From: Rafal Smigrodzki (rms2g@virginia.edu)
Date: Tue Nov 26 2002 - 09:45:36 MST
gts wrote:
> Rafal Smigrodzki wrote:
>
>> HGH acts through insulin-like growth factor II
>
> Actually it acts through insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1).
>
### Oops, you are right. My error.
As IGF-1 and IGF-2 share (partially) their receptors, and have similar
effects, the caveats about the use of HGH still stand. I checked a few
reviews about HGH:
1. McCallum RW. Petrie JR. Dominiczak AF. Connell JM. Growth hormone
deficiency and vascular risk.] Clinical Endocrinology. 57(1):11-24, 2002 Jul
. . .
2. Jeffcoate W. Growth hormone therapy and its relationship to insulin
resistance, glucose intolerance and diabetes mellitus: a review of recent
evidence. Drug Safety. 25(3):199-212, 2002
. . .
3. Khorram O. Use of growth hormone and growth hormone secretagogues in
aging: help or harm. Clinical Obstetrics & Gynecology. 44(4):893-901, 2001
Dec.
(I can email the full text to interested parties)
and it appears there is no evidence for any significant beneficial effect in
healthy adults. There are substantial data on the use in Turner's syndrome
and hypopituitarism, but studies in elderly adults were, in general,
disappointing.
I know that having too much HGH is bad. I have no evidence that bringing the
HGH level to the average healthy adult level pharmacologically is
beneficial. The mitogenic, and anabolic activities mediated by IGF-1
(thanks, gts) make me worried that any increase in HGH can put too much
metabolic strain on my mitochondria, and since I believe that the
accumulation of mitochondrial damage is the most important mediator of
aging, I want to stay away from anything that can accelerate this process.
This said, I have no evidence that a minor elevation of HGH by
pharmacotherapy is bad, either. One cannot exclude the possibility that
there is indeed some optimal level of HGH that should be maintained. I am
willing to let others find it out - there are more promising anti-aging and
life-extension agents, like statins and homocysteine reducers, to spend my
money on.
Rafal
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Jan 15 2003 - 17:58:24 MST