30 replies to this topic

[stocks]

Jack La Lane was there first:

http://www.jacklalan...m/biograph.html

"I became a voracious reader and I absorbed everything that would help me to improve myself. Gray's Anatomy was my bible. During college, I studied pre-med to become a medical doctor and I also went to chiropractic college and graduated; however, I was more interested in helping people by convincing them to take preventative measures, before they became ill." Resolving to help others find the secrets to health and fitness, La Lanne opened the nation's first modern health studio in 1936 on the third floor of an old office building in Oakland, California, paying $45 per month for rent. Jack was a mere 21 years old. "I was 40 years ahead of my time," he said, "but by then I knew more about the workings of the muscles in my body than most doctors. People thought I was a charlatan and a nut," Jack says. "The doctors were against me - they said that working out with weights would give people heart attacks and they would lose their sex drive. Women would look like men and even varsity coaches predicted that their athletes would get muscle bound and banned them from lifting weights. I had to give these athletes keys so they could come in at night and work out in my gym. Time has proven that what I was doing was scientifically correct - starting with a healthy diet followed by systematic exercise, and today everyone knows it. All world class athletes now work out with weights, as do many members of the general public, both male and female."

[endisnear]

wading in... If you're going to damage someone's reputation, you'd better have hard evidence, not just innuendo. It's crummy, even if the party is mean or a public figure or parts their hair the wrong way. It's the worst form of gossip.

On the longevity thing, every time I look at a story of a really old person closely, there's almost always either a strong genetic component, and/or a very good diet, and/or persistent ongoing cardio of some sort, be it long walks, or sport, or something. So, what I'm saying is that if you really LOOK at those anecdotes, it shouldn't be about how little smoking negatively affects you, but how much walking miles a day positively does (for example).

Mark

Latest craze I've seen around esp for men in 50s at least around here in Houston, is hormone replacement, ie testosterone injections (steriods), and or growth hormone. Several clinics, one I went to for info called Longevity Institute, here in Houston and I've known several friends and 50 something men I talk to in gym who have gone. They advertise in free periodicals you can pick up in the gyms. Hormone replacement has a much softer ring to it than steriods but it is what it is.

Perfectly legal to prescribe if testosterone levels are found low. Key is they ask you to fast for 12-18 hrs and come in afternoon when blood testosterone levels are naturally low anyway and much lower due to fasting. Pulls blood, low testosterone, and walla, prescription for sterioids, hormone replacement, or whatever makes you comfy. All the while you come in and get monitored by doc. Initial cost about $1000 for bloodwork, then about another 400 or so for the cost of the drugs and doc visits.

Never did it b/c I have a phobia of needles and I'm in good shape anyway.

[stocks]

We nearly lost a local Navy man recently who came in vomiting, with abdominal pain, etc and ended up with renal failure on emergency dialysis. He was taking a product from a vitamin on-line seller that had ephedra, ginko, creatinine and more, trying to build up strength for training exercises. He's in bad shape.

Z'Brun A.

Schweiz Rundsch Med Prax. 1995 Jan 3; 84(1):1-6.

Ginkgo biloba is one of the oldest, still existing plants. Extracts from its leaves were already used in ancient China whereas in the Western World, they have been utilized only since the Sixties when it became technically possible and feasible to isolate the essential substances of Ginkgo biloba. Pharmacologically, there are two groups of substances which are of some significance: the flavonoids, effective as oxygen-free radical scavengers, and the terpenes (i.e. the ginkgolides) with their highly specific action as platelet activating factor (PAF) inhibitors. Clinically important indications for Ginkgo biloba extracts are cerebral insufficiency and atherosclerotic disease of peripheral arteries of intermediate severity. In several placebo-controlled clinical studies, symptoms of cerebral insufficiency have been effectively and significantly influenced. Most of these investigations have examined the efficacy of Ginkgo biloba extracts such as EGb 761 and LI 1370

http://search.lef.or...mp;QUERY=gingko

[stocks]

Latest craze I've seen around esp for men in 50s at least around here in Houston, is hormone replacement, ie testosterone injections (steriods), and or growth hormone. Several clinics, one I went to for info called Longevity Institute, here in Houston and I've known several friends and 50 something men I talk to in gym who have gone. They advertise in free periodicals you can pick up in the gyms. Hormone replacement has a much softer ring to it than steriods but it is what it is.

Perfectly legal to prescribe if testosterone levels are found low. Key is they ask you to fast for 12-18 hrs and come in afternoon when blood testosterone levels are naturally low anyway and much lower due to fasting. Pulls blood, low testosterone, and walla, prescription for sterioids, hormone replacement, or whatever makes you comfy. All the while you come in and get monitored by doc. Initial cost about $1000 for bloodwork, then about another 400 or so for the cost of the drugs and doc visits.

