It seems like everyday there is more and more talk about the human growth hormone (HGH). It all started in 1985 when it was made possible to get injections of HGH. Of course not just anyone could get these, you did have to have a prescription, but if you were one of these lucky people there was a wealth of benefits that you would be able to reap. There are large groups of people who are intensely interested in getting their hands on HGH, especially those who are aging not so gracefully, or at least those who feels they are.
Since the beginning of time people have not enjoyed getting older. We have always fantasized about finding the miracle cure that would keep us looking young well into our nineties and some people think that they have found this in FDA injectible HGH.
In 1990 when the New England Journal of Medicine published the study they conducted on human growth hormone people really started to sit up and take notice. According to this study the amount of HGH that people make declines as they age. This contributes to the loss of muscle and bone mass and even the loss of energy and the addition of weight all over. No one likes to get fat, no one and I think that most people hate getting wrinkly just as much. Less HGH in your body can even mean an increase in the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
By the end of the study the scientists were sure that if they could just get people to produce more HGH or replace what was lost on a regular basis people could get back some of their lost youth. Those taking these HGH injections would be able stop the aging process in its tracks and may even turn back the hands of time.
The study was done on men who varied in age from 61 to 81 and it closely monitored the HGH in each. Each man was given the human growth hormone injections for six months. During this time these men dropped an average of 14 percent of their total body fat and gain muscle in place of it. How much muscle? Approximately 9 percent lean body mass. That is a pretty significant increase, especially for men this age. And the benefits did not end there, they also saw an increase in bone density as well as the elasticity of their skin.
These men were not unhealthy to begin with, they were all well and the only issue they had health wise was their IGF-1 levels, these could have been better. At the end of this study Dr. Rudman clearly put forth, “The effects of six months of human growth hormone on lean body mass and adipose-tissue mass were equivalent in magnitude to the changes incurred during 10 to 20 years of aging.”
The finished study once published went a long way to getting the medical community interested in HGH not to mention the regular average Joes out there who heard about this breakthrough and also wanted to look and feel younger again. This study was only the beginning of a long line of studies centered around the effects and benefits of taking human growth hormone.
Another important HGH study was done at the Chelsea and Westminister Hospital in London and this one was done on 12 HIV patients. For a total of twelve weeks each of the HIV patients received 4 mg of recombinant HGH. This however, was only the firt step to this study. The next phase saw some of these patients getting a placebo while others got HGH all on alternate days of the week.
There were understandably different results from the first phase to the second. For example the results for the first were all good, the patients has lost fat around the middle while oddly other parts of the body such as the arms and legs did not lose any fat. Not only did they get thinner of waist the patients all reported that they looked better about the face and legs as well.
The second phase of the study was not as rosy for some. Those who received the placebo saw the benefits go away, even the abdominal fat came back. From what the doctors could tell it looked as if the HGH help to stabilize limb fat loss.