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What is Human Growth Hormone?
EelBait asks: "I get a lot of spam selling Human Growth Hormone (HGH). Supposedly this stuff builds muscles, make one lose weight, enlarges various external organs and glands, etc., etc. Does anyone really know any good articles about this? Is it dangerous? The fact that it's being sold through spam is enough to give me pause, but I want to know if there are any legitimate uses for this stuff."
Human Growth Hormone is usually used to treat hormone deficiencies in children. My brother needs to take it by injection daily because he has a thyroid binding deficiency, but he's only 5 years old, and will probably stop taking it before he is 18. While it has been well studied on children, it's effects on adults are nowhere near as well studied. While some people believe it is something of a "fountain of youth," this has yet to be found to be true under any studies, and no long term safety tests have been run on adults. So, the conclusion is that you were right to be mighty suspicious of that spam you keep getting.
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Real HGH is illegal to sell as far as I know, it's considered a steroid since it's a hormone that is normally produced by the human body. Most likely, they are selling "homeopathic" HGH, which is simply herbs and chemicals (precursors) that supposedly stimulate the production of real HGH. Whether or not this actually works, I don't know. But I do remember reading something awhile back about some nasty side effects of supplementing HGH.
.75 grams per pound of body weight, which means you'll have to supplement or eat a lot of tuna or chicken). Creatine also helps dramatically in some people, I gained over 40 pounds of muscle over a 6 month period after I started taking creatine. Creatine is naturally produced by your body at the rate of 1-2 grams per day. A normal dose of creatine is 5-10 grams. You would have to eat 50 pounds of raw red meat to get this much creatine from food. Previously, I could not gain any muscle without taking it, I tried for several months with almost no results from regular exercise.
If you're looking to gain muscle with no work, there is nothing that will do this for you. There is no substitute for exercise. However, you can help the process along by getting enough protein (roughly
There is also Androstendione. Andro stimulates the production of testosterone. Bodybuilders who take it ignore the instructions on the bottle and take about 3-4 times the recommended dosage. Andro *is* a steroid, but it's not illegal since it's not a hormone that occurs naturally in the human body. Although, this is only partially true, since Andro does occur in pregnant women and it was illegal briefly for about 6 months or so a few years ago. Apparently, it is legal again though since stores are selling it again. But, the same risks apply with Andro as with any other steroids, increased risk of prostate cancer, 'roid rage, acne, more body hair, and a host of other things, possibly even nut shrinkage. I took andro for about 2 months a few years ago before I knew really how it worked. Little things that annoyed me tended to make me fly off the handle, increased acne, etc... I stopped taking it. I wouldn't recommend taking it, the side effects are noticable and in my experience the benefits were not that great.
Creatine doesn't work for all people, but it had amazing results for me. Nutrition is probably 80% of it though. Make sure you get enough protein, vitamins, etc, and don't eat shitty food (fast food). If you want recommendations for brands, Kaizen Effervescent Creatine seems to have the best results, and you'll feel it after taking it for only a day. The effervescent creatine uses sodium bicarbonate to get more sodium into your bloodstream to make the creatine absorb better. Another common method of doing this is adding dextrose which spikes your insulin leve, but gives you a sugar crash. As for protein, IsoPure is probably the best protein on the market right now as it is 100% ion-exchange, and not a blend like everything else.
I know a couple of bodybuilders, and they all think the HGH stuff is a bunch of crap. You'll likely just be wasting your money on it.
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It used to be produced by sucking it out of dead people but now is now synthetically produced due to CJD (human variant of 'Mad Cow' disease) risks-- it comes from the pituitary gland so is high-risk for transferring the disease (possibly!)
... and in this press release from Nature, they "suggest that boars (male pigs), which can produce up to half a liter of semen at a time, could be similarly engineered to produce pharmaceutical proteins both cost-effectively and efficiently"
... "Look Daddy, I'm a farmer!!"
Scientists are now looking at producing HGH from animal semen because "semen is a body fluid that can be collected easily on a continuous basis"
!!
I guess it goes
1. Get pig
2. Genetically engineer pig
3. Find someone to 'milk' half a liter
4. profit!
*meep*
Professional bodybuilders inject it along with steroids and insulin; and it makes you big and strong when used that way, in combination with exercise and eating lots and lots of food. Atleast it does unless the insulin or the steroids kill you first.
In overdose of HGH causes deformed joints, and atleast one bodybuilder ended up with leukemia that was promoted by his abuse of HGH.
People with naturally high levels of HGH die young by the way, so it's very probably not a fountain of youth, although it may make you feel stronger and better, but you will probably die earlier.
Oh yeah, there's a natural way to boost HGH levels. If you've had no protein or carbohydrates for about 5 hours (doesn't work otherwise), 3 grams of arginine on an empty stomach triggers its secretion after about 1/2 an hour. It lasts for about an hour in the body. If after 1/2 an hour you eat some food, it may be very slightly anabolic but minisculy so. That's probably what they are advertising. If so, it's best taken before breakfast. Oh yeah, and taken that way, it's hardly anabolic at all, and probably can still cause the deformed joints if you overdose.
