This is the million-dollar question. It really ties into the bigger question - Is aging a preventable disease? For years people have believed that as we get older our body basically wears out. The theory went that all of our organs, tissues, muscles, bones, etc. have a set life span and will get weaker as we age. When someone is 40 and complains that they can't do what they did at 20, we accepted this as the natural process of getting old.
Research into HGH shows that aging may be preventable to a certain extent. Let me clarify that, I am not saying that we will all become immortal (except for Dick Clark - he never seems to age). What I am saying is that research indicates that our body is very capable at the age of 40 to have the same makeup as we did at the age of 20. Okay, I am getting a little carried away - let's get back to HGH...
It was originally believed that the pituitary gland just didn't have the capacity to produce large amounts of HGH as we get older. However, recent studies have shown that aging pituitary glands are capable of producing as much HGH as young pituitary glands, if it is adequately stimulated. This shows that the somatotrophe cell, the cell in the pituitary gland that releases HGH, does not "lose power" as we age.
The questions still remains, if the problem is not with the pituitary gland, then why does HGH decrease as we age? One theory is that the pituitary gland does not "know" it should be producing more HGH. Our body has a feedback loop that says when the IGF-1 levels decrease, produce more HGH. For some unknown reason it is possible that this loop is broken and the pituitary gland has a harder time getting the signal to produce more HGH as we age.
Another theory is that as we get older our Somatostatin levels increase. Somatostatin is a natural inhibitor to growth hormone. So, as we age the somatostatin levels increase and this leads to a decrease in HGH.
As we speak a lot of very smart people are trying to come up with a definitive answer as to why HGH levels decrease with age, but as of now we just have theories.
Research into HGH shows that aging may be preventable to a certain extent. Let me clarify that, I am not saying that we will all become immortal (except for Dick Clark - he never seems to age). What I am saying is that research indicates that our body is very capable at the age of 40 to have the same makeup as we did at the age of 20. Okay, I am getting a little carried away - let's get back to HGH...
It was originally believed that the pituitary gland just didn't have the capacity to produce large amounts of HGH as we get older. However, recent studies have shown that aging pituitary glands are capable of producing as much HGH as young pituitary glands, if it is adequately stimulated. This shows that the somatotrophe cell, the cell in the pituitary gland that releases HGH, does not "lose power" as we age.
The questions still remains, if the problem is not with the pituitary gland, then why does HGH decrease as we age? One theory is that the pituitary gland does not "know" it should be producing more HGH. Our body has a feedback loop that says when the IGF-1 levels decrease, produce more HGH. For some unknown reason it is possible that this loop is broken and the pituitary gland has a harder time getting the signal to produce more HGH as we age.
Another theory is that as we get older our Somatostatin levels increase. Somatostatin is a natural inhibitor to growth hormone. So, as we age the somatostatin levels increase and this leads to a decrease in HGH.
As we speak a lot of very smart people are trying to come up with a definitive answer as to why HGH levels decrease with age, but as of now we just have theories.
Is there any way to maintain high HGH levels as we age?
Yes. Back on our growth hormones definitions page we discussed the recombinant GH that is made by Eli Lilly. A doctor can do a daily injection of this GH and it will lead to an overall increase of growth hormone in the body. It is important to understand that recombinant GH is only available in injection form. The 191 amino acid hormone is too delicate to be made in any oral form.