Human Growth Hormone

HGH - Human Growth Hormone - claims to be nothing less than the fountain of youth. But what is HGH? Does it really grow muscle, increase bone density, slow the effects of old age and, more importantly, does it burn fat? Here’s the skinny.

Scientifically, it’s called somatotropin (STH) and is a protein hormone which stimulates growth and cell reproduction in humans and other animals. The fragile 191-amino acid is synthesized, stored, and secreted by the somatotroph cells in the anterior pituitary gland located in the middle of your head.

Complex HGH molecule

HGH is responsible for growth during childhood. HGH levels drop off to about 30% of childhood levels by middle age. Its functions are varied and powerful. It:

With all these potentially beneficial functions, it’s no wonder people are acutely interested in HGH for all kinds of reasons.

Doctors have been using HGH to treat children with growth problems and adults with several rare hormone related diseases for the last two decades. It’s worth noting that serious medical conditions can also result from too much HGH – Acromegaly or Gigantism being the most well known.

Before advances in DNA recombination technologies, HGH was only available from human cadavers and in very small quantities. Now it can be synthesized on a large scale relatively cheaply.

Uses other than for a limited number of rare medical conditions approved by the FDA are generally banned, although many clinics are dedicated to prescribing it “off brand” or for use outside of normal conditions. This is a common practice with many medications and highly controversial in the medical community.

In addition, its sold all over the Internet. These merchants claim to have HGH pills, sprays and even injections said to give all of the same benefits listed above. They use a widely quoted article published in the New England Journal or Medicine to back their claims – see here: http://content.nejm.org

The most relevant section:
The administration of human growth hormone for six months in group 1 was accompanied by an 8.8 percent increase in lean body mass, a 14.4 percent decrease in adipose-tissue mass, and a 1.6 percent increase in average lumbar vertebral bone density (P<0.05 in each instance). Skin thickness increased 7.1 percent (P=0.07).

From the looks of it, you could gain muscle and lose fat by getting HGH injections. Additional studies have shown this to be true, but at what price?

First off, real HGH treatments involve daily injections, not pills. The complex molecular structure of HGH means it will break down immediately in the stomach without giving any benefits to the users. Ditto for sprays.

Some supplements claim to use herbs to naturally increase the body’s production of HGH – this is bunk as well and totally unproven.

The cost of doctor supervised HGH treatments could run $15,000 per year or more. These costs are well above what could be achieved with a good exercise program coupled with a healthy diet. In addition, going to the gym would actually offer better results and no side effects.

It’s the side effects that are a big question mark. Nobody knows all the long term results of high HGH levels on older adults. But according to an article from the NEJM:

In 152 healthy men, the relative risk of the subsequent development of prostate cancer was increased by a factor of 4.3 among men who had serum concentrations of insulin-like growth factor I in the highest quartile, as compared with those whose concentrations were in the lowest quartile 6. This finding does not demonstrate causality by growth hormone or insulin-like growth factor I, but it does raise concern about giving older men growth hormone, which increases serum concentrations of insulin-like growth factor I.

HGH could promote growth of cancers – more frequently found in older adults. In the same article, it goes on to say:

It remains to be determined whether growth hormone secretagogues that consistently increase endogenous production of growth hormone are beneficial in the elderly. Antiaging therapy with growth hormone has not yet been proved effective according to objective outcome criteria.

Despite all this, sales of HGH have reach almost 2 billion dollars per year – something that those involved in the profits would not like to see stop anytime soon.

In addition, many who take HGH are sold on its benefits - yet the Food and Drug Administration bans it for anti-aging therapy, bodybuilding or athletic enhancement.

Many studies have shown that although muscle mass increases, HGH does not improve functionality – i.e. you don’t get any stronger.

Movie star Sylvester Stallone was recently charged by Australian authorities with illegally importing 48 vials of HGH. Self injections of HGH may have been a factor in Anna Nicole Smith’s death. These incidents should serve as a warning to those considering using the drug outside of a doctor’s supervision.

So, the million dollar question is: is it worth the cost and the risks to receive fewer benefits than going to the gym and eating right? In the fat burning world, the answer has to be no. The jury is still out on the rest of the potential benefits and probably will be for some time.

Use of hormones to change the body has been a mixed bag. While there have been benefits, long term use has shown them to be dangerous and even life-threatening when abused.

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