Definition: Growth Hormone Replacement

Conventionally, human growth hormone therapy was an unusual therapy used in cases where individuals were deficient in this hormone. The human growth hormone (hGH) is produced by the pituitary gland and deficiency occurs when the pituitary gland does not produce enough, either because of genetic abnormality, injury, or a disease process. The deficiency causes arrested growth (dwarfism) in children and a syndrome on adults characterized by muscle loss and weakness, fatigue, weight gain, sexual dysfunction, emotional problems, low bone density and other metabolic problems.nnNatural human growth hormone therapy became available when research identified the problem and doctors began extracting the hormone from the pituitary glands of human cadavers. The hormone could then be injected into patients to restore normal levels in the blood. Though the hormone replacement came from a natural source, it also came with obvious health risks and research efforts concentrated on finding a synthetic alternative. These efforts were ultimately successful and hGH deficient patients can now be treated with a safe synthetic hormone.nnThe availability of safe human growth hormone therapy made it reasonable to consider using the hormone for other applications and, recently, hGh injections have been administered to athletes, to increase muscle and strength and improve performance, and to seniors, to reverse muscle loss, strength loss, weight gain, and thin dry skin attributable to aging. The treatment is fraught with controversy about effectiveness and safety, and is not approved as a medical treatment. It is also prohibitively expensive and regular injections are inconvenient. These difficulties have lead to a new incentive to find a safe source of natural human growth hormone.nnFor the average consumer who wants to explore the possibilities of human growth hormone therapy, the only reasonable option is one of the many dietary supplements on the market that contain amino acids to stimulate the pituitary gland to release more of the hormone into the bloodstream. Though these products are made of natural ingredients and the approach supports the production of natural human growth hormone, the hard scientific evidence that they really work is still lacking. Many of the common ingredients are known to stimulate the production of hGH by the pituitary, but whether the rise is significant, and whether that rise really does any good is open to question. There is also speculation about the safety of prolonged intake of amino acids, though the amounts in growth hormone releaser products are really quite small.nnThe bottom line is that human growth hormone therapy using injected synthetic hormone is neither advisable nor financially feasible for the average person. In addition, because it is not approved for anti aging, it is illegal in those circumstances. Natural human growth hormone therapy, in the form of hGH releaser supplements is controversial but readily available and reasonably inexpensive.