| Growth hormone | |
|---|---|
| [[File:|250px]] | |
| Abbreviation | GH (HGH for human, bGH for bovine) |
| Molecular formula | Single-chain polypeptide (~22 kDa, 191 amino acids); |
| Type | Pituitary peptide hormone |
| Administration | Endogenous; pharmaceutical: subcutaneous injection (recombinant HGH) |
| Bioavailability | Injection required (peptide digested orally); half-life ~20 minutes |
| Synonyms | Shrek Diabetes Hormone, Somatotropin, Human Growth Hormone (HGH), Somatropin, |
| Source | Anterior pituitary gland (somatotroph cells); pharmaceutical: recombinant DNA technology |
| Ray's verdict | Strongly negative:death hormone,
misleading name, pro-diabetic, aging, synergistic with estrogen |
Growth Hormone (GH) is a stress hormone secreted by the pituitary gland that promotes aging and degenerative diseases. Ray called it a "hormone of stress, aging, & death". Its name is highly misleading, as the degree to which it promotes somatic growth is that of any stress, like exercise producing muscle edema which stimulates growth.
Although often described by its sequence of 191 amino acids, GH isn't a single rigidly defined static chemical substance. Its polypeptide chain undergoes extensive chemical alterations after synthesis, making it molecularly ambiguous and therefore hard to justify as a drug to use. It is closely evolutionarily related to prolactin through their role in the regulation of water and minerals.
GH secretion occurs in such stressful conditions as heat, hypoglycemia, running, and some types of shock, yet not in cold and stimulus-deprivation. Increased estrogen leads to higher secretion of GH during stress via nitric oxide, all three of which produce edema. Many of GH's effects overlap with those of prolactin, and prolactin's secretion is also stimulated by estrogen. Ray proposed that estrogen's hypotonic effect is what stimulates prolactin secretion. GH primarily acts through its effect on water metabolism.[1]
"One of the best known metabolic effects of GH is that, like adrenalin, it mobilizes fatty acids from storage. GH is known to antagonize insulin, and one of the ways it does this is simply by the ability of increased free fatty acids to block the oxidation of glucose. At puberty, the increased GH creates a mild degree of diabetes-like insulin resistance, which tends to increase progressively with age." - Ray Peat
GH treatment is known to produce carpal tunnel syndrome, myalgia, tumor growth, gynecomastia, osteoarthritis and many other problems.