A recent report reveals that human growth hormone may be beneficial in helping obese patients with weight loss.

Patients involved in the study lost an average of about 5 pounds.

Calculated dose aids weight loss in obese patients, study finds

ST. LOUIS, USA A controlled dose of growth hormone may help people who are obese lose weight and maintain the energy to exercise, new research at Saint Louis University shows.

Stewart Albert, M.D., professor of internal medicine in the division of endocrinology at Saint Louis University School of Medicine and Arshag Mooradian, M.D., chair of the division of endocrinology at Saint Louis University, presented their findings at ENDO 2003, the 85th Annual Meeting of The Endocrine Society, which took place in Philadelphia from June 19-22.

L-Carnitine reduces physical and mental fatigue, improves cognitive function in centenarians

A report published in the December, 2007 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition described the results of a study conducted by Italian researchers which found a positive effect for L-carnitine (levo-carnitine) on energy levels and cognitive function in individuals 100 years of age and older. The age-related decline in L-carnitine, which plays a role in cellular energy metabolism, could be involved in the fatigue experienced by many older individuals.

What is a  Nutraceutical:

A Nutraceutical is any vitamin, mineral, supplement, trace element or bio-botanical plant based substance which has known healing value to people and is produced or isolated for public consumption with the highest purity – pharmaceutical grade purity. It is a very exacting process to make a true Nutraceutical which involves sending the healing substances from plants to a biotechnology company where the active ingredient of benefit to people is highly concentrated and then standardized to a milligram dose so it can be controlled properly.

Let's take a look at a major contributor to the aging process and what it can tell us about slowing the ravages of time on our health. The factor we will explore is cortisol, a hormone that controls dozens of vital functions in the body. When cortisol levels are too high or too low, rapid-aging processes accelerate.

What and when you eat at the end of the day can have a large impact on your body. If you eat the right thing at the right time you can actually lose fat while you sleep. Eat the wrong thing at the wrong time and you can plan on waking up with a little more body fat in the morning.

To successfully loss weight, you'll need to stop eating two hours before going to bed. You should not feel hungry before bed, but you should also not feel completely full. When you're trying to lose weight, going to bed at night feeling slightly hungry is actually a good thing. It's your body telling you that what you did that day is working and you're losing body fat. If you don't feel this way when going to bed, you're probably not losing fat.

Now lets say you follow your brain's directive and eat close to bedtime, your body will not dip into the fat it has stored away, and will probably even store some more. Every time you eat, your metabolism increases slightly. However, this effect is minimized late at night. You don't get the same metabolism boosting benefit when you eat just before bed, because a couple of hours after dinner, your body will start preparing for sleep. This natural slowing down of your metabolic rate overrides any metabolic boost you might get from eating. So once you hit the pillow, the only calories you're going to use are the basic calories you need to keep your heart beating and your lungs breathing and allow your eyes to move in REM sleep. This is only a minimal number of calories.

Taking exercise, not drinking too much alcohol, eating enough fruit and vegetables and not smoking can add up to 14 years to your life, a study says.

Research involving 20,000 people over a decade found those who failed on all criteria were four times more likely to have died than those who succeeded.

The findings held true regardless of how overweight or poor they were.

Are there any shortcuts to a long life?

Well, some people like Meredith Averill, 61, and her husband, Paul McGlothin, 60, believe they may have the answers and they're putting themselves to the test in their quest for longevity.

The couple have been practicing calorie restriction for the last 14 years. Calorie restriction is the only proven way to extend life in animals and, now, studies are getting started in humans.

Averill and McGlothin are the subjects of one such study. As calorie restrictors they eat only specific amounts of foods that are high in nutrition but low in calories -- foods like vegetables, fruits and beans.