madison Posted June 19, 2008 Share Interesting article on HGH research.Human growth hormone (HGH) has been thought to be used widely in the professional peloton as a performance-enhancing drug for several years, but a new study suggests that riders might have been putting their health at risk for a benefit that was all in their minds. A study funded by the World Anti-doping Agency and the Australian Anti-doping Research Program was presented at a meeting of the Endocrine Society this week, as reported by Medical News Today, showed that some athletes showed improvements in performance while believing they were using HGH, but were actually given a placebo. Previous studies have shown little performance benefit with human growth hormone, a drug which has been banned by the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA). The drug also has some dangerous side effects which include diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure and heart problems, abnormal growth of organs and a hastening of osteoarthritis. But neither dangers, the ineffectiveness nor the fact that the drug is banned has stopped some athletes from using HGH to try to boost performance. Researcher Jennifer Hansen of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, Australia, led the study in order to find out if any performance enhancing quality comes from the drug or the athlete's belief that it works. "Athletes are doping with growth hormone to improve sporting performance despite any evidence it actually improves performance," said Hansen. The 'double-blind' study, where neither researchers administering the drugs nor the athletes knew which person was given the active drug, was performed on 64 volunteers, all recreational athletes, over eight weeks. The volunteers were subjected to tests measuring endurance, strength, power and sprinting ability at the beginning and again at the end of the eight week period. The subjects were asked at the end to guess if they were the placebo or HGH group. The men were more likely to guess that they had received HGH than women, and the ones who were "incorrect guessers" who were given placebo but thought they had received the drug not only believed their performance improved, but also showed some actual improvement in jump height, a measure of power. The researchers concluded, "The results of this study suggest that the placebo effect may be responsible, at least in part, for the perceived athletic benefit of doping with growth hormone for some people." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotty Posted June 19, 2008 Share Simon Gear spoke about it this morning on the radio, some athletes taking the placebo (believing it to be HGH) increased their performance by up to 4%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranky Posted June 20, 2008 Share The placebo effect can be huge, with up to 50% of patients receiving placebos for pain, actually reporting pain relief. That's also why so many people believe that "treatments" like herbal remedies and copper bracelets work. They don't, but the placebo effect does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wonder Woman Posted June 20, 2008 Share So, it's all in the mind!!I can winI can winI can winI can winI can winI can winI can win Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tumbleweed Posted June 20, 2008 Share So' date=' it's all in the mind!!I can winI can winI can winI can winI can winI can winI can win [/quote'] i can get out of bed!i can get out of bed!i can get out of bed!i can get out of bed!i can get out of bed!i can get out of bed!i can get out of bed!i can get out of bed!i can get out of bed!i can get out of bed!i can get out of bed!i can get out of bed!i can get out of bed!i can get out of bed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wonder Woman Posted June 20, 2008 Share So' date=' it's all in the mind!!I can winI can winI can winI can winI can winI can winI can win [/quote'] i can get out of bed!i can get out of bed! i can get out of bed! i can get out of bed! i can get out of bed! i can get out of bed! i can get out of bed! i can get out of bed! i can get out of bed! i can get out of bed! i can get out of bed! i can get out of bed! i can get out of bed! i can get out of bed! Hey, I sounded like that this morning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tumbleweed Posted June 20, 2008 Share So' date=' it's all in the mind!!I can winI can winI can winI can winI can winI can winI can win [/quote'] i can get out of bed!i can get out of bed! i can get out of bed! i can get out of bed! i can get out of bed! i can get out of bed! i can get out of bed! i can get out of bed! i can get out of bed! i can get out of bed! i can get out of bed! i can get out of bed! i can get out of bed! i can get out of bed! Hey, I sounded like that this morning oh, was that you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joss Posted June 20, 2008 Share Your body creates its own HGH. No need to add synthetic stuff to your body and put your health at risk. There are natural products on the market that can stimulate your HGH to produce maximum in a natural manner without any side effects what so ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eugene Posted June 20, 2008 Share I'm no expert, but I remember reading a rather interesting book which explained everything about steroids, growth hormones etc and this is what I learned. Synthetic HGH creates what they used to call "the Frankenstein effect" Basically is causes certain parts of your body to grow quicker than others. Usually cartilage. So your nose and ears and jaw start to grow out of proportion to the rest of your body, hense the name "Frankenstein Effect." I don't think that any placebo will give you a bigger nose or ears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotty Posted June 20, 2008 Share What i cant understand is the the guinea pig's being recreational athletes (nothing in it for them) knowing the potential dangers would expose themselves to such a trial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porky Posted June 21, 2008 Share I'm no expert' date=' but I remember reading a rather interesting book which explained everything about steroids, growth hormones etc and this is what I learned. Synthetic HGH creates what they used to call "the Frankenstein effect" Basically is causes certain parts of your body to grow quicker than others. Usually cartilage. So your nose and ears and jaw start to grow out of proportion to the rest of your body, hense the name "Frankenstein Effect." I don't think that any placebo will give you a bigger nose or ears.[/quote'] Yes, quite correct, back a few years it was also know as the "Sasquach effect" because a users feet grew out of proportion to their body. Just as an aside, back in the 80s HGH taken from a cadaver was easily available although usually from devious sources, however laws were passed and it became almost impossible to obtain, so people began experimentiong with animal growth hormone usually from Chimps and gorillas. However after some hideous side effects it was decided that growth hormone is SPECIES SPECIFIC and not interchangeable between species. Strange what people will do to achieve a dream or a goal hey? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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