The recurring refrain, “But we don’t know enough about HGH….,” appears in even some of the best written articles on HGH designed to popularize a difficult and complicated subject.
Cecil Adams’ article “Can Human Growth Hormone Slow Aging” (July 9, 2004) is no exception. Written in a direct style with a familiar, inviting tone, the article lambasts correctly the “HGH enhancers” calling them “crap” and states bluntly that they simply do not work. This is followed with the citation of a 1990’s study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that suggests that HGH is worth looking into as a possible tool in the struggle against aging and the co-morbidities associated with that process. Finally, Adams releases the old refrain “but we don’t know enough about HGH….” which suggests that everything previously said might as well be considered tentative and not applicable to a clinical use of HGH.
In response to this 2004 article, I underscore to our readers that much has changed over the past seven years. Since HGH was first synthesized through transgenic means in 1995, a revolution has occurred both in the realms of publication of clinical studies and in the application of this important hormone for the treatment of numerous recurring problems.
Since the 150 reports, articles and studies on HGH, in English dating from 2000 to 2004, over 2800 articles and studies have been published in English, French, German, Russian and Japanese on the subject. One can no longer claim with any validity that we do not know enough about HGH.
In fact, we know a great deal about HGH, including its chemical properties such as its molecular weight, how it must enter a cell through receptor sites along the cell membrane and the carrier proteins responsible for transmitting it to the mitochondria of the cell where much of the hormones work is realized.
With regard to HGH and cancer, we also know NOW in 2011 that the 22,000 dalton molecular weight of the HGH molecule makes it impossible to dock with cancer cells who have no active chemical receptors or specialized proteins to carry complex hormones to the nucleus. To date we know a great deal more that we did in 2004 or for that matter in 2010.
To update what Adams has said already, HGH is now widely being used by the Boomer Generation to keep Boomers active, sexually interested, maintaining their ideal body weights and enhancing performance in the leisure activities.
In addition to the over-sixty population, teenagers across the World are benefiting from the hormone’s ability to control height. For this reason, parents are also insisting upon HGH as a treatment for children who fall below the fiftieth percentile on the growth curve. The HGH therapy has been approved by the FDA as the recommended modality for correction of the “short child syndrome.”
Why would we expose our children to any chemical that we thought might be deemed dangerous if it did not have redeeming value as a safe and sane therapy for correcting the defective growth patterns of children below the fiftieth percentile?
Much of the fear mongering regarding HGH, embodied in the phrase “but we just don’t know enough about HGH” , comes from unfamiliarity with HGH and the legion of studies in both English and foreign languages stemming from research with HGH over the past twenty years.
Much of this problem may be traced to the reality that we as a nation have little interest in learning foreign languages, much less reading scientific articles in them. The information of HGH is available and all we have to do is seek it out and start to read,. It’s all there whether the article is written in English or not.
Little factoids such as the molecular weight of HGH and the necessity for such a complex molecule to dock with receptor sites is a good example of how the use of HGH may be easily understood in the light of cancer cells exceptionally disfigured and dysfunction morphology.
The safety of the application of HGH, even in the presence of cancer, is implied in this information. This reality has now been confirmed in the preliminary results coming in from a half dozen studies from around the World.
Lastly, the cost of HGH is falling and essential hormone replacement therapy, of which HGH is the core, is now becoming accessible to larger numbers of patients of varying economic backgrounds.
Such an observation is the harbinger of the “democratization” of HGH and means that the establishment has already accepted it. When looked at anecdotally, one finds the various Surgeon Generals from President Bush 1 through the current President have consistently recommended HGH supplementation to their wards.
In addition, numerous heads of Government Agencies have become devotees of HGH and openly discuss their individualized dosing of the HGH hormone whether at the seaside resorts or on the slopes of Aspen Mountain.
HGH is safe and useful. It is, in fact, here to stay. When someone in a position of authority says to you, “ but we just don’t know enough about HGH. “ Substitute the phrase, “but I DO NOT KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT IT” in its place and you will begin to understand what these uninformed “authorities” are saying.
-Alex Martin MD
p.s. This post is intended to be an update to the outdated information about HGH that was current in 2004. I want to thank Cecil Adams for the original article and helping to keep the public informed of the developments in this important science.