Re: re: Growth Hormones and previous question ID: 922503943.Gb

   I have not been able to obtain a full copy of the NDSU study that you 
asked about, but I read a quick synopsis of the study, which was available 
on the internet.  At first blush, the statement which I read sounded 
impressive but was a little on the sensationalist side.  The researches 
claim that they injected 19-month-old mice with GH or saline.  3 months 
later 93% of the GH-treated were still alive and only 39% of the 
saline-treated mice were alive.  Having worked with aged mice for many 
years, I find it hard to believe that they normally only have 39% of their 
mice alive after 22 months.  Well cared for mice can easily live longer 
than 2 years.  At any rate, I cannot make an accurate assessment of their 
data without reading the full report.
   Getting back to the original question of GH and aging, I re-read my 
earlier answer and will stick by it for the most part.  However, it may 
have come across as being more negative than it should have been.  I still 
do not believe that GH will substantially reverse aging or increase maximum 
lifespan.  Note, that I am making a distinction here between reversing some 
of the symptoms of aging and reversing the aging process as a whole.  
However, GH replacement therapy will probably become as common as estrogen 
replacement therapy is today.  GH does have beneficial effects as I pointed 
out in my previous answer.  Its use would be primarily to increase the 
quality of life during the later decades rather than extend the lifespan 
per se.  Actually, the drug that will most likely be used is growth hormone 
releasing hormone, or GHRH, which is the hormone that causes release of GH 
from the pituitary.  In recent studies, GHRH has demonstrated the same 
benefits as GH but without many of the side effects.
   Now, here is something else to chew on.  We spend hundreds of millions 
of dollars every year on trying to find the cure to diseases such as 
cancer, stroke, heart disease, etc..  If we were successful in curing all 
disease, the average human lifespan would only increase by about 10 - 15 
years.  However, if we made a concrete effort to delay the aging process by 
half, the average human lifespan would double.