Dr. Rudman's Clinical Findings on the Effects of HGH

The New England Journal of Medicine published Dr. Daniel Rudman landmark clinical findings on the effects of HGH, July 1990. The results were thought provoking and exciting. Let’s look at that study.

About Dr Rudman

As Professor and Associate Chief of Staff for Geriatrics and Extended Care at the Zablocki VA Medical Center Dr. Daniel Rudman, who joined the Medical College of Wisconsin, and it is here that the study was conducted in 1988. Dr. Daniel Rudman continued his human nutrition research with the elderly until his death in 1994. Dr. Rudman's creativity as a clinical investigator was highlighted because he had an ability to focus basic knowledge on important problems that occur in clinical medicine.

Abstract Background: The decreasing activity of the growth hormone-insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) axis with increasing age could add to the increase in mass of adipose tissue and decline in lean body mass that occurs with aging.

Methods: To test this hypothesis, we studied IGF-1 plasma with 21 healthy men from 61 to 81 years old who had plasma IGF-1 concentrations of less than 350 U per liter during a six-month base-line period and a six-month treatment period that followed.

Study Results Summary

The Effects of HGH in Men Over the Age of 60

With advancing age, there is a decline in the activity of the growth hormone-insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), which may contribute to the increase in mass of adipose tissue and decrease in lean body mass that occurs with aging.

"The overall deterioration of the body that comes with growing old is not inevitable ... We now realize that some aspects of it can be prevented or reversed." (Dr. Daniel Rudman, M.D. )

Trial Methods Rudman Used

Dr. Rudmen tested his hypothesis by studying IGF-1 plasma while working with volunteers from the Medical College of Wisconsin-Milwaukee that were between the ages of 61 and 81. Dr. Rudman used synthetic HGH that was manufactured to replicate what the human body naturally created in the pituitary gland.

During the treatment period, Group 1 – made up of 12 men who received approx. 0.03 mg of biosynthetic human growth hormone for every kilogram of body weight. This was received subcutaneously 3x a week, and Group 2 made up of 9 men who received no treatment. Each month, the Plasma IGF-1 levels were measured. In addition, at end of each of the time periods, the team working with Dr. Rudman's measured the mass of adipose tissue, the lean body mass, the skin thickness, and the bone density at nine skeletal sites.

Observations

The group who received the HGH treatment saw their plasma IGF-1 levels return to the levels seen during youth - 500-1500 U/liter. On the other hand, the second group remained below - 350 U/liter.

In addition, it was observed that in the group that received treatment for 6 months they showed a 14.4% decrease in adipose-tissue mass, a 8.8% increase in lean body mass, a 0.1% increase in skin thickness and a 1.6% increase in average lumbar vertebral bone density. In Group 2 there was no significant change in the mass of adipose tissue, lean body mass, bone density or skin thickness during treatment.

Clinical Observation Results

All of the men in the study remained healthy, and during the 12-month protocol none of the men had any changes in the results of differential blood count, chest radiography, urinalysis, blood-chemistry profile, electrocardiography, or echocardiography. None had fasting hyperglycaemia (>6.6 mmol of glucose per liter), oedema, an increase in blood pressure to more than 160/90 mm Hg, ventricular hypertrophy, or a local reaction to human growth hormone, nor did their serum cholesterol or triglyceride concentrations change significantly. However, in Group 1 both the men (" SE) systolic blood pressure and fasting plasma glucose concentration were significantly higher (P<0.05 by matched-pair t-test) at the end of the experimental period than at the end of the base-line period (127.2"5.2 vs. 119.1" 3.6mm Hg and 5.8" 0.2 vs. 5.4" 0.2 mmol per liter, respectively).

Conclusions of Dr. Rudman

Dr. Rudman concluded that the diminished secretion of growth hormone is partly accountable for the thinning of the skin, the expansion of adipose-tissue mass and the decrease of lean body mass that occurs in old age. (New England Journal of Medicine, 1990; 323:1-6)

During middle to late adult years, everyone experience a succession of progressive changes in one’s body composition. The lean body mass begins to shrink and the mass of adipose tissue begins to expand. The contraction in one’s lean body mass reflects atrophic processes in liver, skeletal muscle, kidney, skin, bone and spleen.

These structural changes have been considered unavoidable and a process of aging. However, recently it was proposed that the reduced availability of human growth hormone during late adulthood could contribute to these changes.

The growth hormone deficiency caused alterations in body composition c can be reversed by administering replacement doses of human growth hormone. Experiments conducted in children, and adults 20 to 50 years old have shown this. The findings indicated that lean body mass atrophy and the component organs along with the enlargement of the mass of adipose tissue seen in the elderly resulted at least partially from diminished secretion of hGH. If this is so, the changes in body composition that are age related should be at least partially correctable by administering human growth hormone, which was easily available as a biosynthetic product.