What about HGH?

In the past few years, athletes from around the world have been caught in the use of a variety of performance enhancing drugs. The most recent of these is a substance called human growth hormone.

I recently became interested in finding out more regarding this substance. I was not sure if it should be called a drug or a hormone. During this summer's baseball season, you remember the one where Barry Bonds broke the all time home run record. The record that many people feel is forever tarnished by Barry's alleged use of HGH and other drugs.

Several weeks ago we were discussing this issue at the morning coffee group. All of us had heard about this stuff Barry and other players were supposed to be using, but none of us really knew much about it. Dr. Nelson Greenlund, a long time Nevada Medical Clinic Physician, just happened to be present during this discussion. He enlightened us as to the nature and use of HGH. It is a story that is not just remarkable, but to me scary.

Before the explanation, let's show you the actual definition and description of the drug. Wikipedia states that the substance somatotropin (STH), is a protein hormone which stimulates growth and cell reproduction in humans and other animals. According to Dr. Greenlund, this drug was originally developed by combining human DNA with other natural substances like bacteria. It then is grown in a process to make the resulting growth hormone.

When the hormone is given to a human usually by injection, it is absorbed into the pituitary gland.

From there it is secreted into the body of the individual.

The most common use, and the real purpose for the development of this hormone was to help what we know as the "little people." People who will not grow to normal size such as dwarfs and midgets. When this drug is injected at the right time early in the life of these unfortunate people, the hormone induces more normal growth. Instead of remaining a small person, these individuals can now anticipate a more normal size and growth.

As with almost any good scientific advancement, man seems always able to find a bad use for the same science. That is what has happened here.

For the past few decades, athletes from around the world have been taking all kinds of steroids.

Steroids are chemicals such as testosterone that also stimulate cell growth and body build up. Unlike HGH, these chemicals are easily detected with tests.

Overuse of steroids has caused many side effects. The former NFL all pro, Lyle Alzado, actually died from the effects of too many steroids. HGH is a different story. There is some evidence that there is a test soon to be available which will detect the use of this hormone, but at present there is none.

For a long time it was actually legal to take the injections. Then as the dramatic effects became more obvious, there was a move by all sports to ban the substance.

Why is a natural substance so dangerous to the sports world? We don't know for sure at this time if there are side effects to the health of these players who take the drug, but we do know about the unbelievable body changes that it makes in people Barry Bonds was a great athletic physical specimen.

Early in his career, he was one of the greatest ball players the major leagues had ever seen. He could hit for power. He could hit for average. He could also steal bases. If these were not enough, he was also a perennial gold glove outfielder. Then along came the HGH era.

Ball players around the leagues began to hit home runs at a prestigious rate. It is not known if players like Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa took HGH or not, but there are a lot of questions.

One issue regarding Barry Bonds was his almost overnight increase in body size and power. The pictures of his body are amazing. It is even reported that his hat size grew by close to an inch. Professional and amateur athletes are involved in this equally. There is so much pressure to be better.

Paul Byrd a former Royal pitcher has even been accused. Paul was just a journeyman pitcher for the Royals and many other teams for several years. Now it has been proved that he was taking HGH injections for several years. He became a much better pitcher. Was it because of the hormone? Are the records of today forever tarnished by these drugs? Are there new drugs on the way, ones that will be even harder to detect?

I think you already know the answer to that. It is a shame that sports has come to this, but then most of us are doing the same thing in our own lives, too. Check out most homes and their medicine cabinets and you will see what I mean.

By the way, I dare you to watch television for an evening and not see at least a dozen drug commercials.

The worst is yet to come in baseball and in all of our daily lives! If they come up with a drug that will make you feel young again, we will all be in line.