Growth Hormone No 'Magic Bullet' for Aging

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However, there was a potential for some serious side effects, including, in men, the risk for abnormal breast development, Liu said. These side effects are reversible when one stops taking the hormone, he said.

Liu noted that growth hormone is not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use as an anti-aging medication.

"If you want to increase your probability of living a long, healthy life, [then] eat right, get some exercise, get enough sleep. Those things probably increase your probability of living a long, fruitful life," Liu said.

One expert believes that growth hormone has no place as an anti-aging remedy and may come with dangers.

"The hucksters touting growth hormone as a magic bullet against aging claim that thousands of studies have been conducted on the hormone. Liu demonstrates definitively that this is not true -- only a handful of studies have ever been conducted using growth hormone in adults," said S. Jay Olshansky, a professor of public health and senior research scientist at the Center on Aging at the University of Illinois, Chicago.

Olshansky also accused people who dispense growth hormone of acting irresponsibly.

"If those running anti-aging or so-called longevity clinics continue to openly and brazenly administer growth hormone to their patients as an anti-aging intervention, they will not only be openly violating the law, they may very well be jeopardizing the health of their patients," he said. "This thorough analysis suggests that the time has arrived for the FDA and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to crack down on this illegal and potentially harmful activity."

As men and women age, there is a progressive slow decline in the release of growth hormone, Blackman said. By the time people reach their late 60s or 70s, the reduction in the production of growth hormone is as much as 50 percent to 75 percent less than when they were in their 20s, he explained.

He noted that there are older people with a deficiency in growth hormone who can be successfully treated by replacing growth hormone. However, taking growth hormone to retard aging is not a proven therapy.

More information

Find out more about healthy aging at the U.S. National Institutes of Health.