Never did it b/c I have a phobia of needles and I'm in good shape anyway.

The point of hormone replacement for a 50 yr old is anti-aging, not athletic performance.
Growth hormone and testosterone levels decline with age.
The goal is to restore natural hormones to the levels of a 25 yr old.

You don't need to perform 'trickery' to get prescriptions.

You don't need a needle to administer testosterone. (cream from a compounding
pharmacy will do)
You do need a needle to administer adequate levels of growth hormone.
DHEA can be taken with a pill.
The hormones are bio-identical.
Aging is the number one of cause of death and disease.

[endisnear]

Latest craze I've seen around esp for men in 50s at least around here in Houston, is hormone replacement, ie testosterone injections (steriods), and or growth hormone. Several clinics, one I went to for info called Longevity Institute, here in Houston and I've known several friends and 50 something men I talk to in gym who have gone. They advertise in free periodicals you can pick up in the gyms. Hormone replacement has a much softer ring to it than steriods but it is what it is.

Perfectly legal to prescribe if testosterone levels are found low. Key is they ask you to fast for 12-18 hrs and come in afternoon when blood testosterone levels are naturally low anyway and much lower due to fasting. Pulls blood, low testosterone, and walla, prescription for sterioids, hormone replacement, or whatever makes you comfy. All the while you come in and get monitored by doc. Initial cost about $1000 for bloodwork, then about another 400 or so for the cost of the drugs and doc visits.

Never did it b/c I have a phobia of needles and I'm in good shape anyway.

The point of hormone replacement for a 50 yr old is anti-aging, not athletic performance.
Growth hormone and testosterone levels decline with age.
The goal is to restore natural hormones to the levels of a 25 yr old.

You don't need to perform 'trickery' to get prescriptions.

You don't need a needle to administer testosterone. (cream from a compounding
pharmacy will do)
You do need a needle to administer adequate levels of growth hormone.
DHEA can be taken with a pill.
The hormones are bio-identical.
Aging is the number one of cause of death and disease.

The guys I know don't do the patch. There were pics of the docs patients who were competitive bodybuilders posing in contests all over the waiting room. Bottom line, 9 out of 10 regardless of age are not going b/c they have low hormonal levels and the docs willing to perform whatever trickery he needs to do to make everything legitimate.

friend of mine convinced his overweight, 2 pk smoking 60 yr old father to take GH injections and he feels great. Still overweight and smokes but regardless, don't think it will make him live longer. There is tons of research that correlates high testosterone levels w/increase in cancers and decreased lifespan and even a patch will raise your test levels 3-4x over normal.

[stocks]

The guys I know don't do the patch. There were pics of the docs patients who were competitive bodybuilders posing in contests all over the waiting room. Bottom line, 9 out of 10 regardless of age are not going b/c they have low hormonal levels and the docs willing to perform whatever trickery he needs to do to make everything legitimate.

friend of mine convinced his overweight, 2 pk smoking 60 yr old father to take GH injections and he feels great. Still overweight and smokes but regardless, don't think it will make him live longer. There is tons of research that correlates high testosterone levels w/increase in cancers and decreased lifespan and even a patch will raise your test levels 3-4x over normal.

Not talking about the patch. Rather a tube of cream from a compounding pharmacy.


You and I hang out with different crowds; you sports medicine and me anti-aging.

Even if someone 'feels great', here is what is happening to them:


1. Memory -- Often fades slightly in normal people in midlife, P300 test voltage goes down, time slows.
2. Personality -- No changes after 30 except through psychotherapy or dementing illness. Personality disorders worsen.
3. Sense of smell -- Declines slowly at age 45 and faster after 65.
4. Thymus -- Begins to shrink at puberty. Immune response declines slowly.
5. Lungs -- 40 percent drop in maximum breathing capacity between age 20 and 70.
6. Muscles -- 20 percent to 40 percent of mass may be lost between 20 and 90 with lack of exercise; exercise prevents most loss.
7. Ovaries -- Dramatically slow production of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone after 50.
8. Blood vessels -- Diameter of vessels narrows, arterial walls stiffen, 20-25 percent increase in systolic blood pressure.
9. Pituitary gland and hypothalamus -- Secretion of growth hormone declines at 50, causing muscles to shrink and fat to increase.
10. Sight -- Increased difficulty seeing nearby objects begins in the 40's. Ability to see fine detail does not deteriorate until the 70's.
11. Hearing -- Begins to decline about 20, and worsens faster in men than women.
12. Bones -- Begin to weaken after 40 through osteoporosis, especially in women.
13. Heart -- No decline in resting output. Twenty percent decline in maximum rate during exercise after age 40 because the heart becomes less responsive to stimulation from the nervous system.
14. Adrenal glands -- After 30, secretion of DHEA, which slows cancer and boosts immunity, declines; and after 70, production of the stress hormone cortisol soars.
15. Skin -- Changes in collagen, a connective tissue, cause skin to lose elasticity in later years.
16. Nerves -- Speed of messages along nerves drops 10 percent between age 40-80



http://www.edgeeffec...oid_therapy.htm

[maineman]

Any supplementation with "hormones" is not indicated and in most cases dangerous. The only true anti-age related information we have proven scientifically is aggressive aerobic exercise in conjunction with proper nutrition (and no smoking, of course).

