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 MARCH 31, 2008 Growth Hormone May Not Lift Strength There's no good scientific evidence that human growth hormone, also known as HGH, improves athletic performance, according to Stanford University researchers. Recent Congressional hearings probed the use of HGH and steroids by professional baseball players to boost their strength and performance. But HGH may not deliver the benefits athletes expect. It may change body composition, but that doesn't necessarily lead to improved performance. The Stanford study, published in the March 18, 2008 online version of the Annals of Internal Medicine, searched the medical literature as far back as 1966 looking for studies that tested the physiological effects of excess HGH compared with a placebo in healthy people. The researchers only included studies using the gold standard of medical research, the double-blind trial - neither the participants nor the researchers knew which participants received HGH and which received a placebo. The Stanford researchers, led by senior author Andrew Hoffman, MD, professor of endocrinology, gerontology, and metabolism, found 27 studies with a total of 303 participants. Overall, those who received HGH did seem to have more lean body mass, which is generally associated with more muscle. However, during exercise the people who got HGH in some of the studies generated more lactate-the by-product of exercise that can cause muscle fatigue. Despite having more lean body mass, the people didn't appear to be any stronger after receiving the drug. Studies examining other measures of athletic performance, such as VO2max, which is a measurement of how much work the muscles can do, also revealed no improvement. The researchers caution that their findings only summarize the studies that have been done to date and may not represent the way athletes actually take the drugs. They estimate that some athletes may be taking up to 5 times as much HGH as what was given in the studies. |
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