Human growth Hormone
Human growth Hormone
Human growth hormone (HGH) fuels the growth of our bodies during childhood and adolescence. Released from the pituitary gland when we sleep, the hormone has the chief function of lengthening bones and increasing the thickness of soft tissues such as skin. People who don't make enough HGH while they're young-often because of genetic diseases or kidney failure-can be extremely short as adults. Scientists discovered a way to mass produce HGH in the 1980s. The chemical name for the drug is somatotropin.
A year's worth of treatment in some doctor clinics can cost up to $10,000! It seems as if everyone wants to sell it to you, but you need to be aware of some facts. Although it is true that HGH increases levels of human growth hormones in your body, even the cheaper HGH products can be hazardous. Here is new information on these dangers:
Some of the human growth hormone dangers associated with injection treatments include higher risk for developing forms of cancer, diabetes, insulin resistance, fluid retention, carpal tunnel syndrome, gynecomastia (enlarged breasts), lowered production of the body's own human growth hormone, and acromegaly (abnormal bone growth in the wrist, hands, and feet).
"Although based on small numbers [in tests], the risk of [colon and rectal] cancer [with HGH] is of some concern and further investigation in other groups [of subjects] is needed."- Drs. Swerdlow, Higgins, Adland & Preece, Section of Epidemiology, Inst. of Cancer Res., Sutton SM2, 5NG, UK., The Lancet, Vol. 360, 2002.
"[There are] concerns about possible toxicity in adults."- Dr. W.L. Isley, University of Missouri-Kansas City, School of Medicine, KC, MO.; in Annals of Internal Medicine, Vol. 137, 2002.
A report in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology, Vol. 87, 2002, suggests that growth hormone reduces insulin sensitivity, thus being negative for diabetes patients. Theoretically then, it could even increase the risk of diabetes (Drs. O'Connell & Clemens, Dept. of Med., U. of North Carolina ).
People who have received the injections of the drug somatotropin (human growth hormone) may be at risk of developing progressive brain disease CJD (BBC News, May 21, 2002 ). CJD is Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, the human
form of mad cow disease. The problem here is that if you take HGH, you are placing raw animal hormone into your body-and it can be contaminated with mad cow disease!
On May 23, 2002 , the Daily University Science News published a similar report about CJD disease being linked to injections of human growth hormone "even after low doses" as was suggested in the Journal of Neorology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry .
In the 1960s and 1970s, the National Pituitary Agency unknowingly distributed contaminated HGH, without realizing that the hormone could give Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease to people. Yet the transmissibility of CJD was recognized as early as 1968.
In 1974, writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, Columbia University 's Dr. Philip Duffy mentioned the fact that too much HGH in humans always causes physical problems:
"No one has thoroughly studied the long-term-or even short-term-side effects of taking human growth hormone for non-medical reasons. But there's reason to suspect trouble. People who naturally produce too much of the hormone or have received medical treatment for growth failure often develop abnormal hearts, bones, and nerves, and are particularly likely to suffer from osteoporosis, heart failure, and other diseases. Sports medicine researchers at the University of Massachusetts , among other experts, suspect that long-term use of supplemental HGH could have similar consequences."