DHEA- Supplemental Testosterone

By Bonnie Jenkins, Advanced Natural Medicine

I recently read a report that life expectancy had reached a record high. Americans could now expect to live a whopping 76.9 years. But, according to some, like my friend Carl, that’s just not good enough. Carl believes that everyone should enjoy a life expectancy of 120 years!

Carl truly loves life and wants to enjoy it for as long as he can. But he’s not a laid-back kind of person. If something doesn’t fit with his view of how things should be, he takes the bull by the horns and does something about it. So when he started slowing down at the age of 60, it didn’t surprise me to discover that he had made an appointment at a nearby anti-aging clinic.

Personally, I’m not sure I want to live for more than a century. But Carl’s quest for longevity brings up the remarkable breakthroughs in hormone modulation and preventative nutrition can now slow, and even reverse, the aging process.

The premise behind the longevity movement is the belief that normal aging doesn't cause disease - disease causes premature aging. There’s some truth to this. After all, no one dies of old age. We die of heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, and Alzheimer's disease. What causes disease? Cell death. When we are young, our bodies can fend off cellular death with naturally produced antioxidants. But before we hit middle age, many of us find ourselves on the path toward disease and premature aging as oxidative stress overwhelms our natural antioxidant system, causing cells to die faster than our bodies can replace them.

Working hand in hand with oxidative stress, advanced glycosylation endproducts (AGEs) occur when a protein and a carbohydrate (glucose) are linked in the wrong way. As a result, the protein becomes sticky and can adhere to the arteries, damage our eyes and kidneys, and affect our sex hormones. The more AGEs, the faster we age.

A poor diet, lack of exercise, exposure to preservatives, cigarettes, alcohol and refined foods can all promote oxidative stress and AGEs. But a healthy lifestyle and anti-aging hormones can protect our cells and proteins, and give us the edge against aging.

Can Hormones Really Do That?

By the time you hit the ripe old age of 25, your hormones begin to decline. By age sixty they may have dropped as much as 80 percent! Without optimum hormonal levels, your skin becomes less elastic, bone and muscle strength diminishes, and you may have a tendency to gain weight. Eventually, you can lose your vigor, stamina and sex drive. Hormonal deficiency also affects your cardiovascular and immune systems, leaving you vulnerable to disease.

Now, I may not want to live forever, but while I am around I want to be as healthy and vital as possible. So I asked longevity expert, Frank McComb, MD, if supplementing flagging hormones can really turn back our biological clocks.

Dr. McComb pointed to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine that linked the normal decline of growth hormone (GH) to the weight gain and thinning skin that accompany aging. Four years later, another study by Danish researchers found that replacing Human Growth Hormone (HGH) in GH-deficient adults significantly increased exercise capacity, isometric muscle strength, blood pressure and resting heart rate.

Since then, study after study has shown that HGH can improve energy, bone density, muscle mass, skin elasticity, immunity, and brain function. New research presented at the Endocrine Society’s 2003 annual meeting has also found that HGH replacement therapy decreases the risk of cancer and heart problems.

As part of Carl’s anti-aging program, he’s receiving HGH injections. It’s a powerful therapy and he’s responding well – in fact, he claims he feels like a kid again. But, because pure HGH is such a potent hormone, it needs to be administered by a physician since excessive amounts can cause side effects such as surplus bone growth, carpel tunnel syndrome and fluid retention.

Beyond that, HGH therapy is prohibitively expensive for most of us. But, according to Dr. McComb, we can still reap many of the benefits of boosting our HGH – and on a budget! HGH-precursors, known as secretagogues, are a safer and subtler way to stimulate growth hormone without investing in a full-blown longevity program. And since they are classified as dietary supplements, they’re available without a prescription. Research shows that long-term use of these HGH-precursors can improve your IGF-1 levels 25 to 40 percent. (IGF-1 is the chemical in our bodies used to measure HGH levels.) But you have to take them at night and you should have your IGF-1 levels checked after eight to 12 weeks.

Living Longer, Living Better

When it comes to rolling back the years, Dr. McComb says that dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) may well be one of the most positive supplements you can take to enhance your quality of life. DHEA has been reported to reduce body mass and bone loss. It increases stamina, boosts libido, and strengthens the immune system in postmenopausal women. And it's been found to benefit rheumatoid arthritis and chronic fatigue.

Side effects are rare, but you should be aware that doses higher than 25 mg. a day may result in an increase of facial hair and perspiration. And some women experience breast tenderness. According to Dr. McComb, if you are a man taking DHEA, it's important to have your dihydrotestosterone (DHT) levels monitored since high DHT causes prostate growth and may signal prostate cancer.

