hormone Risks

Since HGH sounds like the legendary fountain of youth, what is the downside?

First is cost.

Antiaging hormone therapy is meant to last your lifetime and the cost runs about $6000 a year, generally not covered by health insurance.

The oral version is much cheaper, but may not be as effective.

Some doctors claim that HGH can cause tumor growth, although this has never been demonstrated in humans, increase fluid retention, which could be a problem for certain heart patients and can cause joint pain and carpal tunnel syndrome.

There could also be a problem with diabetics, since sugar metabolism is affected.

Other doctors admit that without careful monitoring, there can be problems with excessive bone growth, vocal cord thickening, fluid retention, arthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome, but insist there is absolutely no evidence of an increase in cancer or diabetes in humans from antiaging hormone therapy.

One thing everyone agrees on is that while human growth hormone may increase the quality of your life it will not make you live any longer.

There seems to be little dispute about the short term benefits of the treatment. But the bottom line is that nobody yet knows the long term effects of HGH as an antiaging solution.

So like many things in life, HGH therapy is a gamble.

HGH Alternatives

Given the warnings raised by some physicians, it is useful to look at other ways we might be able to stimulate HGH production without taking a possibly dangerous supplement.

Exercise is said to be a powerful way to stimulate HGH production. Given its other benefits and the fact that we all should be exercising anyway, this should be one of the first ways to try to get the HGH flowing again.

Another possibility is to take the amino acid, GABA, which is also a strong HGH stimulator, but which costs much less than HGH supplements.

A downside of GABA seems to be that it causes very explicit - and disturbing - dreams - bad enough to cause people to discontinue taking the supplement.

This article is for informational purposes only. It does not purport to render medical advice.

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