-WolfWithoutAClause
"Gravity is only a theory, not a fact!"As others have stated HGH is used to regulate growth during childhood and adolescence and is produced throughout the rest of your life (diminishing with age). Like most horomones, if you have a deficiency then you should be treated, on the other hand in excess it will cause acromegaly (Giantism) as seen in such people as Andre Rene Rousimoff (Andre the Giant), Hatton, Rondo (the Creeper) Deeter Deerkin (My cousin Richard), Richard Kiel(Jaws from James Bond), Dick Sutherland Also by adding a growth factor into your sustem it can trigger the growth of internal organs ( leading to an enlarged heart, or similar situations) and teh growth of tissues you simply don't want to grow - otherwise benign tumors and such I suppose the point is as with any horomone moderation is best ... with moderation being what your body already produces on its own...
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HGH works by stimulating the growth of cartilage in the Epiphyseal Plate, which causes lengthening of the bone. Unfortunately, once you finish puberty, the epiphyseal plate hardens into the epiphyseal line, which is why you stop growing (if you get an X-ray done on your arm, have the doc point it out to you - it'll be right near the end of the bone, just before it widens at the end).
In mature people, however, elevated levels of HGH cause the sides of bones to thicken, leading to very heavy features in the face, and wide hands and fingers. This can be seen in pictures of 'Giants' as well - not only are they quite tall, but their hands and faces are quite wide as well.
Basically, HGH in large amounts is bad for the mature human being. There have been a number of studies on its effects, and the major bad ones include increased incidence of cancer and diabetes. You have to remember that this is a hormone, and hormones basically control our bodies - messing with their balance can have very bad side effects. If you're serious about bulking up, an exercise routine is a much better way to go.
I don't need to be made to look evil. I can do that on my own. - Christopher Walken
Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is manufactured in the pituitary and is the primary hormone responsible for growth.
Giantism and Dwarfism are two conditions that can be caused from too much or too little HGH production. The most common reason for over production of HGH is a tumor on or near the pituitary.
Although the effects on growing animals are well documented, the effects on grown animals are less understood.
If I recall my college Endocrinology classes correctly, in children HGH has the most profound effects in long bones in the legs and arms. Long bones grow from the middle of the bones, in regions called growth planes (IIRC). HGH stimulates these growth zones.
The problem with using it on children is principally the dose. If a child is small and you give it HGH, you will increase it's growth, but you may also end up fusing the growth planes early. Thus the 4'6" boy may grow a whole foot, but finish growing early at 5'6". Once the growth planes fuse, HGH isn't going to do much that is visible.
Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH) is used to stimulate milk production in dairy cows. However, the public concern about this practice caused Ben & Jerry's to ban the hormone in cows that provide milk to them.
I would be highly suspect of any HGH preparation you could buy from a spammer over the internet. HGH is a protein, and proteins can degrade during extraction. I recall using hormones in laboratory research and refrigeration was necessary for all our hormones at almost every step. Since the structure of the hormone is the reason it's biologically active, anything that can degrade the structure is a bad thing. A previous writer is also correct. Injection is preferrable to ingestion. Stomach acid does awful things to protein.
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Well. I have been involved with, errr, people who know a lot about steroids and the such. And HGH is a big subject. It is not legal in the US, but it can be obtain by mail order (illegal but easily pulled off) or in Mexico/Europe and brought over (illegal as well, but once again it is done daily I would think).
The stuff is not going to make you grow in height if you are past a certain age, I would think late teens would be the cutoff for most. It will make you gain muscle (if you are working out). All top body-builders use GH, as well as massive amount of steroids, and they are freaks of course. It is sort of holy-water for juicers, but its price seriosuly limits its use. Problems involved can be a lot of things. This stuff causes you to grow. I have seen people have to get braces because their teeth started messing up, a common thing is enlarged thyroid and even heart. Not a lot of research has been done on people at the doses bodybuilders are using it. And its not just bodybuilders. I would say olympic athletes abuse GH heavily because it is pretty much untraceable; the best they could do would be test your HGH level, but if you have been off just a few days it would have returned to baseline or less. Actually, sheesh, whats her name, the sprinter-lady with long finger nails, she had thyroid problems because of GH use.
It does not increase penis size, as that doesn't really have anything to do with "growing" in the HGH sense.
I have not tried HGH because it is extrememly expensive, and to use it adequately you have to inject frequently (at least 2-3 times a day) but it is a subcutaneous injection (insulin needle) so it wouldn't be THAT bad.
Some of this info may be bunk, it is just the 'underground juicer' heresy type gossip; and I have not even been keeping up with that for a good year now.