Growth hormone (GH) replacement therapy is the latest anti-aging craze. More and more people are considering this therapy to turn back the years. While it offers numerous benefits, there is one major drawback. A quick look at the literature reveals the trade-off that comes with GH therapy.

In Growth Hormone and Aging by Bartke et al. (2000):

In 1990, Rudman and his colleagues reported that treatment of elderly men with GH reduced adiposity and increased muscle mass and bone mineral density. Despite limitations imposed by the study’s design and the relatively small number of subjects involved, these findings remain important and widely cited. They suggest that treatment with GH or GH-releasing agents may reduce, prevent, or reverse various symptoms of aging in endocrinologically normal (normal for age) individuals. Moreover, data from GH-deficient adults indicate that GH therapy can improve various subjective and objective measures of psychological well-being and quality of life. The apparent potential of GH as an anti-aging therapy has understandably generated intense interest among the public and producers of GH-related products. While studies on the long-term risks and benefits of GH treatment in the elderly are ongoing, nationally advertised GH-related and GH-releasing products promise consumers they will “look and feel 10 years younger” and describe their effects as “taking the ride of your life.”

Results available to date, along with extrapolations from androgen replacement in elderly men, suggest that the benefits of GH therapy are likely to be negatively correlated with pre-treatment GH levels. In other words, individuals with GH levels lower than average for their age group are far more likely to benefit from GH administration.

In Growth Hormone and Aging: A Challenging Controversy by Bartke (2008):

How can we summarize the present understanding and use this information to suggest possible anti-aging interventions? The physiological action of GH, secreted by the pituitary in normal amounts, is essential for growth, maturation, and reproductive potential but may also limit life expectancy. Somatotropic signaling can be suppressed by modest calorie restriction. The well-documented benefits of calorie restriction on longevity in many species, as well as its impact on important predictors of human life expectancy, suggest that a subtle, long-term reduction in GH release and/or activity may slow aging, protect against age-related diseases, and increase lifespan. However, congenital or acquired GH deficiency clearly demonstrates that severe or complete suppression of GH is not a viable strategy for enhancing human longevity.

GH levels naturally decline with age. While this decline likely contributes to undesirable effects on body composition, skin characteristics, and overall quality of life, it may also provide protection against cancer and other age-related diseases. Thus, GH replacement therapy presents both risks and benefits. Future research will likely demonstrate the advantages of low-dose GH therapy for individuals with frailty or sarcopenia while identifying clear contraindications, such as a family history or genetic predisposition to cancer. The ongoing debate over estrogen use in postmenopausal women and testosterone therapy in elderly men, along with the emergence of individualized approaches to hormone therapy, suggests that responsible GH use in geriatric medicine may eventually follow a similar path.

In Low Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 Level Predicts Survival in Humans with Exceptional Longevity by Milman et al. (2014):

Longevity-focused populations provide valuable insights into factors that inhibit disease development, slow disease progression, and promote survival. Although this study cannot confirm whether low IGF-1 levels were present earlier in life, some evidence links longevity and a lower prevalence of various diseases to reduced GH/IGF-1 signaling throughout the lifespan. We conclude that attenuation of the GH/IGF-1 axis may play an important role in extending survival in humans who achieve exceptional longevity, though this effect may be gender- and disease-specific. Furthermore, our results provide additional evidence against using GH replacement as an anti-aging strategy in older adults.

Bottom Line

GH therapy can certainly add life to your years but at the risk of sacrificing years from your life.