Growth Hormone – The Anti-Aging Movement – Controversy from the Beginning
In 1992, as A4M established a new subspecialty of medicine called Anti-Aging, based on ‘Aging is a Disease’; another colorful 43 yo physican/ lawyer entered the Anti-Aging boom, Dr. Edmund Chein. The story of Dr. Chein is what turned my head to really take a hard look at Growth Hormone (GH) from a serious medical stand point.
Chein saw first-hand in his rehabilitation practice, as patients whose pituitaries were removed because of cancer had all their hormones replaced governed by the pituitary, except for GH, they would die prematurely in their late 40’s or early 50’s of stroke, cancer, and cardiac problems.
At the time GH was not replaced because it was thought GH was only needed in children to help them grow. However, all these pituitary cancer patients with surgically induced acute GH deficiency died early of chronic diseases.
What Chein didn’t know at the time, was when GH was given to similar cancer patients whose pituitary’s had been removed, they would live longer, have fewer strokes, less cancer and less cardiac problems than people of a similar age. This fact proved to me GH is something to which one should pay close attention. It was a big ‘heads up’ in a missing link to possibly deter chronic diseases found in aging!
At the same time Chein was observing his patients without growth hormone, Chein himself began having medical problems as he gained weight, had high cholesterol, and started to have chest pains. His cardiologist prescribed a statin. However, Chein had another idea. As a rehabilitation medicine specialist he had first hand experience replacing depleted hormones such as testosterone and GH in people whose endocrine glands had been injured and noted no side effects. So he decided he would replace all his hormones that were low on his bloodwork to that of a 20 year old. He took GH, testosterone, thyroid hormone, and DHEA. Upon doing this, he noted miraculous changes. His chest pains stopped, he started losing weight, started gaining muscle, and his cholesterol and triglycerides turned to normal.
Seeing himself and his pituitary deficient patients getting better on GH, Chein became passionate about building an Anti-Aging Clinic in the US. In order to do this, he had to convince the FDA to reverse their decision to ban the use of GH in adult patients, and being a lawyer, he did just that.
Chein’s argument was once a drug has been approved for one purpose, it can be used for another purpose. For example aspirin was FDA approved as an anti-inflammatory drug for headache, pain, and fever. He stated, “It is much further afield to use aspirin for heart disease than to use GH for aging. In one case you are talking GH deficiency in children and the other case, you are talking GH deficiency in adults”. The FDA accepted his argument, and in 1994, Dr. Chein became the first MD in the US to offer GH replacement therapy, and establish the first Anti-Aging Clinic. His clinic, Palm Springs Life Extension Institute, was founded in 1994 in Palm Springs California and still exists and thrives today. Over 10,000 people have passed through its doors. Dr Cheins website, https://totalhormonegenetherapy.com, states they “are the only clinic that owns a US Patent for GH and other bio-identical hormone replacements. It is the only clinic to offer a $25,000 cash reward to the public for non-patients who can show a difference of greater than 27 years between the person’s biological age and calendar age. Many of its patients, including the founder, Edmund Chein, MD, have accomplished this miraculous feat.
I encourage you to read more about Dr Chein as his path has not been an easy one. As a pioneer in Anti-Aging therapies he has received a large amount of dissension to establish his credibility in this new emerging field of medicine.
Have an awesome day! Dr. D