HGH -- Savior or Overhyped? - By: Richard A Stooker

However, about twenty years ago scientists learned how to produce HGH and so the cost came down, though it's still one of the most expensive hormones you can receive. It was approved for use by adults by the FDA in August 1996, for anti-aging purposes.

HGH is manufactured in our pituitary glands. However, as we age, the amounts of it released into our bodies goes down, falling about 14% per decade starting at age 20.

In 1990 Dr. Daniel Rudman M.D. published an article in the New England Journal of Medicine that still has people excited. He and his colleagues gave HGH injections to a group of twelve men ages 61 to 81 for six months.

The results still astonish people. Without diet or exercise, these men gained an average of 8.8% muscle mass and lost 14% of their body fat. Their skin thickened and their backs grew stronger and straighter. The article concluded that the men had grown 10 to 20 years younger.

Interestingly, as we age the pituitary gland continues to manufacture the same amount of HGH -- it just doesn't release as much to the rest of our bodies. Some researchers believe the problem is somatostatin, a natural inhibitor of HGH. Others believe the villain is that the precursor hormone, growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) becomes less sensitive to feedback signals.

Studies with "elderly" rats shows that their HGH levels rose after two months on a caloric restricted diet. This may explain why caloric restriction is the only proven way to extend lifespans in animals and, presumably, people.

Unfortunately, few people will remain on a calorie-restricted diet their whole life.

However, it's also known that fasting and intense exercise (NOT long slow "cardio") can increase your HGH.

Also, certain nutrients are considered human growth factor nutritionals -- vitamin A, vitamin B5, vitamin B12, folic acid, inositol, chromium, zinc, magnesium, iodine, glutamine, carnitine, arginine, GABA, taurine, lysine, colostrum, alpha-GPC, tribulus terrestris, chrysin, coleus forskohlii, milk thistle, panax ginseng, ashwagandha, schissandra, dong quai, wild yam extract, fo-ti, and red date fruit (jujube).

Combine a good diet, high quality supplements (which will contain many though probably not all of the above substances) with intense exercise done three or four times weekly, plus other good health habits, and you may increase your natural HGH to keep yourself young and healthy for many years to come.

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