By James South, MA
Gerovital is the grandmother of modern antiaging drugs. Since it was first introduced to the western world in the early 1950's by its inventor- Romanian gerontologist Dr. Ana Aslan, Gerovital has been the subject of both intense marketing hype and glamour, as well as heated scientific controversy.
The marketing hype has been in part fuelled by the glamour attached to Gerovital's many famous users. Celebrity columnists reported regulars at Aslan's clinic to include German Chancellor Konrad Adenaner, Winston Churchill, Bob Hope, Cary Grant, Marilyn Monroe, Jack Benny, Prince Rainier the Aga Khan and other “glitterati.”
The scientific controversy surrounding Gerovital has stemmed in part through confusion and disagreement regarding both the chemical identity of Gerovital as well as its mechanisms of action.
Gerovital- procaine and stabilizers
Dr. Aslan defined Gerovital as procaine (the famous dental anaesthetic) stabilized with small amounts of benzoic acid, potassium metabisulphate and disodium phosphate. Yet the various scientific distracters of Gerovital, none of whom had any clinical experience of using Gerovital, claimed that the stabilizers were irrelevant and unnecessary!
On that basis, they performed various small scale, short term experiments using procaine alone, which (surprise!) failed to confirm Aslan's Gerovital rejuvenation effects. They then went on to claim that this proved Aslan's thousands of patient years of clinical experience and multi faceted success using Gerovital to be fraud, delusion, quackery or perhaps mere placebo effect.
It should be noted that this is a standard method used by the medical establishment to refute claims they consider heresy. For example, during the 1970's Nobel Laurate, Linus Pauling and Dr. Ewan Cameron had many clinical successes treating cancer with mega doses of vitamin C. Based on their clinical experience, they noted that the therapy only worked reliably on patients whose immune system had not been damaged by chemotherapy or radiation therapy. The Mayo clinic then ran trials using mega doses of vitamin C with cancer patients, all of whom had received chemo and/ or X ray treatment and found (another surprise) that the Pauling method did not work!
Another similar story could be said of the Sloan Kettering Cancer Hospital in the 1970's who ran trials to test the cancer remedy laetrile, whilst significantly deviating from the carefully documented and published protocols followed by clinicians with laetrile- to wit- they too found to their great surprise that laetrile didn't work!
A more recent trial by detractors of the candida yeast syndrome, who only used the antifungal drug Nystatin, failed to find patient benefit because they totally ignored the need to accompany the drug with a low sugar diet (to starve the yeast), as it routinely done by doctors who successfully treat candida patients. So Gerovital is a long way from being alone in this regard.
Gerovital and KH3 - what's the difference?
Indirect support for Aslan's claim that procaine requires stabilizers for clinical efficacy was ironically provided through research on the German “copy” of Gerovital known as KH3.
KH3 is procaine at one half the dose of Gerovital (50mg vs. 100mg), stabilized with a tiny amount of hematoporphyrin (HP). This is simply haemoglobin minus its protein and iron. Studies with KH3 carried out in 1979 by D. Hegner at the Munich Institute for Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmacy and by L. Tirri at the Chemistry Department of the University of Nevada in Las Vegas , did in fact find HP to be a successful stabilizer of procaine, making it more effective.
The real McCoy
The stability issue derives in part from the fact that under some conditions procaine hydrolyzes in solution into diethylaminoethanol (DEAE), which is a close cousin of DMAE and the B vitamin para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA).
It has been claimed by both supporters and opponents of Gerovital that it is these two constituents that (allegedly) provide the benefits of Gerovital. Because DEAE is so similar to DMAE and may even be metabolised to it in the body, there have been many pseudo Gerovital's sold in health food stores- which are in fact nothing more than a mix of DMAE and PABA. Yet Gerovital has properties that are not possessed by either DMAE or PABA.
One of the most important benefits of Gerovital may derive from its role as a weak, reversible monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI). MAO is an enzyme in the brain that increases substantially with age. MAO's degrade key brain neurotransmitters, especially noradrenaline, (also known as norepinephrine), dopamine and serotonin. As a consequence, brain levels of these neurotransmitters tend to diminish with age, with a concomitant loss of brain functions, (e.g. memory, attention span, hormone regulation etc.), as well as an increase in depression.
Gerovital the reversible MAOI
In the late 1960's the famed University of California gerontologist, Dr. Joseph Hrachovac, reported that Gerovital can significantly lower brain levels of MAO activity. Furthermore, M.D. MacFarlane reported in the prestigious Journal of Federation Proceedings in 1975 that Gerovital was “a weak, reversible, fully competitive inhibitor of MAO.”
Gerovital's ability to serve in this way is extremely important. The original pharmaceutical antidepressants were MAOIs, but they soon fell into disuse due to serious, even lethal side effects (sic). These pharmaceutical MAOIs were strong, irreversible MAOIs, as a consequence they could lead to the phenomenon called the “cheese effect.” This is a condition whereby consumption of certain foods and beverages rich in the aminoacid derivative tyramine- while taking prescription MAOIs could lead to severely high blood pressure crisis, even strokes.
However, because Gerovital is a weak, reversible MAOI, it does not exhibit this dangerous side effect.
Gerovital's clinical and antiaging uses
Several clinical studies published in the journal Psychosomatics in 1974 verified the clinical effectiveness of Gerovital as an antidepressant. W.G. Zung of Duke University reported Gerovital to be more effective than the standard antidepressant of the time (Ed.- Imipramine). While Colman and Ditman reported that most patients receiving Gerovital; “felt a greater sense of well being and relaxation, slept better at night and many obtained relief from depression and the discomforts of chronic inflammation or degenerative disease.”
