Growth Hormone – The Anti-Aging Movement – Aging Is a Disease
The last blog ended as Growth Hormone received FDA approval in 1985 for children and adults deficient in growth hormone, also known as ‘Growth Hormone Deficiency Syndrome.’ (GHDS)
As an aside; GHDS is legally defined by the score obtained on a medically accepted questionnaire called, “Quality of Life Questionnaire”. This questionnaire can be found in the questions you were required to answer when you registered as a patient. To me, it is one of the most important questionnaires to assess the health of a patient. Although it is a medically legal document, it is mostly foreign to traditional physicians.
In 1990 Daniel Rudman, MD, heralded the “Anti-Aging Movement” when he proved in a controlled, randomized study, men who were given GH had:
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- Increased muscle mass
- Decreased fat,
- Increased bone density,
“equivalent in magnitude to reversal of changes incurred during 10-20 years of aging. The overall deterioration of the body that comes with growing old is not inevitable”.**
Interestingly in 1990, amidst excitement that Rudman had proved the “anti-aging effects of GH”, a bill was passed by the FDA called ‘Anabolic Steroid Control Act’ restricting the use of anabolic steroids targeted at body building and performance enhancement in athletes. To that bill, GH was also implicated making it one of the most restrictive drugs on the market. It holds this status today.
Despite restrictions on GH, The Anti-Aging Movement stirred intrigue in doctors to whom the concept, aging was a disease and not necessarily inevitable , was quite believable . Ron Klatz, DO, and Bob Goldman, DO, two Chicago doctors saw the future of Medicine in Anti-Aging and started the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M) in 1992! I was certified by A4M in 1998, the second class to be certified.
A4M is “dedicated to the advancement of tools, technology, and transformations in healthcare that can detect, treat, and prevent diseases associated with aging. It promotes research of practices and protocols having potential to optimize the human aging process.” There are now 26,000 members world- wide as ‘age as a risk factor for chronic disease’ is becoming a more and more acceptable possibility with physicians reaching out for new and scientifically validated answers to medical disease.
Little did I know at the time, the knowledge I gleaned from this organization and in particular GH would literally save my life.
Have an awesome day! Dr. D
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