Less growth hormone, fewer chronic diseases ?
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Does less growth hormone mean a lower risk of cancer and diabetes?
The results of a new 20-year study in published in Science Translational Medicine, involved 100 people in a remote community in the Andes Mountains in Acugdor who had Laron syndrome - a condition where people suffer dwarfism.
None of the short subjects suffered type 2 diabetes mellitus and only one was found suffering a non-fatal cancer.
The study, led by Valter Longo of the University of Southern California and Ecuadorian endocrinologist Jaime Guevara-Aguirre suggests lowering growth hormone activity could help prevent many chronic diseases.
Among 1,600 relatives of the study participants who lived in the same towns during the same period, 5 percent were diagnosed with diabetes and 17 percent with cancer.
People with Laron syndrome suffer some genetic deficiency that prevents their bodies from using growth hormone properly. The condition is linked with dwarfism.
Longo said pharmaceuticals and restricted diet may help lower growth hormone activity. He said FDA-approved drugs for this purpose have been available. It's only that the drugs are indicated to treat acromegaly, a condition leading to gigantism.
In a press release, University of Southern California says studies by John Kopchick of Ohio University and Andrzej Bartke of Southern Illinois University found mice with growth factor deficient lived 40 percent longer.
So how people with Laron Syndrome protect themselves against cancer and diabetes?
Longo et al. found in laboratory studies that the blood in individuals with this condition protected DNA against oxidative damage and mutations, which are believed to the cause of cancer. Additionally something in their blood also promoted suicide of cells that were severely injured.
Without resorting to drugs, people can still control their growth hormone activity by lowering their intake of protein and calories, Longo said. Both carbohydrates and proteins are known to boost production of growth hormones.
An animal study led by the National Cancer Institute suggested calorie restriction may help reduce cancer risk.
In the study, researchers found moderate calorie restriction reduced by 60 percent the number of precancerous intestinal polyps in mice who were at high risk of gastrointestinal cancers.
Human growth hormone supplements or growth hormone diets which promote production of the hormone are used by some people in hopes that they may feel or look better because of high levels of grwoth hormones.
Half of men and one third of women in the United States are expected to develop cancer in their lifetime.
By David Liu, Ph.D. and editing by Aimee Keenan-Greene
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