1. HGH USED TO REVERSE PERNICIOUS
WASTING
2. HGH INCREASES BODY MASS, ENDURANCE AND QUALITY
OF LIFE 3. ONLY HGH INCREASES IMPORTANT MASS
TO RESIST AIDS
4. HGH INCREASES OVERALL AVERAGE EFFECT OF LIFE QUALITY
5. HGH REDUCES INFECTION AND INCREASES RESISTANCE
TO IT
HGH USED TO REVERSE PERNICIOUS WASTING
(return to top)
One of the major reasons for human growth hormone therapy being
researched is its possible value to those suffering with AIDS
or HIV. A number of clinical trials are now underway. Serostim,
a form of recombinant HGH made by the Swiss-based company Serono
is now being used to reverse the pernicious form of weight loss
seen in later stage AIDS, called "wasting." Wasting
is different from the loss of weight and fat that comes from undereating,
this wasting also occurs in later stages of cancer. Wasting is
the unintentional loss of weight in which the lean muscle, the
body mass, the bones and the body organs are all withering away.
HGH INCREASES BODY MASS, ENDURANCE AND
QUALITY OF LIFE (return
to top)
Many AIDS experts believe that losing lean body mass contributes
to the immune dysfunction and makes it harder for people to fight
off life-threatening infections. The wasting process itself, if
it goes beyond about 33% of ideal body weight, is incompatible
with life, as known from the experience of the concentration camp
victims of World War II.
A number of medical centers with AIDS-associated
wasting, which is defined as having lost at least 10% of body
weight, took part in a study of 178 patients. The patients who
received growth hormone therapy gained an average of 6.6 pounds
of lean body mass while losing an average of three pounds of fat
after three months of treatment. The therapy also resulted in
an improvement of their endurance and quality of life.
ONLY HGH INCREASES IMPORTANT MASS TO
RESIST AIDS (return to
top)
Morris Schambelan, MD, a professor of medicine at the University
of California in San Francisco, and also one of the principal
investigators, says "At the moment there isn't another therapy
in the late stages of AIDS that has had this kind of effect on
the lean body mass." "There are therapies that can increase
weight, such as an appetite stimulant called megestroacetate,
but that weight gain tends to be primarily fat. The advantage
of growth hormone is that it causes lean body mass to increase."
HGH INCREASES OVERALL AVERAGE EFFECT
OF LIFE QUALITY (return
to top)
Dr. Schambelan says that some of the patients are still coming
in, even though the original study ended three years ago. "Obviously
these are the people who are still alive and doing well and the
people who didn't do well are no longer there, so you can't talk
about the average effect. I think that the anecdotal experience
is that for the people who continue to take the drug, who continue
to eat, and don't get serious opportunistic infections, they have
had a very robust response. The medication has increased the benefits.
The gain in lean body mass that they had in their three months
of the study has doubled or tripled over the next year or two."
HGH REDUCES INFECTION AND INCREASES RESISTANCE
TO IT (return to top)
Although human growth hormone does not cure AIDS, there is some
evidence that it may lengthen the life of the AIDS patient. The
increase in lean body mass may make the AIDS patient less vulnerable
to infection. When given with antiviral agents such as AZT, human
growth hormone did not cause any increase in the amount of HIV.
In fact, human growth hormone has been shown to stimulate the
formation of new red blood cells, which are depleted by AZT. Even
more exciting, HGH also appears to reduce the incidence of AIDS-associated
infections, such as polycystic pneumonia and Kaposi's sarcoma.
HGH can rejuvenate the immune system, if it can actually strengthen
the ability of HIV+ patients to resist infectious diseases, it
may improve both the quality and the quantity of their lives.
Info taken from "Grow Young With HGH"
by Ronald Klatz, MD
