Human Growth Hormone (HGH) - "Facts Vs Myths"

The Facts:
HGH is a hormone produced by your pituitary gland that helps your body grow and maintains your muscle tissues and internal organs throughout your life. Natural HGH plays an important role in childhood height increase and by stimulating division and multiplication of primary cells in the growing ends of children's long bones like arms and legs.

(Natural HGH also stimulates the production of IGF-1. IGF-1, which stands for Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 has growth stimulating effects on tissues and bone. In addition HGH promotes retention of calcium and strengthens bones. It increases muscle mass in the body while it simultaneously promotes the breakdown of fat in the body. It plays a role in reducing liver intake of glucose, and maintains pancreatic function. It stimulates the immune system and well as the growth of all internal organs excluding the brain.

GH treatment has been effective in cases of stunted growth due to GH deficiency. It has also been successfully used in improving muscle mass in AIDS patients, and can significantly improve muscle strength.

Initially HGH was extracted from pituitary glands of cadavers for the treatment of "stunted growth" children. In 1985, a biosynthetic version was made available for therapeutic use. By 2006 more versions of the product have been made available, and typically synthetic products are used only by prescription. There have been some controversial uses of these products to enhance milk production in cattle, to reverse ageing processes, to reduce obesity.

The Myths:
Despite claims to the contrary, taking HGH is not without risks. To begin with, the injections are prohibitively expensive, and are not covered by insurance. They can only be taken by prescription and come with a long list of side effects.

The HGH that is synthetically manufactured in labs and sold as supplement is mixed with other substances to make it affordable. The claims of efficacy are backed by research done with treatment by injection! The supplements that are sold are not injections, but are sold in pill, powder or spray form, and there is no guarantee that the results will match the research results on injections. The regular HGH molecule is so large, that is must be injected. But it remains uncertain as to whether anyone has been able to create a product that is orally absorbable.

Further, HGH sold in spray, powder or pill forms are unlikely to have a significant amount of HGH in them, taking into account the fact that it is a prescription drug, so a significant amount of Human Growth Hormone will then make the substance on sale a drug that needs FDA approval. The pills, powders and sprays that are sold have neither a significant amount of Human Growth Hormone, nor can they be approved by FDA as is frequently claimed.