I know, I know, doctors are stupid but here is another excellent read on the subject:

Clinics in Geriatric Medicine
Volume 20 • Number 2 • May 2004
Copyright © 2004 W. B. Saunders Company

<a name="S0749069004000199">
Hormonal fountains of youth


Mohamad H. Horani, MD a,b
John E. Morley, MB, BCh a,b, * a Division of Geriatric Medicine
Saint Louis University School of Medicine
1402 S. Grand Boulevard
M238
St. Louis, MO 63104, USA

b Geriatric Research
Education,and Clinical Center
St. Louis Veterans Affairs Medical Center
915 North Grand Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63106, USA

[stocks]

Any supplementation with "hormones" is not indicated and in most cases dangerous. The only true anti-age related information we have proven scientifically is aggressive aerobic exercise in conjunction with proper nutrition (and no smoking, of course).

I know, I know, doctors are stupid but here is another excellent read on the subject:

Clinics in Geriatric Medicine
Volume 20 • Number 2 • May 2004
Copyright © 2004 W. B. Saunders Company

<a name="S0749069004000199">
Hormonal fountains of youth


Mohamad H. Horani, MD a,b
John E. Morley, MB, BCh a,b, * a Division of Geriatric Medicine
Saint Louis University School of Medicine
1402 S. Grand Boulevard
M238
St. Louis, MO 63104, USA
<a href="http://""" target="_blank"></a>
b Geriatric Research
Education,and Clinical Center
St. Louis Veterans Affairs Medical Center
915 North Grand Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63106, USA

All true and I understand doctors must take that position.


But while we are waiting, aging is killing us.
I like this quote:


"So how much time should you spend working on optimizing your own health - using what are, frankly, pretty crude tools in the grand scheme of what is possible - versus working to accelerate medical research and bring about healthy life extension more rapidly? This is very personal decision based on a number of factors, and I don't attempt to discuss it at great length at the Longevity Meme. To pick a few:

# Money

Do you have enough money to buy supplements and access to medical technology now with an unknown chance that they will work as advertised? Would you be better off saving most of that money for future healthy life extension procedures that may turn out to be pretty expensive?

# Evaluation

There is no reliable way (right now, in any case) to evaluate the effects of lifestyle and medical choices aimed at prolonging your healthy life span - short of waiting, that is. What do you consider reasonable evidence for a good chance of effectiveness? How effective per dollar expended does a treatment or lifestyle choice have to appear to be before you would adopt it?

Many people obtain great satisfaction from tinkering with supplement regiments and other old school technologies for health. It's much like working on a car - only you don't find out whether you're actually getting that last 10% of extra performance until it's too late to make a difference. I suspect that the lack of cut and dried answers makes it all the more appealing to a certain set of people.

For my money, as I've said before, I suspect that we can't presently do much better than well thought-out calorie restriction, moderate exercise, a good relationship with your physician, and sensible, moderate supplementation - at a cost of at most a few hundred dollars a month, and probably much less, depending on your definition of "sensible, moderate supplementation." You can work a great deal harder and spend a lot more money, but what will you have to show for it? It's a big point to argue, and many people spend a lot of time and effort doing just that."

http://www.fightagin...ives/000294.php

[maineman]

Well, suit yourself, of course, and good luck to you. For those of you who like to base life and death and health-related questions on scientific research here's the following: Quality nutrition is cheap. It takes money to eat poorly. Fruits, vegetables, grains and quality proteins are cheap. Not smoking is cheap. Not drinking alcohol is cheap. VIGOROUS aerobic exercise has been shown to slow down the aging process dramatically. Avoid this information at your own peril. There are NO supplements that have been shown, in spite of excellent research, to do much good. mm

[OEXCHAOS]

I have got to tell you, my 100% sedentary mother started having join problems, and both knees were giving her quite a bit of pain. After one or two spills and being unable to get up without help, she got pissed. She and her doc set her up with a work out regimen. At age 70. After a year she was fitter than she'd EVER been. STRONG. I thought she was wearing shoulder pads one time. At one point, her doc had her back off...she was over training. Now 74, She has had one knee replaced and it went very well. Fast healing. I and the rest of us are convinced it was the exercise. This is one old lady who isn't going to break a hip, at least not without a fight. I'm very proud of her (and Dad, but he was already athletic). Mark