HGH

HGH is an acronym for Human Growth Hormone. It is a hormone which is produce by a gland in the brain, the anterior pituitary gland, and stimulates growth and cell production in your body. In layman terms, this hormone is what makes a child grow.

Its main function is to increase the height and promote the growth of a child. It also helps to create muscle mass, retain calcium in the body, keeps bones healthy, reduces fat, controls the level of sugar and regulates the secretion of Insulin, enhances our immune system and the general well being of the body. We hardly notice the importance of HGH when we are young.

Human growth hormone actually comprises of around a hundred and ninety amino acids that are secreted by cells known as ‘somatotrophs’ in the pituitary gland.  The main function of HGH in body growth is to prompt the liver to secrete ‘Insulin like Growth Factor’ or IGF-1, which does the actual work of promotion of growth by its action on the cells of the body.

The secretion of growth hormone is actually regulated by one hormone from the stomach and two other hypothalamic hormones.
The hormone secreted by the stomach is Ghrelin, which is a peptide hormone and stimulates secretion of GRH.

The two hypothalamic hormones are:-

1.  Growth Hormone Releasing Hormone or GHRH, which prompts the production and secretion of growth hormone.
2. Somatostatin, which controls release of GH as per GHRH and other factors.

Secretion of HGH begins in infancy and continues at this rate throughout our childhood and is also  at its highest level during this stage of our life. It reaches its peak during puberty  and its effects are clearly visible in the accelerated growth seen in the teen years. After the secretions have reached their high in adolescence there is a gradual decline tapering off in the early thirties. 

If the secretion of human growth hormone is erratic or abnormal it manifests itself in abnormally accelerated growth and excessively retarded growth. Excessive secretion of hormone results in gigantism and a condition called ‘Acromegaly’. Insufficient secretion of the hormone results in dwarfism.

Gigantism is a result of a tumor like formation during childhood of the affected person. It is not a healthy situation and such people do not live very long. One of the most famous cases was Robert Wadlow, whose weight was normal at birth but grew to a height of 6’2” and 195 lbs at the age of eight. He eventually grew to 8’ 11”, but died at the age of twenty two.

Whereas gigantism is seen in childhood, acromegaly usually manifests itself in adulthood. Its result is the enlargement of bones and soft tissues. It is observed in fifty out of one million people. Gigantism is comparatively even lesser.

The other ill effects of gigantism and Acromegaly is that the growth of the tumor  in the brain is that it presses the adjoining parts of the brain resulting in headaches and affecting vision. It may also affect the secretion of other hormones. All this may cause changes in the menstrual cycle in women, production of breast milk  or delay in the formation of sexual organs in women.

However, in normal persons when there is a drop in  secretion of human growth hormone after the advent of the thirties causes health related problems like diabetes, depression, energy loss and it is also what causes us to look older.

So here science can come to our aid and make the ageing process more bearable if not altogether reverse the ageing process.  Several methods like injections of HGH, sprays and supplements are available if taken in the right  quantity under medical prescription can be beneficial to us.