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Promote Growth Hormone Naturally with Arginine and Lysine

Could GH therapy cause insulin resistance?

Although chronic elevation of GH has been found to produce insulin resistance in humans, which suggests daily dosing with GH should be avoided, less frequent dosing actually improves sensitivity to insulin and is just as effective.23

In individuals with Adult Growth Hormone Deficiency, GH replacement therapy given 3 times weekly, in doses that produced GH levels in the mid-normal range for adults ranging in age from 25–35, was found to be as effective as daily dosing in improving cholesterol levels, cardiovascular health, muscle mass, fat loss, and bone mass.2425

It is well recognized that belly fat (visceral adiposity) causes insulin resistance. A number of clinical trials have demonstrated that GH therapy improves insulin sensitivity and lessens high blood sugar levels in patients suffering from not only severe insulin resistance, but type 1 and type 2 diabetes.26 Thus, while it is possible that chronic, daily GH injections could promote insulin resistance, the use of GH releasing agents, or even injections of GH, several times a week should improve, not reduce, sensitivity to insulin.

Are oral GH releasing agents effective?

Oral GH-releasing agents are certainly more convenient and much less expensive, but are they effective? Yes, a number of studies have conclusively shown that oral supplementation with amino acids (primarily a combination of arginine and lysine) naturally stimulates GH release:27

  • In young men given 1.5 gm of arginine plus 1.5 gm of lysine, blood levels of GH increased 2.7-fold one hour later.28
  • Similarly, in young men given 1.2 gm of arginine plus 1.2 gm of lysine, blood levels of GH increased nearly 8-fold within 90 minutes. This rise in GH was reproducible, but only when the men took both arginine and lysine. When used singly, neither arginine (1.2 or 2.4 gm), nor lysine (1.2 gm) affected blood levels of GH.29

In another study involving adults aged 32 to 64 years, consumption of 2 gm of glutamine after a light breakfast caused blood levels of GH to increase 4.3-fold 90 minutes after consumption. What is especially interesting about this study is that the conditions chosen were those expected to result in very little GH secretion. Not only were the participants older (and thus more likely to secrete less GH), but they were given glutamine after eating (digestion typically lessens GH secretion). The researchers were able to reproduce these positive results. They hypothesized that glutamine indirectly caused GH secretion because our bodies convert glutamine into citrulline in the small intestine, and citrulline is then used in the kidney to synthesize arginine. Arginine synthesis is a well recognized stimulus for GH secretion.30

In research conducted in Italy, an oral arginine-lysine supplement given to elderly individuals and cancer patients has been shown to improve immune function by increasing the synthesis and/or release of thymulin (the hormone produced by the thymus gland, the master gland of the immune system) to levels normal for young, healthy subjects. The immune-boosting effect of the arginine-lysine combination was due to its ability to promote the release of GH, which then improved immune function.3132

Women may need higher doses of GH than men In some studies, the beneficial effects of GH therapy have been more pronounced in men than in women. It turns out that women on estrogen replacement therapy are somewhat resistant to GH and may require higher doses to raise GH levels to those producing beneficial effects in men.9

Summary

Over the last fifteen years, a large number of clinical trials have confirmed that Adult Growth Hormone Deficiency plays a key role in unhealthy aging and can be safely and effectively treated without increasing risk of cancer, insulin resistance, or diabetes.

Treatment that restores GH levels to a mid-normal range improves body composition, decreasing fat mass while increasing lean body mass and bone mineral density; promotes cardiovascular health by reducing LDL, total cholesterol and atherosclerosis; increases older individuals’ ability to exercise tolerance; protects brain health and improves cognition, dramatically improving overall quality of life.

Your doctor can help you develop a treatment program, tailored to your unique physiology and needs, which will restore your GH to health-promoting levels.

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This article is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Always consult with a physician before embarking on a dietary supplement program.

References

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  2. Savine R, Sönksen P. Growth hormone - hormone replacement for the somatopause? Horm Res. 2000;53 Suppl 3:37-41. PMID: 10971102. 2000;45:297-315.

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  3. Hoffman AR. Treatment of the adult growth hormone deficiency syndrome: Directions for future research. Growth Horm IGF Res. 2005 Jul;15 Suppl A:48-52.

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  4. Cuneo RC, Salomon F, McGauley GA, Sonksen PH. The growth hormone deficiency syndrome in adults. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 1992 Nov;37(5):387-97. PMID: 1486686.

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  5. Rosén T, Bengtsson BA. Premature mortality due to cardiovascular disease in hypopituitarism. Lancet. 1990 Aug 4;336(8710):285-8. PMID: 1973979. 

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  9. Hoffman AR. Treatment of the adult growth hormone deficiency syndrome: Directions for future research. Growth Horm IGF Res. 2005 Jul;15 Suppl A:48-52.

