The anti-aging handbook

Natural Health, March, 2006 by Timothy Gower

human growth hormone

Its primary function is helping children grow to adult height, so it's not surprising that HGH diminishes with age. Yet adults still need a supply, and supplemental HGH is an effective remedy for those with a deficiency or pituitary disease, notes Harman. In 1990, an investigation from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee showed HGH to reverse fat gains and muscle decline in elderly men, leading to its use on healthy patients. But this same study and subsequent others have revealed long-term adverse effects, including carpal tunnel syndrome, edema, joint swelling, and glucose intolerance.

Real HGH is available only by prescription. Products in stores are HGH "releasers" or "promoters." While they're unlikely to be harmful, "evidence that any actually works is slim to none," says Harman.

DHEA

This sex-hormone precursor, more lengthily known as dehydroepiandrosterone, is secreted by the adrenal glands. Available over-the-counter, DHEA was once lauded as the fountain of youth, but has lost its luster. Studies are small, not double blind, and mostly based on reported feelings--"I don't think there's much there," says Howard N. Hodis, M.D., director of atherosclerosis research at the University of Southern California School of Medicine in Los Angeles. Even in Europe, where DHEA has been used as an alternative to hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or testosterone replacement in women, investigations have found no major age-related benefits.

estrogen and progesterone

Two news items from the Women's Health Initiative concerned many hormone supplementers. First, an increase in heart-disease risk seemed to be linked to mixing estrogen and a synthetic progestin (which mimics progesterone), and was most apparent in the first year.

However, when you look at large studies using estrogen alone, "there is none of this increased risk in the first year," notes Hodis. "With all the investigation so far, we've seen that [with estrogen alone] there appears to be long-term benefit on reducing hardening of the arteries, as well as in reducing heart attacks."

The second WHI statistic indicated higher risk of breast cancer from a combination of estrogen and progestin. To be on the safe side, you could argue there appears to be a slight increased risk in this case, says Hodis. "Yet a very important study coming out at the same time showed that 25 years of using estrogen alone does not increase the risk of breast cancer and, in fact, showed a reduction in it."

Supplemental estrogen also seems to have a positive effect on aging bones. "Osteoporosis in women is probably the best documented example of something that can be prevented effectively by replacing the missing hormone [estrogen]," declares Harman.

If you are considering HRT for its long-term benefits, talk to your doctor about taking estrogen alone. Ask about bio-identical hormones, such as estradiol, the most potent naturally occurring estrogen. "One can surmise that the downside is less," says Hodis. Also, low-dose bio-identical progesterone treatments can still be valuable in helping to offset excess estrogen levels and regulate other hormones.