Testosterone is another essential hormone in anti-aging medicine. Unfortunately, it has gotten a bad reputation in recent years, mainly due to its abuse by professional athletes.

Testosterone is the major androgenic steroid hormone produced in a man's testes and, to a lesser degree, in the adrenal glands of both men and women. But, as a man ages, his body's available testosterone is reduced. If your testosterone levels are low, supplemental testosterone can increase muscle and bone mass while decreasing body fat. It can also put the zing back in your sex life. Plus, testosterone appears to improve cognitive function.

But, taking supplemental testosterone when you don't need it can lead to water retention, an elevation of red blood cells, sleep apnea and changes in the prostate – so Dr. McComb recommends having both your free testosterone and bound hormone levels measured before you start taking it. A better option is Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG), a natural protein that acts exactly like your body's hormones and can jump-start your testes to produce it's own testosterone.

Melatonin is another key hormone in the anti-aging medicine chest. Melatonin secretion naturally drops off with age. In fact, this decrease is so reliable that blood melatonin levels have been proposed as a measurement of biological age. But taking supplemental melatonin can help you fool Father Time.

In one animal study, researchers found that supplemental melatonin caused mice to become healthier (better posture, increased activity levels and thicker, more lustrous fur). Better yet, they lived an average of 20 percent longer than the mice that didn’t receive melatonin. Human studies have found that this hormone improves immunity, regulates sleep cycles and helps alleviate stress, depression, Seasonal Affective Disorder and jet lag.

Melatonin is an extremely safe hormone, but it’s important to time your dose properly. If you take melatonin in opposition to the body's natural circadian rhythm – normally during the daytime – it can cause cognitive deficit just like jet lag does. But when taken at bedtime – in sync with your body's natural circadian rhythms – it has the opposite effect and actually enhances mental performance. In fact, it can be so effective that some researchers are looking into melatonin as a possible treatment for Alzheimer's disease.

One Last Thing ...

Although not a hormone, Dr. McComb also told me about another supplement that really has anti-aging experts talking – carnosine. Made up of the amino acids, histidine and alanine, reports show that carnosine reduces both AGEs and oxidative stress. In fact, some scientists have suggested that carnosine might be the water-soluble counterpart to vitamin E in protecting cell membranes from oxidative damage.

Studies have also found that this peptide can breathe new life into aging cells. And, according to Chinese researchers, carnosine seems to delay the impairment of aging eyesight, effectively preventing and treating cataracts and other age-related diseases.

This Just In ...

You might remember the headlines a few months ago telling consumers that taking excess vitamin A increased the risk of fractures. These news reports were based on a Swedish study that discovered that middle-aged men with the highest blood levels of vitamin A are more likely to break a bone in their old age. Based on this news stories, many people stopped taking supplemental vitamin A.

But now a new study by Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City have found that low vitamin A levels can have the same effect. According to the lead researcher, eliminating supplemental vitamin A may not only put consumers at further risk of hip fractures, it could increase the risk of other health problems associated with low levels of the antioxidant vitamin.

I checked with nutritional expert Elson Haas, MD, on the best way to make sure you’re getting the right amount of vitamin A. He suggested taking a vitamin A precursor – beta-carotene. Beta-carotene belongs to a family of compounds called carotenoids. While beta-carotene is not technically considered a vitamin, the body converts it into vitamin A – but only in amounts required by the body. In other words, it’s impossible to get too much.

Osteoporosis and vitamin deficiencies are just two of the problems we face as we get older. While anti-aging hormones can help keep us young and defend against some age-related health problems, they can’t take the place of a healthy foundation. So adopt a healthy diet, exercise, take in plenty of antioxidants and support your natural hormones with essential fatty acids like fish oil or flaxseed oil.

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References:

Jorgensen JOL, et al. “Three years of growth hormone treatment in growth hormone-deficient adults: near normalization of body composition and physical performance.” European Journal of Endocrinology. 1994; 130:224-228.

Villareal DT, et al. “Effects of DHEA replacement on bone mineral density and body composition in elderly women and men.” Clinical Endocrinology. 2000; 53:561-568.

Wang AM, et al. “Use of carnosine as a natural anti-senescence drug for human beings.” Biochemistry. 2000; 65:869-871.

Wang C. “Sublingual testosterone replacement improves muscle mass and strength, decreases bone resorption, and increases bone formation markers in hypogonadal men--a clinical research center study.” Journal of Clinical Endocrinoogy andl Metabolism. 1996; 81:3654-3662.