Re: Junk Science? Opinions?

[Guest guest]

I think it sounds interesting. You always wonder what the clinical

applicability of such things will prove to be, but I wouldn't dismiss this

as "junk."

JB

Yes, applicability or generalizability outside in vitro genetically-engineered keratinocytes is a little hard to gauge, but Fleming's muse may still visit every now and then. I hope so.

Covers:books as abstracts:research studies. My suspicions of a joke were heightened by the first author's name, Buz'Zard AR. But I guess there's no accounting for names. There are three studies by this trio on Pub Med. Maybe the first author is a victim of a parent with a warped sense of humor, like Senator Hogg's daughters Ima and Ura.

Bob

[Guest guest]

At 02:28 PM 12/29/2002 -0500, you wrote:

>Growth Horm IGF Res 2002 Feb;12(1):34-40

>

>Kyolic and Pycnogenol increase human growth hormone secretion in

>genetically-engineered keratinocytes.

>

>Buz'Zard AR, Peng Q, Lau BH.

I guess what makes me a wee bit skeptical is the use of brand names rather

than generic. Pycnogenol is a costlier form of proanthocyanidins derived

from pine bark that could be as readily obtained from grape pips at less cost.

Nonetheless, I believe a combination of grape pips, garlic, arginine and

lysine could be easily conducted to evaluate their effect on hGH. Clearly,

arginine is a part of that process in the body. Whether the

pycnogenol/garlic (allicin? alliin? other components?) offer some means of

replacing the costly hydroxymethylbutyrate found in Juven is an interesting

and hopeful question.

If FIAR had the funds, we could conduct a rapid, preliminary

" down-and-dirty " to study this otherwise non-toxic and relatively

inexpensive (compared to the rape of Serono) intervention. The only concern

that I see at the moment is the use of arginine in people with an active

herpes flare or the risk of inducing one. However, I haven't heard that

happening so much in Juven users.

M.