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  10. Savine R, Sönksen P. Growth hormone - hormone replacement for the somatopause? Horm Res. 2000;53 Suppl 3:37-41. PMID: 10971102. 2000;45:297-315.

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  11. Van der Klaauw AA, Pereira AM, Rabelink TJ, et al. Recombinant human GH replacement increases CD34+ cells and improves endothelial function in adults with GH deficiency. Eur J Endocrinol.2008 Aug;159(2):105-11. PMID: 18495694. 

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  12. Okereke OI, Kang JH, Ma J, et al. Midlife plasma insulin-like growth factor I and cognitive function in older men. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2006 Nov;91(11):4306-12. PMID: 16912125. 

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  14. Landi F, Capoluongo E, Russo A, et al. Free insulin-like growth factor-I and cognitive function in older persons living in community.Growth Horm IGF Res. 2007 Feb;17(1):58-66. PMID: 17208483

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  15. Vitiello MV, Moe KE, Merriam GR, et al. Growth hormone releasing hormone improves the cognition of healthy older adults.Neurobiol Aging. 2006 Feb;27(2):318-23. PMID: 16399214

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  16. Thum T, Hoeber S, Froese S, et al. Age-dependent impairment of endothelial progenitor cells is corrected by growth-hormone-mediated increase of insulin-like growth-factor-1. Circ Res. 2007 Feb 16;100(3):434-43. Epub 2007 Jan 18. PMID: 17234973 

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  17. Aberg ND, Brywe KG, Isgaard J. Aspects of growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor-I related to neuroprotection, regeneration, and functional plasticity in the adult brain. ScientificWorldJournal.2006 Jan 18;6:53-80. PMID: 16432628

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  18. Isgaard J, Aberg D, Nilsson M. Protective and regenerative effects of the GH/IGF-I axis on the brain. Minerva Endocrinol. 2007 Jun;32(2):103-13. PMID: 17557036.

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  19. artke A. Is growth hormone deficiency a beneficial adaptation to aging? Evidence from experimental animals. Trends Endocrinol Metab. 2003 Sep;14(7):340-4. PMID:12946877

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  20. A.G. Renehan, M. Zwahlen, C. Minder, S.T. O’Dwyer, S.M. Shalet and M. Egger, Insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I, IGF binding protein-3, and cancer risk: systematic review and meta-regression analysis, Lancet 363 (2004), pp. 1346–1353.

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  21. Sheppard MC. Growth hormone therapy does not induce cancer.Nat Clin Pract Endocrinol Metab. 2006 Oct;2(10):532-3. PMID: 17024147

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  22. Sklar CA. Growth hormone treatment: cancer risk. Horm Res.2004;62 Suppl 3:30-4. PMID: 15539796. 

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  23. Bartke A. Is growth hormone deficiency a beneficial adaptation to aging? Evidence from experimental animals. Trends Endocrinol Metab. 2003 Sep;14(7):340-4. PMID:12946877

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  24. Amato G, Mazziotti G, Di Somma C, et al. Recombinant growth hormone (GH) therapy in GH-deficient adults: a long-term controlled study on daily versus thrice weekly injections. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2000 Oct;85(10):3720-5.

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  25. Pincelli AI, Bragato R, Scacchi M, et al. Three weekly injections (TWI) of low-dose growth hormone (GH) restore low normal circulating IGF-I concentrations and reverse cardiac abnormalities associated with adult onset GH deficiency (GHD). J Endocrinol Invest. 2003 May;26(5):420-8.

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  26. Frystyk J. Free insulin-like growth factors -- measurements and relationships to growth hormone secretion and glucose homeostasis.Growth Horm IGF Res. 2004 Oct;14(5):337-75.

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  28. Suminski RR, Robertson RJ, Goss, FL, et al. Acute effect of amino acid ingestion and resistance exercise on plasma growth hormone concentration in young men. Int J Sport Nutr. 1997 Mar;7(1):48-60.

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  29. Isidori A, Lo Monaco A, Cappa M. A study of growth hormone release in man after oral administration of amino acids. Curr Med Res Opin. 1981;7(7):475-81.

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  30. Welbourne TC. Increased plasma bicarbonate and growth hormone after an oral glutamine load. Am J Clin Nutr. 1995 May;61(5):1058-61. PMID: 7733028.

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  31. Mocchegiani E, Cacciatore L, Talarico M, et al. Recovery of low thymic hormone levels in cancer patients by lysine-arginine combination. Int J Immunopharmacol. 1990;12(4):365-71.

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  32. Fabris N, Mocchegiani E. Arginine-containing compounds and thymic endocrine activity. Thymus. 1992;19 Suppl 1:S21-30.

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