The Dr. Oz Show
Air date: October 13, 2011
The Controversial Shot: Could HGH Be the Fountain of Youth?
- The controversy surrounding HGH
- How to raise your HGH naturally
- What color is your mucus and what color should it be?
- Funny health violations solved
Is HGH a miracle cure for aging? Is this the silver bullet? Human Growth Hormone, HGH, is touted with helping people, women in particular, look and feel younger and to lose weight.
Women are getting HGH from their doctors, from personal trainers, traveling to foreign countries, and spending hundreds of dollars on the internet. But it HGH safe? Is it being used properly?
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In the 1950's HGH was “discovered” and used to treat children with stunted growth with incredible results.
HGH secrets from the pituitary gland throughout the day with the greatest amount releasing at night. It is needed to build muscles and repair tissue. In your late 20's the production of HGH begins to decline and it's all down hill from there.
Aging is being treated by injecting HGH into the skin where it goes into the blood stream. From there the theory is that HGH shrinks fat cells, builds muscles by stimulating muscle cell growth, increases blood vessels in the skin rebuilding elasticity and collagen.
If HGH is being used to help people feel better about aging, then what is the definition of someone who actually needs HGH?
Dr. Oz invited two doctors with opposing views of the necessity and use of HGH.
Alex Martin, MD is an HGH specialist and believes women can and should take HGH forever. Under his treatment, he takes an endocrine profile and checks existing cancer before starting an HGH therapy. Dr. Oz asks Dr. Martin if he is concerned that patients are playing with fire by using HGH and potentially jeopardizing their health. Dr. Martin feels that HGH is safe and he monitors his patients health to determine if HGH begins to interfere with the natural aging process.
[If the doctor has to monitor for potential interference with the natural aging process, then wouldn't that indicate there is a concern for possible interference? Sounds rather suspect to me and the use of HGH sounds a lot like use of plastic surgery in the name of vanity. People really do put their health at risk in the name of looking younger and feeling younger. I personally don't understand the obsession with denying your actual age and trying to re-capture an appearance of youth. As a spring-chicken clocking in at near 41 years, I don't mind having wrinkles or gray hair – I have a few white hairs popping up. I am in my 40's and my body will change. I'm not afraid of it and I don't mind looking 40 because, really, that's part of who I am.
Why the cancer check? People with cancer cannot take HGH. The stimulation of cell growth from taking HGH is indiscriminate of cell type. Cancer cells, if present, will be stimulated along with muscle cells and collagen cells.]
Stuart Weinerman, MD is on the other side of the discussion and believes that HGH should only be used on people with pituitary gland deficiencies. He feels the long-term negative possibilities need to be looked at more closely such as the cancer growth risks. The short-term risks include swelling, accumulation of body fluid, carpel tunnel, inducing insulin resistance and increasing the risk of diabetes and heart disease.
The health care industry is making lots of money off of HGH. Are physicians and other non-medical professionals offering the service simply to increase the bottom line? Sure, many people are administering HGH without proper training
In theory, you could age faster by taking HGH and stimulating the cells to grow faster. At the end of our cells there are blueprints, telomeres, that tell the body how to make new cells. By stimulating cell growth with HGH are you also burning the fire of cell creation much faster than what the body is designed to do? Are you trading off youthful vigor in favor of looking good now?
One the other side, current HGH studies are looking into whether HGH plays a role in repairing the telomeres. Patients have been taking HGH since about 1996, a little over a decade of experimentation by use. Dr. Oz worries that there is not enough research and not enough history of the use of HGH for all the risks to be known and that these women taking it are like little rats in cage in a big experiment that could be putting their lives at risk.
Dr. Micheael Aziz also believes there are risks associated with the use of HGH. Many are starting HGH therapies at age 45 and, Dr. Aziz, believes they are shutting down their own production of HGH and depleting their own stores, create an HGH deficiency.
The woman who goes to Russia to take HGH started the therapy simply because her friend was taking it and looks great. Now she feels better, more energy, increased libido.
All other hormone production in the body chances as soon as HGH enters the blood stream. Again, Dr. Oz is very concerned by people, who are not doctors, administering HGH. He cautions to not get HGH from a personal training, not at a party, and definitely not from another country.
Another viewer, age 65, on the show wants to be strong, mentally balanced, wants to maintain her current lifestyle of riding horses, and being active. It's not just for looks.
Dr. Oz asked how many members of the audience would now take HGH? Only one in the audience raised their hand.
The trade off is not worth the risk of taking HGH. Dr. Oz believes there should be a broader scientific discussion of the safety of long-term use of HGH.
Natural and Safe Ways to Boost HGH
As we age, we can feel like we have less energy and can look toward potentially risky therapies to regain that look, that feeling.
What factors are associated with lowered levels of HGH? Age and obesity.
L-Arginine is an amino acid that acts as a building block for HGH. Taking L-Arginine supplementally provides the body with the tools it needs to manufacture HGH. Dr. Oz recommends taking L-Arginine at 2g three times a day.
Protein intake is a key component to the natural production of HGH. Dr. Oz wants viewers to look towards lean protein and nut butters. He recommends 2 tablespoons of peanut butter, or other nut butter, to help increase over-all, healthy protein intake.
Sleep!
