HORMONE TREATMENT IMITATES `FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH'

HORMONE TREATMENT IMITATES `FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH'
Giving injections of growth hormone to old people can build up their
muscles, melt away their flab and reverse the ravages of two decades of aging
in just six months, a study shows.
Doctors caution that this treatment is not quite the fountain of youth, for
many effects of old age, such as failing eyes and dying brain cells, are
beyond its reach. And it's expensive.
But it is perhaps as close as science has come to that impossible goal. Not
only did the shots stop some of the most visible consequences of aging, it
actually turned back the clock, restoring the physiques of an age long past.
However, experts warn that considerably more research about the safety and
effects of this approach will be necessary before it becomes a routine part of
care for the elderly.
"This is a very preliminary finding. We are not ready to recommend growth
hormone for all of the aging people in the world," said Dr. Axel G. Feller of
Chicago Medical School, a co-author of the study.
Twelve men took the shots in the pilot study, and nine received no
treatment for comparison. The volunteers who got the shots said treatment made
them look better and feel stronger, and their wives agreed.
"What we saw over six months was that several of the body composition
changes (of aging) were reversed," said Dr. Daniel Rudman of the Medical
College of Wisconsin, who directed the study. "These represented the reversal
of one or two decades of aging with regard to these factors."
Until now, doctors have given this treatment, called human growth hormone,
mostly to children whose growth is retarded because they don't make enough of
the protein.
However, the body's production of growth hormone also slows as people reach
their 30s. In about one-third of people, it virtually stops by age 60.
Routine treatment would be expensive. The hormone cannot be given in pill
form, and in this study people received three injections a week. The size of
the dose depends on the patient's weight. Treating a 155-pound man for one
year would cost $13,800 in medicine alone.
Rudman's research was published in Thursday's New England Journal of
Medicine.
Among the questions that remain are safety issues about the treatment's
effect on metabolism, whether it actually improves muscle function, at what
age treatment should start and how much of the hormone people need.
While the Wisconsin study found no serious side effects from the hormone,
the volunteers' blood pressure and blood sugar levels rose slightly. Rudman
said doctors should be cautious in giving the hormone to elderly people who
already have these problems.
He said the therapy probably would not make people live longer, but could
improve the quality of life. Stronger muscles and healthier skin should result
in better mobility, fewer falls and less skin sores.
To prevent, rather than reverse, the effects of aging, treatment might need
to start when people are in their 30s or 40s. Rudman said much more research
into the possible benefits and hazards will be necessary before such therapy
becomes common.