THE SEARCH FOR THE FOUNTAIN of YOUTH

It’s been called the Peter Pan drug, rumoured to have hooked a generation of ageing stars such as Demi Moore, Jennifer Aniston, Madonna, Suzanne Somers, Sly Stallone and Nick Nolte. But such is the controversy around human growth hormone (HGH) that only a handful have publicly acknowledged using it.

Caught bringing it into Australia in 2007, Stallone told NBC’s Today show that he uses it under the supervision of his doctor to help with endurance and recovery after exercise. Nolte has called it ‘a system repair’, and reportedly injected it into his stomach. And Somers, the perky blonde in Three’s Company, has published a best-seller about it (Ageless: The Naked Truth about Bioidentical Hormones), in which she extols its ability to combat the ‘Seven Dwarfs of Menopause’: Itchy, Bitchy, Sweaty, Sleepy, Bloated, Forgetful and All-Dried-Up.