Gerovital (GH-3)

Dr. Ana Aslan, director of the Institute of Geriatrics in Romania, developed Gerovital (GH-3) in the early 1950s. GH-3 has been hailed as a miraculous youth formula that combats the ravages of aging and makes people feel more energetic and youthful. It is claimed to reverse the aging process, and to improve thinking and memory by providing the nutrients needed to repair damaged cells and membranes.

Procaine hydrochloride can pass through the damaged membranes of diseased cells. It increases the cell’s consumption of oxygen, and provides nutrients that help the damaged cells repair or renew membranes.

Chemically, GH-3, which is an injectable treatment, is made of procaine hydrochloride mixed with potassium metabisulfate, disodium phosphate, and benzoic acid. Procaine breaks down in the body into PABA (paraminobenzoic acid), a B vitamin, and DEAE (diethylaminoethanol), which is chemically similar to DMAE and is converted in the cells into choline.

PABA aids the body in blood-cell formation, protein metabolism, and skin functions. A deficiency of PABA can cause constipation, depression, digestive disorders, stress, infertility, fatigue, gray hair, headaches, and irritability. PABA stimulates the intestinal bacterial system to produce the B vitamins folic acid, pantothenic, and biotin, and vitamin K. PABA is rapidly disposed of by the liver, so ingesting it alone can get disappointing results. However, when combined with the procaine hydrochloride molecule, PABA is more effective.

DEAE has an antidepressant effect. DEAE comprises choline and acetylcholine, which make up important neurotransmitters that facilitate brain functioning.

Ana Aslan experimented with the rejuvenative effects of procaine through the late 1940s and well into the 1950s. Out of this research she developed an improved formula, in which she buffered and stabilized the basic procaine hydrochloride, which she called Gerovital H-3 or GH-3. Dr. Aslan presented her results from treatment of more than 2,500 people using GH-3 to the Karlsruhe Therapy Congress. She claimed GH-3 relieved depression, arthritis, angina pectoris, and hypertension, produced muscular vigor, and had a rejuvenative effect at the cellular level. Her results were confirmed in the l970’s on 15,000 people aged 40 to 62.

People taking GH-3 claim relief from a host of ailments and pains. They say it is an antidepressant and brain tonic that makes people more alert and cheerful. It is reported to arrest aging symptoms, hair loss, graying, wrinkling, and hardened skin.

Depression in the elderly was researched by an NIMH team, who concluded that it was c caused by a buildup of the enzyme monoamine oxidase (MA0) in the brain. Typically this process begins around age 45 and continues with age.

Dr. Alfred Sapse, who had interned under Ana Aslan, showed that GH-3 is an MA0 inhibitor that gave rapid improvement in depression and insomnia patients. They also reported a general improved sense of well-being. Patients with high cholesterol showed reduced serum cholesterol after four weeks’ treatment. Sapse’s results were replicated at UCLA and Duke University.

Even though numerous impressive studies were conducted in the United States, Sapse was frustrated in his many attempts to gain FDA approval to market GH-3 in the United States as a treatment for depression and aging.

The Dr. Ana Aslan Institute in Miami, Florida, provides treatment using Aslan’s original formula. The treatment consists of Gerovital administered by injection three times a week for four weeks, followed by a ten-day rest period and another four-week treatment period. GH-3 also comes in tablet form. The dose is one tablet a day for twenty-five days, then no GH-3 for a five-day rest period.