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Hormone Therapy for Weight Loss

Growth hormone is a hormone created by your pituitary gland, a gland located at the base of your brain. This hormone stirs growth in children and also helps to maintain the functioning of your organs and tissues throughout your lifespan. As you get older, your body begins to reduce the amount of growth hormone that it naturally produces. As you grow older, you are more likely to gain weight due to bodily changes; a synthetic growth hormone has been found to help control weight issues and obesity.

  1. Studies and Findings

    • Human growth hormone (GH) is a hormone that proves beneficial in weight loss efforts. Stewart Albert, MD, a professor of internal medicine from the division of endocrinology at St. Louis University of Medicine in Missouri, explained at the 85th Annual Meeting of the Endocrine Society in 2003 held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, that GH helpa obese people lose weight. His lecture was based on an article published in volume 84 of the Journal of Endocrinology & Metabolism entitled, "Low-Dose Recombinant Human Growth Hormone as Adjuvant Therapy to Lifestyle Modifications in the Management of Obesity." The study revealed that the use of GH in obese people resulted in fat loss in the abdominal region without the loss of vital muscle mass. The study further demonstrated that people using GH had decreased appetite, increased energy levels and a 19 percent reduction in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels.

    Dosage and Duration

    • In the "Handbook of Obesity: Clinical Applications, Third Edition," George A. Bray, and Claude Bouchard explain that human growth hormone (GH) is an amino acid peptide. Obese people tend to produce less GH than thin people. This hormone increases your metabolic processes, increases lipolysis and has lead to weight loss in children that have been treated with the hormone. GH stimulates oxygen consumption by your cells to increase your energy levels, and reduces protein loss in the obese. This hormone also stimulates ketosis, and reduces the presence of visceral body fat. When this treatment is offered at 5 mg a day for five to 39 weeks, it incites fat oxidation, increases metabolism and reduces visceral fat.

    How You Get It

    • HGH, a synthetic form of growth hormone, is only available via injection, and it must be prescribed by a medical professional. This medication is often prescribed to people for the purposes of increasing one's bone density, for increasing one's muscle mass, for diminishing body fat and for increasing one's exercise tolerance levels and stamina. This medication is also used in some HIV and AIDS patients in order to help alleviate conditions associated with muscular wasting. Increased muscle mass produced through the use of HGH does not intensify one's strength; regular strength-training exercises are more effective and less costly. Certain side effects are associated with HGH's use, including swelling in your legs and arms, joint discomfort and muscular pain, and men may experience gynecomastia--enlargement of breast tissue. This synthetic hormone may also later lead to cardiovascular issues and diabetes onset. To receive optimal benefit from HGH use, the hormone injections must be coupled with regular exercise and adequate nutritional intake.

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