Human Growth Hormone Only Hurts
- By Justin Smith
- Published 03/25/2008
- Sports
- Unrated
Justin Smith
Justin B Smith, 28, is a U.S. Air Force Veteran. He grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland but presently resides in Baltimore.
Justin is a Gay Activist. Since 1999 he has worked with various gay organizations including the National Black Justice Coalition, Human Rights Campaign, Equality Maryland, Us Helping Us, and People Into Living Incorporated.
Justin is currently enrolled in school pursuing his degree in Communication and Journalism.
Human Growth Hormone Only Hurts
When the hormone is given to people with growth hormone deficits caused by pituitary tumors or other conditions, it can improve strength. But it does not enhance strength in normal, healthy people.
"What we saw is that while there was a change in body composition, we didn't find evidence that growth hormone improves athletic performance," Dr. Hau Liu of Stanford University in California, who led the study, said in a telephone interview.
Liu's team looked at 27 studies covering 303 people aged 13 to 45. They found that, overall, those who took growth hormone did develop more lean body mass, but this did not translate to either more strength or exercise capacity.
"The key takeaway is that we don't have any good scientific evidence that growth hormone improves athletic performance," Dr. Andrew Hoffman, a professor of endocrinology, gerontology and metabolism who worked on the study, said. Hoffman noted that other hormones have been shown to benefit athletes -- notably testosterone.
"Athletes probably take much more hormone than the investigators felt that they could ethically try to give to healthy people; in addition, some athletes combine growth hormone with other anabolic hormones like testosterone," Hoffman added in an e-mail. Hoffman said people get side-effects from high doses of hormones. "You get fluid accumulating in the legs, you get pain in the joints," he said in a telephone interview.
"From what we hear the athletes are taking very, very large doses," he added. Other hormones do, however bulk up athletes -- although not without risk, Hoffman said. "The findings with growth hormone absolutely do not extend to other hormones like testosterone which work through entirely different mechanisms," he said.
People who took growth hormone had swelling of their tissues and more fatigue compared to people not taking the drug, they added.
Use of growth hormone is banned by the International Olympic Committee, Major League Baseball and the National Football League. U.S. law prohibits its use for sports enhancement.
