Growth Hormones Not Fountain of Youth

Posted: January 16, 2007

Older Americans taking shots of human growth hormone in an effort to turn back the clock will likely be disappointed.

As an anti-aging treatment, the hormones appear to offer few benefits but significant health risks, a review of the research finds.

Stanford University researchers came to this conclusion after analyzing 31 studies that included a total of more than 500 relatively healthy elderly people.

The only clearly positive effect found from taking the hormones was a slight improvement in lean body mass.

On the negative side, participants who took human growth hormones were significantly more likely to develop joint swelling and pain, and carpal tunnel syndrome.