Furthermore, the researchers M.R. Hall and colleagues noted in the Journal of Age and Aging in 1983, based on a trial of 247 healthy elderly subjects who took KH3 over 2-years that; “the result of this trial suggests that KH3 is an active substance… earlier work on procaine claimed that it improved recall, increased psychomotor activity and muscle strength in the elderly. We were surprised to substantiate these findings.”
It should be noted that by increasing brain serotonin, a MAOI would improve sleep, by increasing brain noradrenaline a MAOI would increase memory and attention, and by increasing dopamine levels a MAOI would increase psychomotor activity and muscle strength.
Another report from Vienna in 1970, of a 5-month trial of KH3 in 120 people, with an additional 112 receiving a placebo, found that the KH3 group had a better memory for numbers, felt more alert and had superb concentration with better hand and eye coordination. This was all according to W. Czerwenka in the Vienna Medical Weekly Journal.
Other Gerovital and KH3 benefits reported in the Journals over the years include:
Stabilizing brain cell membranes in ways that reverse “normal” aging related membrane deterioration.
Increasing general intracellular metabolic rate, (especially in muscle cells).
Increasing intracellular DNA levels, (necessary for optimal regeneration and repair of age induced cellular wear and tear).
Gerovital's ultimate benefit
Yet what may turn out to be the most important antiaging benefit of Gerovital, as well as the root of their diverse clinical benefits- ranging from decreasing hypertension, to improving memory, to reducing insomnia, minimizing stress, fatigue and depression is generally unknown, even to ardent supports of the program!
In a landmark paper written by Alfred Sapse in 1984 and published in the Journal of Hypotheses, Stress, Cortisol, Interferon and Stress Diseases, a 14-page paper with 62 references, Sapse makes the case that cortisol, the “state of siege” hormone that is secreted by the adrenal glands, could all-by-itself, cause a host of the common mental and physical problems related to stress, aging and degenerative disease.
In more recent years, the central role of cortisol in promoting degenerative disease and aging has been expounded upon by Dilman and Dean in their magnum opus- the; Neuroendocrine Theory of Aging and Degenerative Disease, as well as Robert Sapolsky in his scientific papers and the book; Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers, and more recently by D.S. Khalsa in his 1997 book- Brain Longevity.
Put simply, over a lifetime cortisol damages the brain, muscles, bone, skin and the immune system.
A key regulatory center of the brain- the hippocampus- may gradually lose 20% of its cells to its unique sensitivity to cortisol damage. The hippocampus, a mid brain structure strategically seated above the hypothalamus/ pituitary axis and below the cerebral cortex, plays a crucial role in cognition, attention, memory, emotional stability and sensory integration. It also plays a major role in regulating the hypothalamic/ pituitary axis- which in turn regulates the entire endocrine (glandular) system on the human body.
The hippocampus is ravaged in Alzheimer's Disease and is damaged to a lesser extent in “normal” aging. Ironically, it has been discovered that as the hippocampus is more and more damaged through a lifetime of stress induced cortisol secretion, the hippocampus loses its ability to regulate chronic cortisol levels.
Anything which safely and effectively protects the structure, function, health and stability of the hippocampus is at once at the core of promoting a healthy and vibrant middle and old age.
It was probably Sapse in 1984 who first compiled a list of substances which can protect our bodies and brains from the ravages of stress inducing cortisol. His short list included:
Phenytoin (Dilantin).
Vitamin C.
Aspirin.
Gerovital.
In his chapter on Gerovital in his book; Mind, Food and Smart Pills, Ross Pelton lists a host of ailments, problems and diseases claimed to be cured or helped by Gerovital. Over half of that list, including senility, wrinkling skin, stress, depression, fatigue, poor memory, hypertension, loss of sexual desire, insomnia, heart disease, hormonal deficiencies, Alzheimer's disease and headaches are among the many ill effects of cortisol cited by Sapse.
Thus, the confusion and scepticism of many researchers as to how simple procaine, even as an effective MAOI, could lead to such a broad and seemingly unrelated host of benefits for the body and mind, is now resolved!
It is through Gerovital's antagonism of the broad spectrum degenerative effects of stress induced by cortisol excess, so common in the modern world, that makes Gerovital's claim to be, not only the original, but also still one of the most important antiaging supplements available today
Cautions
The traditional program for Gerovital is to take 100 mg. once or twice daily on an empty stomach. Those who find it too stimulating should use a lesser dose and/ or not take it in the afternoon.
Due to its MAOI effect, Gerovital's energizing effect may make it necessary to take a periodic holiday from its use. The original protocol was 5-days off each month.
It is worth noting that Gerovital can amplify the stimulating effect of other “neuroenergizers” which may increase dopamine and/ or noradrenaline activity, some examples can include; deprenyl (selegiline), L-dopa, modafinil, hydergine, phenylalanine or tyrosine. Caution is advised in such cases and therefore best to seek a health professional advice.
Those persons with a known or suspected allergy to procaine should obviously avoid use, and persons with cortisol deficiency problems, or who are using medically prescribed cortisol or prednisone therapy- should only use Gerovital under medical care.
Persons using psychiatric drugs, such as tranquilizers, anti-epileptics, anti-depressants etc., should also be wary of concurrent use with Gerovital and seek advice before embarking on a program.
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