Growing numbers of male weight lifters may be taking human growth hormone (HGH) to increase and increase performance, suggests a study.
The study, published in the American Journal on vices, also suggests that HGH abuse is linked to the use of steroids and other illicit drugs, including cocaine.In the study of 231 male weight lifters between 18 and 40, 12% reported use of HGH or a similar supplement known as insulin-like growth factor - 1. All these men had also reported use of anabolic steroids and 56% percent had a current or passed dependence on opioids, cocaine and / or ecstasy.
"This is an epidemic that is rapidly increasing and is here to stay for the predictable future," says study researcher, Harrison G. Pope Jr., MD, Harvard Medical School Psychiatry Professor in Boston and Director Biological laboratory of McLean Hospital psychiology in Belmont, Mass. "Doctors everywhere should be aware of this when they see young patients, especially young male patients."
produced by the pituitary gland, HGH stimulates growth in children and adolescents; Its supply decreases with the age of advancement. As a result, HGH is pushed by some as an antijenagem remedy as well as a performance.
HGH has already been prohibitively expensive for most, but now pills, powders and injections can be purchased at low cost on the internet. "HGH has become much cheaper to manufacture with modern techniques, so it has reached the point where ordinary children on the street can easily get it," says Pope. "Twenty years ago, it was extremely expensive and used only by elite athletes who could afford to spend money."
Hormone For Weight Loss - Weight Lifters Turning to Human Growth Hormone
The complete hazards of HGH abuse are not known, but may have deleterious effects in the heart, especially when used in combination with steroids, says Pope. Abnormally high levels of HGH in the body were also linked to other health problems including diabetes and possibly cancer.
In the study, weight lifters carrying in HGH tended to be older, they had raised longer weights and were more muscular than those who abstained from the use of HGH. All weight lifters that led HGH were already using steroids to increase performance when they started taking HGH. Only 19% of weight lifters who used HGH graduated from college, the study shows.
"We see in this study that HGH users were already taking steroids when they added HGH, so it tells us that they may have developed a tolerance and needed a turbo push," says Harold C. Urschel, MD, author of healing The brain addicted.
Barry Sears, PhD, President of the Labs Inc. Zone and the inflammation foundation of inflammation in Marblehead, Mass., says that the only use approved for HGH is to correct a documented disability in children or adults. "Very high levels will promote diabetes and overproduction of bone tissue," he says. "You can always tell which elite athletes are in HGH because their bones are growing at a faster rate and their faces seem to be distorted.""Work? Yes," he says. HGH can help increase and burn body fat, but also has health risks linked to it, says Sears.
"Hormones are incredibly powerful drugs and whenever you buy them from the Internet, you are living in the world of a fool to think that it is purified or legitimate," he says.