[It's overrated and for the weak, we say! Only because we can't seem to get enough quality sleep to remove our brain from fog.]
The highest levels of HGH hormone secretion happens at night, when you're asleep. Proper sleep is the most important way to revitalize HGH stores.
Dr. Oz recommends using a cooling eye mask at night to help increase the amount of quality sleep we get each night. Research shows we sleep better when it's cold outside and body goes into a hibernation. The dark provided by the mask stimulates melatonin levels supporting sleep.
[There is a great variety of cooling eye masks available for sale. Amazon has a nice compilation of available styles.]
Dr. Oz also recommends using a low-frequency noise machine, especially in urban areas where there is a lot of ambient noise, to block out noises that may keep us awake or wake us up but without causing stimulation to the brain.
[Target sells a sound machine that includes white noise as well as a variety of other soothing sounds – though, according to Dr. Oz may provide the brain with too much stimulation so just be careful.]
Check Your Mucus To Determine Your Health
Mucus plays a very important role in our body. When we breathe in dust, particles, virus, bacteria, germs and so one, mucus is there for us to capture particles before they get into the lungs and cause problems.
Looking at the quantity, color, consistency of mucus can provide a picture of your health.
Quantity of Mucus
How much mucus do humans produce in a day? A cup, a pint, a quart, a gallon?
We make a quart of mucus each day. The amount of mucus we create can show a picture of our health. Too little mucus is a sign of dehydration and too much mucus an be a sign of inflammation.
Consistency of Mucus
Thin or thick? Thin mucus is normal. 95% of mucus is water with some salts and minerals. Thick mucus is a sign of an infection, typically of the sinuses.
Color of Mucus
Yellowish-green mucus is a sign of infection. Use a Neti Pot to clear out mucus from the sinus.
Can blood in the mucus be a sign of “something bad”. A small amount of blood in the nose can turn mucus red and is more a sign of dryness.
Moisturizing the sinuses can help to reduce dryness and reduce the amount of cracking and bleeding that can occur sinus passages. Dr. Oz recommends using a nose humidifier and showed a MyPurMist.com version.
[Excessive nasal bleeding or frequent nose bleeding can be a sign of other health issues and should be discussed with your doctor.
To moisturize the sinuses a saline nasal spray can be helpful as well as regular use of a neti pot and a room humidifier. EveryDayHealth.com has a great article on the right way to use a room humidifier.
Check out this article on how to use a neti pot. Many people use them everyday to alleviate allergies, moisturize the sinuses, to clear mucus for clearer breathing during yoga and other exercise.]
Funniest Health Violations On Tape
Dr. Oz posed as a wax figure and had people talk into a stethoscope to capture their confessions of bad health habits: too much salt, too much butter, biting nails, muffin top to which Dr. Oz recommended fiber for healthy poops and weight loss support. “We came to a wax museum and found out about bowel movements!”
A viewer turned in his fiance as a pizza-holic. She follows Dr. Oz but doesn't follow his health recommendations. Dr. Oz travel led to her favorite pizza joint, showed her picture to the staff who identified her as a regular! Dr. Oz then posed as a pizza delivery man delivering her a pasta-covered pizza. Busted!
Where did her obsession with pizza come from? She ate it all the time as a kid for dinner then cold for breakfast and just can't get enough of it.
The numbers: she eats about 780 slices of pizza a year totaling nearly 500,000 calories [or 143 pounds!!!] with 780,000mg of sodium and 21,000g of fat.
Instead of ordering take-out pizza every night, Dr. Oz recommends that she make her own pizza at home. Bake the I Love NY Vegetarian Pizza with whole wheat crust, low-sodium sauce and vegetables. The “I Love NY” pizza has become an instant hit since it's debut on the Transformation Nation Show. Dr. Oz also shared a Chicken Arugula Pizza as a healthy alternative of delivery pizza.
She wants to bust her husband for his soda habit. He drinks a startling 4-7 liters of soda per week, call it an average of 7 liters per week. The kids are taking after their father now and are drinking more soda. She talks to him everyday about how much soda he drinks. He has been drinking that amount of soda for 20 years and can't stop the habit.
The numbers: In a year he is drinking 2,555 liters of soda which accounts for One Million Calories [or 286 pounds!!!] and 620 pounds of sugar which equal to 11 bathtubs full of sugar. [Wow! Wow! Wow!]
He acknowledges that he may have a slight problem with drinking too much soda. It's a challenge to acknowledge things we don't want to fix.
Dr. Oz's Three Step Program to Lick the Soda Habit
Step #1 - Reduce the physical behavioral dependency.
Dr. Oz wants to take away the caffeine first but not the sugar, yet. For the first week, Dr. Oz recommends substituting one liter of soda with 1 liter of orange juice. Soda has no nutrients and his body is craving nutrients. Orange juice has sugar, yes, but it also has nutrients and can help you feel full longer. You can't drink 7 liters of orange juice in a day, the body won't allow it. Substituting 1 liter of OJ for soda can help replace the urge for sugar and help decrease caffeine intake.
Step #2 - Replace the oral fixation of putting the soda bottle in the mouth with gum or soda flavored candy.
Step #3 - Drink a glass of seltzer water
Before he opens a bottle of soda Dr. Oz wants him to drink a glass of seltzer water.
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