The granddaddy of all hormones for regulating aging is human growth hormone (HGH). Loss of HGH over time also leads to a decreased ability to burn off food calories as you get older. The result is fat gain.

The Catch-22 of this scenario is that it also works in the other direction. Fat gain suppresses HGH levels, which accelerates aging. It almost seems like you are trapped on a closed loop. Less HGH leads to more fat. More fat leads to less HGH. And the consequence is that you age faster and faster as you gain fat and lose HGH.

The relationship between HGH and overweight was first described in a research article in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism in 1991. The scientists behind this study pointed out that, on average, for men aged 21 to 71 with a normal body mass index, the production rate of HGH decreased by 14 percent with each decade of life. In comparison, each unit of Body Mass Index (BMI) reduced the daily HGH secretion rate by 6 percent.

This means that the drop in HGH secretion rate with an increase in BMI from 21 to 28 corresponds to the average drop going from age 21 to age 45. In other words, all adult men whose BMI classifies them as obese (i.e., 27 units and above) have HGH levels that correspond to men who are at least 20 years older. This leads to high-speed aging and the increasing prevalence of age-related diseases in younger people.

Women are not off the hook just because this study included only men in the experimental group. Indeed, fluctuation levels of estrogen and other steroid hormones in women during monthly cycles and menopause may amplify the consequences of HGH loss. One such consequence is faster fat gain.

The Four Best Solutions

Belly fat loss would, of course, be the most important strategy for enhancing HGH levels and thereby additional fat loss. Even though this sounds logical, the failure rate for long-term fat loss is too high to just willy-nilly direct you to do so, wish you luck, and send you on your way.

Fortunately, the close connection between belly fat and HGH levels opens up the possibility of restoring hormone levels first, which then would lead to fat loss. This can, indeed, be accomplished as follows:

Solution 1. The most direct way to increase HGH levels is to receive HGH replacement therapy. This solution, however, requires medical treatment with a prescription drug. It is also very expensive and generally not covered by health insurance. If you can take advantage of this solution, however, you do not have to do anything else for fat loss.

Solution 2. This and the following two solutions entail the natural enhancement of HGH levels that your body already produces over a 24 hour period. One of the normal spikes in HGH levels comes at about two hours after you get to sleep at night. You can enhance this spike by taking certain amino acid supplements before bedtime. These act as what are called HGH secretagogues, which refers to their ability to induce your pituitary gland to release more HGH. The two most important supplementsl amino acids are L-arginine (2-3 grams) and L-lysine (1 gram).

Other amino acids that enhance nighttime HGH levels include L-glutamine and L-tryptophan. (The latter may also be replaced with 5-hydroxytryptophan, or 5HTP.) Most supplement companies offer products that are formulated specifically as HGH secretagogues, so the right amino acids are easy to find at most nutrition stores.

Solution 3. A high-intensity weight-lifting workout will cause a spike in HGH levels. You can boost this effect with HGH secretagogues, especially L-arginine and L-lysine. In addition, L-glycine will enhance the results of your HGH-boosting workout. Most supplement formulas do not include this particular amino acid, even though good research backs up its use for enhancing exercise.

You can get the best results for boosting HGH through a high intensity workout by taking amino acid secretagogues on an empty stomach, about 1-1.5 hours before your workout.

Solution 4. The most ignored and overlooked strategy for enhancing HGH secretion is related to when you eat. Normally your HGH levels will start to pick up at about 2 hours after meal, increasing to a peak amount at about 4 to 5 hours after eating. At first HGH works with insulin to help metabolize food into muscle building. Once the insulin is almost gone, HGH works solely to mobilize fat for burning as fuel.

The effect of HGH on fat loss is at its greatest more than 4 hours after a meal. Stimulating this HGH spike means that you have to space your meals at least 5 hours apart.

Now here is the absolute best way to boost your post-meal HGH surge: fasting. The mini-fast after 4 hours is helpful. However, fasting from dinner to breakfast the next morning, spacing them at least 12 hours apart (no between-meal snacking!), is much more effective for burning fat because of the overnight fasting.

Recently scientists have been studying the effects of more extensive fasting that is done once or twice per week. They call it intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting has become so important for weight loss, anti-aging, and many aspects of health that any internet search for this phrase will yield tens of thousands of pages.

Accelerating Belly Fat Loss

The best scientific results and the most supportive testimonials on intermittent fasting involve a 24 to 34 hour fasting period once or twice per week. One of the truly appealing aspects of this approach is that it removes a lot of worry about what to eat on non-fasting days, because the beneficial effects of a single fasting period are so powerful. This does not mean that intermittent fasting gives you free license to eat junk food. However, it does mean that you can lose fat, reverse and slow down the onslaught of aging, and enjoy great health and fitness just by using this simple strategy to boost recovery of your own HGH to youthful levels.

