Hormone - 'not an anti-aging fairy drug'

US scientists say there is no evidence that growth hormone therapy helps people live longer. This treatment has been persuaded in some groups of people as a way to combat or even reverse the aging process.

However, a Stanford University team has not found any evidence that it has any effect over a light and regular physical workout. In fact, the Study in Internal Medicine study found that this treatment poses a risk of side effects including joint swelling, ovarian tube syndrome and diabetes.

Guiding the study, Dr. Hau Liu said: 'Certainly no external data implies that giving growth hormone to another healthy person will make him or her live longer. However, we have found that there are more likely to be harmful side effects. ' Growth hormone is naturally produced by the pituitary gland, a pea-sized organ at the base of the brain.

The production is reduced

Therapy does not have a clinically significant benefit.(Photo: SPL)

Hormone production is highest during childhood and adolescence but usually begins to decline from around the age of 30. Hormone is passed on to children or low adults whose pituitary glands are not produced. Enough hormone to maintain normal metabolism. However, it is also widely advertised online as an anti-aging treatment.

A small study in 1990 in New Zealand's Medical Journal seemed to suggest that this treatment could in fact turn back time. The researchers found that men who received injections of growth hormone had more muscle, bone strength and fat loss.

Although the researchers admit that their research is not necessarily the answer, they assume that the effect of hormones ' is about the same size as the changes experienced over 10 to 20 years of aging. At the same time, the Journal has published an editorial that recommends the widespread use of growth hormone as a treatment in adults.

But even so and subsequent efforts to reduce the significance of those findings, the prevalence of growth hormone as an anti-aging therapy continues to increase. According to estimates, up to 30,000 people in the US only use it for this purpose in 2004.

Increased muscle mass

The Stanford team reviewed 31 studies in which growth hormones used to treat older people without serious health problems, are just slightly obese. They found that growth hormone had a normal effect on the body structure, increasing muscle by a little more than 2kg and reducing body fat by approximately the same amount.

However, it has no effect on bone firmness, cholesterol density, or the degree of body use of oxygen. Dr. Liu said: 'In short, studies do not give any evidence that this treatment has led to increased health.'

Professor John Wass of Oxford University, president of the British Society of Endocrinology, said the method could potentially have a role in treating older people - those who lack hormones.

For example, there are some signs that it can improve memory. However, he added: 'If you do not suffer from growth hormone deficiency, all the data suggest that using it is not a good idea.'

Dr. Peter Trainer, an endocrinologist at Manchester's Christie Hospital, agrees. He said: 'This is a very prestigious research group, the group has come to a conclusion that most endocrinologists will believe. If we give people growth hormones, it certainly helps to increase muscle mass and lose fat, but that doesn't necessarily mean feeling better or younger or can work better. '

Doctor Trainer said growth hormone has been studied as a therapy for people in special care cases who tend to become sick. The results showed that it doubled their mortality. He said there is a risk that it will do more harm than good to us.

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