New Study: Lower Growth Hormone! Live Longer!

Growth hormone (GH) is a controversial anti-aging drug. Some doctors prescribe GH, which is produced in the brain and travels through the body, to restore youth and improve lean body mass. This approach may have its shortcomings. Adding to the controversy over GH is new research published in the journal Science Advances that suggests low levels of GH may help you live longer.

Researchers identified a common genetic mutation that is linked to an increase in men’s life span, but does not affect women. About one-quarter of people have a mutation in the gene for growth hormone receptors, in which a part of their DNA is missing. Dr. Gil Atzmon, a geneticist at the University of Haifa in Israel, and colleagues, noted that the mutation was present in 12 percent of men over age 100— a rate three times higher than 70-year-old men. This data was collected from sequencing the gene for growth hormone receptors in subjects that Atzmon’s team was studying for years. Atzmon and colleagues examined the gene in three other long-lived groups of people around the world and found the same thing— the mutation in the gene for growth hormone receptors was linked to substantially longer lives.

Dr. Ali Torkamani, the director of genome informatics at the Scripps Translational Science Institute in La Jolla, California, called the results “convincing” and said this study is the first to establish a link between growth hormone receptors and longevity. Previous research identified a gene mutation that affected longevity in women only, and researchers say the latest study suggests that men and women have different genetic paths to longevity.

Dr. Nir Barzilai, a geneticist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, said if you want to live longer, it might be a better idea to keep growth hormone levels low, not try to raise them. Moving forward, Barzilai and his team will try to reduce growth hormone levels in older people by replicating the effect of the gene mutation. Favorable results using animal studies have been generated using the diabetes drug metformin. (Science Advances 2017; Vol. 3, no. 6, e1602025)

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