Overeating and Growth Hormone by Jerry Brainum 1/25

 

A primary reason injecting growth hormone (GH) is so popular is that GH  favorably affects body composition. Specifically, it will promote muscle gains while helping lower body fat levels. Indeed, years ago, many people believed you could eat anything and not gain body fat if you used GH. The ingested excess calories would somehow be neutralized by GH. While this idea of unlimited calorie intake while on GH is nonsense, there is some truth about the effect of GH on body composition. GH makes fat cells or lipocytes more sensitive to the effects of other hormones, such as epinephrine and norepinephrine, which promote the release of fat stored in fat cells. GH won't directly oxidize or "burn" fat. That can only occur with exercise, especially with a higher oxygen intake, such as aerobics or resistance training, with short rest periods between sets. Despite these facts, GH has nonetheless earned a reputation as a potent "fat burner." Some studies have found that a specific fraction of GH called AOD9604 is mainly responsible for the possible fat-loss effects induced by GH. While there is plenty of anecdotal evidence online that this GH fragment promotes greater body fat losses, there isn't much reliable medical evidence to back such claims. In addition, this peptide is not produced by any legitimate pharmaceutical company and is only sold through online vendors. That means you cannot be assured that you are purchasing the actual drug and may not even receive the drug.

The notion that GH can help promote body fat reduction stems from a 1990 study of older men clinically deficient in GH. When these men were provided with GH injections (as a polypeptide hormone, GH must be injected), they showed an 8.8% gain in muscle mass along with a 14% loss in body fat without doing any exercise or going on a diet. However, an essential point about that study was that the study subjects were all shown to be deficient in GH. GH works best to change body composition and produce anabolic effects in muscle when a deficiency exists in the hormone. Studies where GH was provided to young men engaged in resistance training who were not deficient in GH showed little or no effects on muscle growth or fat loss. However, one notable caveat of these studies is that small doses of GH were provided for ethical reasons. Such doses do not resemble the massive doses of GH often favored by bodybuilders and athletes. Studies that have involved providing GH to those with higher body fat levels show only minor changes with no significant fat loss effects. However, regular exercise would likely improve such results.

Various factors are known to promote the release of GH in the body. These include fasting. Indeed, articles about the benefits of fasting often tout the more . . .