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Types of Hormonal Growth Promoters

Hormones are natural chemical compounds produced by the sexual organs. They have a vital role in growth and development, with the male hormone (testosterone) and the female hormone (progesterone) affecting sexual and physical characteristics of humans and animals. Because hormones can have such a huge impact on growth and development, considerable research has been done to exploit these effects in agriculture, sports and medicine. There are now various types of natural and artificial hormonal growth promotant products (HGPs.)

  1. Oestrogens

    • Oestrogens are naturally occurring steroids which increase the concentration of growth hormones in the body. Injection with oestrogen stimulates the anabolic process of cell division, skeletal growth and protein synthesis, which promotes muscle growth. The growth hormones promoted with oestrogen also increase the oxidation of fat to give more fuel to the body for muscle building.

    Testosterone

    • The male steroid, testosterone, also promotes the production of natural growth hormones in the body, which increase cell division, protein synthesis and muscle building. Veterinarians and rnchers frequently use it for "finishing" castrated steers, as the steers are unable to produce the hormonal steriod themselves after someone removes their testes. Athletes sometimes use it illegally to enhance athletic performance and legally to combat male menopause.

    Somatotropin

    • Steroids like oestrogen and testosterone stimulate the production of growth hormones, but increasingly in medicine and agriculture, growth hormones themselves are administered directly. Naturally occurring growth hormones are called somatotropin.They promote physical growth, cell division and muscle building in humans and animals. Most growth hormones in modern medicine are cloned, using recombinant DNA grown in bacteria injected with human genes. These were developed to treat dwarfism, but have now become widely used to promote weight loss and muscle growth.

    NPA growth hormone

    • NPA growth hormone, also known as Cadaver Growth Hormone, is naturally occurring somatotropin that has not been grown using recombinant DNA. but has been farmed from the pituitary glands of corpses. Like with somatotropin, NPA growth hormone promotes cell division and muscle growth in humans. This was a widely-used form of hormone therapy during the 1960s and 1970s, but was banned in the 1980s when patients who'd received NPA growth hormone during the 1960s developed Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, the human form of "mad cow disease."

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