GROWTH HORMONE
ANCHOR LEAD: PEOPLE WHO TOTALLY LACK GROWTH HORMONE AREN’T AT INCREASED RISK OF EARLY DEATH, ELIZABETH TRACEY REPORTS
Human growth hormone has been touted by some as a fountain of youth, and as such, has numerous purveyors on the Internet and elsewhere. But now a Johns Hopkins study led by Roberto Salvatori on a Brazilian population of dwarves who are totally deficient in growth hormone has shown that lack of the hormone doesn’t compromise survival, and suggests limited use of supplemental hormone.
SALVATORI: I think that the use of growth hormone in bona fide growth hormone deficient adults who have had a pathology in their pituitary is still legitimate despite our finding, but the use of growth hormone just to prevent or reverse aging that has never been mainstream medicine and I think in light of our study should be even less. :20Dwarves in this study didn’t have shorter lifespans or more disease than their normal stature siblings. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.
