We're all learning more and more about HGH every day - and today Will Carroll at Baseball Prospectus delivers some of the insights from recent scientific studies regarding the drug. Here's the gist: it doesn't actually make you stronger. It just makes you, you know, grow. AA: Conventional wisdom says that everyone is on HGH now because there's no test to detect it, but what they don't realize is that there's a night and day difference between HGH and anabolic-androgenic steroids. Studies have shown that HGH supplementation will increase muscle mass; but there is little, if any, evidence of strength gains in these studies. In other words, when HGH supplementation has been studied in normal males, there are reports of small gains in muscle mass, but there seems to be no evidence from a randomized, double-blind study that you gain strength from HGH alone. If there is any effect of HGH, it is likely to be a small effect, especially compared to how anabolic steroids improve strength and baseball performance.In other words, the furor over HGH might not be as warranted as that over steroids, because baseball players might not receive a major, quantifiable competitive advantage by taking HGH even in amounts that exceed the standard dosage. Instead, HGH would merely aid in physical recovery, which is an advantage given the long baseball season but doesn't specifically increase a player's speed or reaction time or anything else.
In any case, if we're going to get all worked up about HGH the way we get all worked up about steroids, distinguishing and understanding the differences between the two is probably important.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
enjoyed this piece, postman.
there was an excellent story on the medical benefits of HGH by tom farrey in "espnmag" a few weeks back:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2733919
bottom line, for the sake of the athletes, it's about time we distinguish between doping and healing. cuz there's a big, big difference.
There is a double-blind placebo-controlled trial in healthy elderly men that shows that hGH is MORE potent than testosterone in increasing MUSCLE BULK and STRENGTH and EXERCISE PERFORMANCE at MODEST DOSES: Giannoulis, MG. Sonksen, PH. Umpleby, M. Breen, L. Pentecost, C. Whyte, M. McMillan, CV. Bradley, C & Martin, FC. The Effects of Growth Hormone and/or Testosterone in Healthy Elderly Men: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. 91(2):477-484, 2006.
In a few years taking homeopathic HGH oral spray will be like taking aspirin because they are both legal to purchase over the counter and very gentle on the system. Most athletes are using hgh from http://www.21stcenturyhgh.com but it's a generic formula so it can be obtained from any one of 30 companies on the internet. It must be "homeopathic" to be legal.