Can Human Growth Hormone really cause cancer?

by Andrew Summers Biochemistry Teacher

People have been extolling the health benefits of taking human growth hormone as a supplement for many years now. A lot of gym goers use it for body building purposes and HGH sales have gone through the roof as the price has continued to fall.

Many talk about its properties as an anti ageing agent and its ability to change body composition. What we mean by this is reversing the process of losing muscle and gaining fat as we age. An original study published in 1990 demonstrated this in a group of elderly males.

But as many more people buy HGH online the rumour that it can accelerate or even cause cancer has never gone away. So where did this idea come from?

Well to understand this we first must look at how HGH works and what cancer is at a basic level.

Cancer

Cancer at its most fundamental level is the uncontrolled proliferation of cells. An unchecked division of dividing growing cell numbers which it is very difficult to stop. In fact Leukaemia, a blood cancer, is just the unchecked growth of white blood cells.

HGH

HGH is human growth hormone and that is exactly what it does. It causes the growth in numbers of human cells. So you can see why people think that it could contribute to cancer.

The case has not been proven but it is known that cancer levels are very low in those who are growth hormone deficient GHD.

The best advice that is available today is its probably best not to use growth hormone if you are suffering from cancer or think you may be prone to it.