Are anti-aging hormones safe??? Want to trade in your body for a younger model? Hormone supplements hold promise, but carry risks. Top experts debate what you should do - Expert Roundtable

Natural Health, May-June, 2003 by Erin O'Donnell

Rothenberg: I just wanted to comment on the dosage regimens Dr. Harman was talking about. The difference is that in a day-to-day clinical setting [we can adjust doses to] settle on a dose where the patient is completely comfortable with no side effects.

DO OTHER ANTI-AGING PRODUCTS WORK?

HGH injections are so expensive that readers may want to try cheaper options, including amino acids like arginine, that are said to stimulate your body's HGH production. Do they work?

Harman: There are some compounds out there that we do know can increase human growth hormone. Most of them have to be injected.... There is nothing available over-the-counter that I know of that you can reliably count on to raise human growth hormone.

Klatz: I agree that ... taking amino acids in small amounts is really not going to give you a beneficial effect with regard to human growth hormone. It's difficult to raise growth hormone levels, short of injection, unless you're taking very large amounts of amino acids.

What about homeopathic HGH?

Klatz: [Companies that make] homeopathic HGH [have] yet to show any independent science to support their claims.... I believe many of the homeopathic products, especially the spray products, are completely without science ... and are just playing on the concerns of the public. Most physicians in anti-aging medicine do not endorse these products or use them in their clinical practice.

Sahelian: Homeopathic growth hormone, in a nutshell, is a huge scam. And those who sell it or promote it make the natural health industry look unreliable.

COULD YOU LIVE TO BE 120?

Dr. Klatz, you've said that aging as we know it can be avoided. Are you saying we could all live to be 120?

Klatz: No, I'm not saying that at all. What I'm saying is that aging as we know it is really a constellation of degenerative processes that lead to chronic disease and finally to death.... You can ... prevent and treat the conditions of aging, such as osteoporosis, Alzheimer's disease, macular degeneration, and cognitive decline [using diagnostic techniques, drugs, and other therapies]. And by treating them, you change what you can expect to look like at age 50 ... or 90. By improving the quality of life and avoiding things that are going to kill you, such as heart disease and cancer, you live longer.

Perls: I actually also agree that we should do everything we can to allow people to maximize their time of good health. And whatever therapies can do that should be applauded. But they need to be proven and safe. We already have ways to maximize health that are not potentially dangerous: strength training, not smoking, and [following a sensible] diet. To me, those are the way to go. They require a lot of work. But if we can show that a healthy old age is worth fighting for, I'm hoping that people will do the work.

I think it's important to not lead people down a path of [believing that you can] get injected with this stuff and get to very old age in good health, because then people ignore some of these other things that they really should be doing.... I think that media campaigns, including the kind of books that Dr. Klatz puts out, deliver only one part of that message, and that is to take HGH. People don't hear about these other things.... I also think that the anti-aging industry uses marketing tools to try and equate its credibility with those of us in academia, whether it be calling things the American Academy of This, or the National Academy of That.