Question: I’m looking for your view on HGH (human growth hormone).
Dr. Hibberd's Answer:
HGH (growth hormone) therapy has been a godsend for children with low stature and for those with growth hormone deficiency (very rare). Unfortunately, there has been a rather vocal minority advising the use of HGH as an anti-aging supplement. We are very cautious about recommending growth hormone supplementation until safety issues regarding its use in older adults is clarified.
HGH does appear to induce growth of all cellular lines, with no discrimination between benign or malignant cell lines. Does this also accelerate the process of plaque formation in our blood vessels? Does this accelerate or increase malignancy potential when given to an older population? The jury is still out, and there is no approval of HGH for anti-aging purposes.
True HGH is expensive and users are often victimized by dilution and suboptimal preparations. In short, caveat emptor. I do not personally use this. At present I recommend against its use as an anti-aging supplement until further safety data is published, reviewed, and deemed safe for this purpose by our regulatory agencies, and specifically by the FDA.
You need to understand that there always is some risk when administering medications, especially those that are injected and hormones. There is a reason I have never been a victim of lawsuit in almost 27 years of clinical medicine, and that is because I am very careful with patient recommendations.
All is well if you use medications without any ill effects, but use of medications with unknown results and no defined or recommended doses is surely casting oneself to the lions, and inviting trouble!
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