Critics of Anti-Aging Medicine Propose Crackdown on Illegal HGH Use

Thomas T. Perls, MD and S. Jay Olshansky, PhD attack their favorite punching bag, the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M), and other anti-aging management organizations and health care practictioners who prescribe human growth hormone (HGH) to adult patients with adult-onset growth hormone deficiency disorder (GHD) today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Perl and Olshansky state that HGH can ONLY be prescribed for adult GHD if they meet the diagnostic criteria as confirmed by stimulation testing.

They explicitly attack the A4M recommendations that HGH justifiably prescribed to patients with IFG-1 levels below 100ng/mL.

Perl and Olshansky state that the FDA, the Endocrine Soceity and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists agree with them.

The only exceptions for adults not meeting the diagnostic criteria (by confirmatory stimulation testing) is in cases of HIV-associated muscle wasting and short-bowel syndrome.

And even if an adult meets the diagnostic criteria for adult onset GHD, Perl and Olshansky seem to think it is still inappropriate and wrong to prescribe HGH to them.

Studies have suggested that adult GHD or resistance to growth hormone action is associated with longer life spans, not shorter ones – suggesting that, if anything, use of hGH for anti-aging or athletic enhancement would shorten, not prolong life.

Perl and Olshansky propose a list of actions to stop the inappropriate distribution and use of human growth hormone. Most notably, these include support for legislation that makes HGH a scheduled III controlled substance; recommendations that the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) revoke the accreditations of anti-aging and age management organizations that “promote or indirectly profit from the medically inappropriate and illegal distribution of hGH”; and suggestions that state medical boards, pharmacy boards and the ACCME proceed with ethic and professional misconduct charges against “individuals, pharmacies, and organizations that promote, market, profit from, or contribute to the illegal distribution of growth hormone for medically unproven uses.”

We are awaiting a response from the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine and/or other anti-aging and age management organizations.

• New Developments in the illegal provision of growth hormone for “anti-aging” and bodybuilding (2008).
  S. Jay Olshansky PhD, Thomas T. Perls MD; Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol 299 (23); pp. 2792-2794.
• Provision or Distribution of Growth Hormone for “Antiaging”- Clinical and Legal Issues (2005).
  Thomas T. Perls MD, MPH; Neal R. Reisman MD, JD, FACS; S. Jay Olshansky PhD; Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol 294 (16), pp. 2086-2090

About the author

Millard

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Millard writes about anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs and their use and impact in sport and society. He discusses the medical and non-medical uses of anabolic-androgenic steroids while advocating a harm reduction approach to steroid education.