The Change Mariner

Aging Baby Boomers Turn to Human Growth Hormone

San Francisco Chronicle:

Amid recent revelations that elite athletes may be abusing human growth hormone to build muscles and break records, a large and flourishing practice on the fringe of American medicine has also been promoting its use among aging and affluent Baby Boomers hoping to feel young again.

Human growth hormone has never been approved as a muscle-building agent or as an anti-aging tonic, in part because of the dearth of evidence that it is safe to use over a long period. Some research suggests that it might in fact be harmful in any number of ways.

Still, there is no shortage of doctors willing to prescribe human growth hormone for "off-label" use -- and no shortage of potential patients hoping to fend off the effects of advancing age. According to one estimate, one-third of the $695 million a year in U.S. sales is for unapproved uses. That amounts to what one longtime critic called an enormous, unregulated medical experiment.