Although the concept of intermittent fasting seems simple, you have to really know what you are doing to get optimum benefits from it. Fortunately for you (and me), I have found a resource that provides all you need to know. You can see more details about this resource on a special page that I have for this purpose, here:

Of course, is not really a secret. I just wanted to get your attention. Most weight loss folks, however, don’t seem to know anything about it.

All the best for your belly fat loss,

Dr. D

This may be the best herb there is for directly influencing fat metabolism. Research is solid. Inexpensive supplements are widely available. It seems like a no-brainer. Not too long ago I delved into the scientific research on green tea and found studies that back up claims about green tea and fat loss. Hey, it is a simple thing to add to your fat burning arsenal.

Here is a recent update with some great research-based commentary on green tea for fat loss, with other significant side benefits.

Just click on the link here:

Potential Health and nutrition benefits of green tea | Jarret …

Maki KC, Reeves MS, Farmer M, Yasunaga K, Matsuo N, Katsuragi Y, Komikado M, Tokimitsu I, Wilder D, Jones F, Blumberg JB, Cartwright Y. Green tea catechin consumption enhances exercise-induced abdominal fat loss in overweight and obese people.

By the way, if you are like me and prefer to take green tea supplements, then that will work fine. If would rather drink green tea, here is a little advice that I have come up with to make green tea taste better.

Just squeeze some lemon juice into it when it is steeping. This will bring out more of the active ingredients, too. (They are more soluble in hot water in a slightly acidic environment.) Also add some liquid Stevia for sweetening. I really like the Vanilla Creme flavor, although liquid Stevia comes in many other flavors, too.

Enjoy!
Dr. D

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Take a look at the photograph here. It represents thousands of ads and tens of thousands of words that focus on one thing – acai berry juice is useful for weight loss. Showing a slim, good-looking young lady is just an emotional  appeal. In this case the model is holding a glass of acai berry scam -er, juice. The message is, “Drink this juice and look slim and beautiful like me.” Nothing out of the ordinary for this marketing strategy. It is standard operating procedure.

The subject became a scam when Google slapped down hundreds of ads for sending people to fake blogs. These blogs were supposed to be by young ladies who miraculously lost weight by drinking acai berry juice. It turns out that the young ladies didn’t even exist!

What Does Research Have to Say?

Weight loss supplements have been so tarnished by fraud that the FDA, bless their peanut inspecting hearts, has decided to come down hard on companies that make these kinds of supplements. (Do you think for a minute that this has anything to do with the FDA’s real job – i.e., to be the enforcement arm of the pharmaceutical industry? Nah, didn’t think so.) In my view, this subject warrants a lot of digging into actual research. So that is what I have done on the topic of acai scams and weight loss.

Research Overview of Acai Research

The following is a very brief summary of ALL of the research that I could find in the medical literature about acai. I searched the medical database at CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine) on PubMed. (This is a free government site that you can use, too.) The keywords that I used, which are the most important kind of terms to search for scientific research about any species of plant, were the scientific name. In this case, the scientific name that is unique to the acai palm is, Euterpe oleracea.

Here is the list of research topics, with their publications dates, on all of the nine articles about acai that have ever been published in reputable scientific journals:

• 2004 Anthocyanins and similar phytochemicals were isolated and evaluated for antioxidant activity and pigment stability.
• 2005 Several commercial and non-commercial samples of acai fruit pulp were found to have antioxidant activity; very little of this activity was due to the anthocyanins
• 2006 Anthocyanins from fruits were found to be potent inhibitors of nitric oxide
• 2006 Seed extracts show potent antioxidant activity, mostly from as yet unknown ingredients
• 2007 Extracts of acai pits show vasodilator effect on rat tissue
• 2007 Acai fruits have good nutritional value
• 2008 Acai fruit pulp and oil inhibit growth of colon cancer cells in culture; effect is not due to anthocyanins
• 2008 Class of phytochemicals called lignans discovered; showed protective effect on breast cancer cell cultures that were stressed by hydrogen peroxide
• 2008 Showed acai pulp to be equivalent to applesauce in increasing plasma antioxidant capacity

Note that the first one appeared in 2004 and the most recent one in 2008. More will be coming in 2009, I am sure. Note also that not one single article has anything to do with weight loss. In the immortal words of Gomer Pyle, “Surprise, surprise, surprise!”

The Gory Scientific Details

If you really want to get more information about these articles, you can do the same search on CAM/PubMed that I did. Or you can see my more complete summaries of the research, with author names, article titles, journal citations, and PubMed ID numbers at my HerbScientist blog. Either way, you will learn that we have a big acai scam on our hands.

Isn’t real science fun?

All the best in natural health,

Dr. D