Better Health & Living
The Truth about Anti-Aging Hormones
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Hawked by B-list celebrities and sold online, in health food stores, and at the offices of “aging management” doctors, anti-aging hormones promise to turn back the clock, give you the verve and physique of a 25-year-old, or simply protect against disease. “But none of that is true—it’s quackery that costs Americans billions of dollars a year and can be dangerous,” says Thomas Perls, MD, director of the New England Centenarian Study and associate professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine.
In a shocking report published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. Perls says that despite government crackdowns, anti-aging clinics in the United States each year sell $2 billion worth of human growth hormone (hGH)—one of several widely advertised “fountain of youth” hormones. “But it doesn’t work, and it could even shorten your life,” he warns.
If you’re curious about using hGH, testosterone, DHEA, or melatonin to reverse aging, here’s why you shouldn’t—and what you should know.
Isn’t it true that levels of many hormones decline as we age and that replacing them with supplements will keep our bodies from slowing down?
Hormone levels shift throughout our lives, but most of the time, taking supplemental hormones will not reverse aging. Sometimes, as with hormone therapy for women, they may lead to new health risks. Unless you have a true deficiency measured by a responsible doctor with a medical test, and unless there’s a recognized, well-studied hormone treatment for it, there’s no proof that hormones help, and some could be harmful. We equate hormones with youth, but they can’t turn back the clock. Doctors and Web sites that promise they will are just trying to take your money.
Won’t human growth hormone help me build muscle as I age?
It barely builds any muscle, and it might cut out a little bit of fat, but hGH causes side effects and is incredibly expensive. In lab studies, animals that get it have shorter lives and more cancer. It may raise the risk of diabetes, too. HGH may be worth studying for extremely frail, older individuals, but this isn’t the time to be giving it out widely. It’s sold in anti-aging, body-building formulas because it has a great name and because clinics can make a huge profit on it by buying the raw material very cheaply from outside the country.
I’ve heard that low testosterone is responsible for fatigue, depression, and erectile dysfunction in older men. Should I be tested and get supplemental testosterone?
If you have concerns about those things, see your family doctor and ask what he would suggest. There are some wonderful drugs out there for erectile dysfunction and many treatments for depression. Tiredness could have many medical or lifestyle causes; don’t assume it’s related to testosterone. And if you do need testing, you should see an endocrinologist who can do proper testing, not an “anti-aging” doctor who’s driven by a conflict of interest. Some men are definitely low in testosterone and may be helped. But there are questions about cardiovascular safety (testosterone may raise the risk of blood clots) and about whether testosterone could fuel the growth of prostate cancer. That’s significant for older men.
Is there any benefit to taking DHEA and melatonin from the health food store?
I don’t think it’s a good idea to take DHEA at all. In well-conducted studies, DHEA has had no effect on muscle strength, endurance, levels of body fat, or cognitive performance in older people. And there may be some risks associated with it.
Although melatonin levels do decline with age, the change is not really very large, and there’s no proof that taking melatonin can reset your body clock or reverse aging in any way.
If hormones aren’t the answer, what can I do to age well?
In studies that have followed large groups of people over time, researchers have found that you can add 10 good, healthy years to your life if you eat a diet that’s vegetarian or close to it, don’t smoke, get regular physical activity (aerobic exercise such as walking, plus strength training), maintain a healthy weight, and manage stress well. Doing these things can help you live into your mid or late eighties and minimize the amount of time you’re in decline at the end of life. It’s good news that you can have that kind of control over aging.
By Susan Flagg Godbey and the editors of Better Health & Living®
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