عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Varieties

Does Human Growth Hormone Slow the Aging Process?

Does Human Growth Hormone Slow the Aging Process?
TT
20
TT

Does Human Growth Hormone Slow the Aging Process?

Does Human Growth Hormone Slow the Aging Process?

Q. I haven't heard much about human growth hormone lately. Is there any new evidence to support its use in helping older men?

A. The pituitary gland in the brain makes and secretes natural growth hormone. In combination with other hormones, such as IGF-1 (insulin growth factor 1), it is responsible for body development early in life.

Throughout your life, growth hormone continues to play a role in protein production and helps the body use fat for energy. Children deficient in growth hormone do not grow to their full potential height and have short stature. The FDA approved a synthetic human growth hormone (HGH) as a replacement in these children, which helps them grow taller.

In the early 1980s, synthetic HGH became a popular but illegal performance-enhancing drug. The hype around HGH and superior athletic performance has always been greater than the reality. In fact, multiple clinical trials comparing HGH to a placebo have never shown an athletic advantage for people who use it.

As we age, the amount of growth hormone secreted by our pituitary gland naturally declines. By age 55, blood levels of growth hormone are about one-third lower than they are in people ages 18 to 35. This drop also coincides with the reduced muscle mass and increased body fat that happens with aging.

It's easy to see why HGH was touted as an "anti-aging" supplement. But does it make you feel and look 10 years younger, as some would suggest? We do know that healthy adults who take HGH can increase muscle by about 6% and reduce body fat by about the same amount. Strength also improves in some muscle groups, but not in all.

But there are downsides to using HGH. It can cause insulin to be less effective, which can raise blood sugar levels and increase the risk of diabetes. HGH also can lead to joint and muscle pain, breast enlargement, fluid retention, high blood pressure, and carpal tunnel syndrome. And then there is this: animal studies suggest that lower levels of growth hormone activity may lead to longer life. So, theoretically, HGH injections might actually shorten life span, challenging the notion that HGH is anti-aging.

The FDA has approved HGH in adults only for a few uncommon conditions, such as documented growth hormone deficiency. Synthetic human growth hormone is a prescription drug and cannot be obtained legally without a doctor's approval. To have any effect, it must be injected. Don't waste your money on pills containing HGH. The active ingredient is not absorbed when taken by mouth.

You can slow the tick of the clock with the time-tested formula of eating a healthy diet with enough protein and pursuing a regular program of aerobic and resistance exercise. This approach is better than any drug for enhancing your vigor and enjoyment of life.

by Howard LeWine, M.D.
Editor in Chief, Harvard Men's Health Watch

Most Viewed

 
Varieties

Year after Exodus, Silence Fills Panama Island Threatened by Sea

The evacuation of around 1,200 members of the Indigenous Guna community to a new life on the mainland was one of the first planned migrations in Latin America due to climate change. MARTIN BERNETTI / AFP
The evacuation of around 1,200 members of the Indigenous Guna community to a new life on the mainland was one of the first planned migrations in Latin America due to climate change. MARTIN BERNETTI / AFP
TT
20
TT

Year after Exodus, Silence Fills Panama Island Threatened by Sea

The evacuation of around 1,200 members of the Indigenous Guna community to a new life on the mainland was one of the first planned migrations in Latin America due to climate change. MARTIN BERNETTI / AFP
The evacuation of around 1,200 members of the Indigenous Guna community to a new life on the mainland was one of the first planned migrations in Latin America due to climate change. MARTIN BERNETTI / AFP

Streets once filled with children's laughter have fallen silent on a Panamanian island where almost all residents left a year ago due to the threat of the sea swallowing their homes.

The evacuation of around 1,200 members of the Indigenous Guna community to a new life on the mainland was one of the first planned migrations in Latin America due to climate change.

The exodus from Gardi Sugdub in the Caribbean left those who remained with a sense of sadness, said Delfino Davies, who has a small museum on the island with spears, jars and animal bones.

"There are no friends left or children playing," he told AFP.

Gardi Sugdub now has the silence of a "dead island," he said.

Dusty desks and empty classrooms are all that remain of a school that once bustled with children.

Many of the island's wooden houses are padlocked.

"There's no one here. Sometimes I get sad when I'm here alone," Mayka Tejada, 47, said in the small store where she sells bananas, pumpkins, clothes, toys and notebooks.

Like Davies and about 100 others, she decided to stay.

But her mother and two children, aged 16 and 22, moved to one of the 300 houses built by the Panamanian government in a new neighborhood called Isber Yala on the mainland, a 15-minute boat ride away.

Gardi Sugdub, the size of around five football fields, is one of 49 inhabited islands in the Guna Yala archipelago -- also known as San Blas -- which scientists warn is in danger of disappearing by the end of the century.

'I'll die here'

Sitting in a hammock in her earthen-floor house filled with the aroma of medicinal herbs, 62-year-old Luciana Perez said she had no intention of leaving.

"I was born in Gardi and I'll die here. Nothing is sinking. Scientists don't know, only God," she said.

Perez said that she was not afraid because since she was a child she had seen big waves and rising waters flooding houses at times.

Steven Paton, a scientist at the Panama-based Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, said climate change meant that sea levels were expected to rise by up to 80 centimeters.

"Most of the Guna Yala islands are about 50 centimeters above sea level," he told AFP. "They'll be underwater."

Ana Toni, CEO of the United Nations' COP30 climate conference, told AFP that the mass evacuation "shows the reality we already have to face on the planet."

Sidewalks, water, electricity

The arrival of the rainy season has left puddles dotting the dirt roads of Gardi Sugdub.

In contrast, in the new settlement of Isber Yala -- "land of loquats" in the Guna language -- the streets are paved and have sidewalks.

The nearly 50-square-meter (500-square-feet) concrete houses have flushing toilets and there is a plot of land to grow vegetables.

On Gardi Sugdub "we lived crowded together, and I had to go fetch water from the river in a small boat," said Magdalena Martinez, a 75-year-old retired teacher.

In Isber Yala, water is available for an hour in the morning, she said.

"I can fill the buckets. And I have electricity 24 hours a day," said Martinez, who lives with her granddaughter in the new neighborhood.

Tejada's children also have no regrets about leaving the island, she said.

"I miss them, but they're happy there. They have a place to play football and walk around," Tejada said.

While the island's school relocated to Isber Yala, its dilapidated clinic remained in Gardi Sugdub.

"Before, people came on foot. Now, they have to travel by land and sea to get here. There are fewer visitors," said 46-year-old doctor John Smith.

Some of the islanders divide their time between the two communities, while others visit occasionally to check on their homes.

This week, there will be more activity than normal: seven jars of chicha -- a fermented corn drink -- are ready for Isber Yala's first anniversary.

Martinez is looking forward to the celebration, even though it will be bittersweet.

Although she may not see it herself, "the islands will disappear because the sea will reclaim its territory," she said.