Medical Question to a Doctor regarding Supplements.
Former Member
When competing last week in Hawaii, I read in the Honolulu Star Bulletin newspaper from Saturday May 18, in page A5, an advertisement promoting a product stimulating the release of the Human Growth Hormone by the body.
I read in it: "Practically EVERYONE over the age of 40 has a Growth Hormone deficiency.". I am age 43, and even though I trained more than ever for the past year, I swam slower in Hawaii in 100 free and 200 free than I did last year, which was slower than in 1998, which was slower than in 1996, which was slower than in 1994 when I peaked in yards competitions. Because of this, I kept reading:
by taking the product advertised in the newspaper "In the FIRST MONTH: You should expect: Improved stamina;...".
My question for a Medical Doctor familiar with competitions, regards one specific side effect of such a product, not approved by FDA. I remember reading in the Swimming World magazine in mid-90s, when Chinese Olympic swimmers were being caught on illegal products, that a possible side effect of Human Growth Hormone stimulants given to adults, was an increase of extremities like nose, hands, ears and forehead. A picture of the swimmer Massimiliano Rosolino (Ita.) who in the 2000SydneyOlympics won gold, silver and bronze medals, picture published in 2000 in www.nbcolympics.com, semmed to me to show the increase of the nose. www.nbcolympics.com didn't mean to imply anything like this, this is my interpretation of Rosolino's face. It is publicly documented now, that Rosolino took Human Growth Hormone stimulants before the Olympics.
My question is:
The product advertised in Honolulu Star Bulletin as being a Human Growth Hormone stimulant, does increase the nose?
If so, what safer supplements achieve "...improved stamina..."?
San Francisco Chronicle did mention once before the 2000Olympics, two Olympians who were achieving with legal supplements the outcome of illegal products.
I didn't mean to imply that heavy-duty, illegal anabolic steroids don't enhance performance. These seem to be particularly effective for women athletes, as the Chinese women swimmers demonstrated so effectively a few Olympics back. The reason: women produce very little natural testosterone, so it doesn't take much extra to make them into functional "men." Interestingly, there have been anecdotal reports that the East German women became men-like in more ways than one. Supposedly, the Olympic village where they stayed was rife with rumors of these women's voracious sexual appetities. But that's another story.
Men, on the other hand, produce relatively large doses of testosterone naturally. To boost this over the natural amount requires relatively whopping supplemental quantities--not that some guys won't resort to this. Ben Johnson--not to mention virtually every male athlete whose neck is significantly thicker than his head--have added an otherwise impossible-to-obtain-by-exercise-alone level of (mainly) upper body musculature thanks to illegal steroids. Clearly, these drugs do "work" to bulk you up, and in some sports, perhaps even swimming, they enhance performance.
My point is that the over the counter supplements hawked in muscle mags and at health food stores are NOT the same as these heavy duty, illegal drugs--though they attempt to imply they are. What many claim to be, for instance, are "precursors" for the real thing--i.e., andro is not an anabolic steroid, but rather one of the chemical building blocks that your body uses to create its own supply of anabolic steroids. Moreover, these so-called HGH enhancers are NOT actually human growth hormone per se, but rather a building block your body will convert into human growth hormone. IF you look at the biochemistry of human hormones, there are almost always complex chemical pathways where compound A naturally breaks down to compound B, and so forth, ultimately producing, say, testosterone or HGH. The marketers of these "over the counter steroids" try to say that if you take compund Y it will cause your body to produce, through a complex chain of steps, what you're hoping to actually get--i.e., testosterone or HGH. But there's no evidence this is true! There is, however, some evidence that your urine will test positive for steroids. You get none of the "benefit", in other words, while putting yourself at all of the risk of side effects and positive drug tests.
All so that some baement chemist somewhere can line his pockets with your money!
That is the point I was trying to make...
I didn't mean to imply that heavy-duty, illegal anabolic steroids don't enhance performance. These seem to be particularly effective for women athletes, as the Chinese women swimmers demonstrated so effectively a few Olympics back. The reason: women produce very little natural testosterone, so it doesn't take much extra to make them into functional "men." Interestingly, there have been anecdotal reports that the East German women became men-like in more ways than one. Supposedly, the Olympic village where they stayed was rife with rumors of these women's voracious sexual appetities. But that's another story.
Men, on the other hand, produce relatively large doses of testosterone naturally. To boost this over the natural amount requires relatively whopping supplemental quantities--not that some guys won't resort to this. Ben Johnson--not to mention virtually every male athlete whose neck is significantly thicker than his head--have added an otherwise impossible-to-obtain-by-exercise-alone level of (mainly) upper body musculature thanks to illegal steroids. Clearly, these drugs do "work" to bulk you up, and in some sports, perhaps even swimming, they enhance performance.
My point is that the over the counter supplements hawked in muscle mags and at health food stores are NOT the same as these heavy duty, illegal drugs--though they attempt to imply they are. What many claim to be, for instance, are "precursors" for the real thing--i.e., andro is not an anabolic steroid, but rather one of the chemical building blocks that your body uses to create its own supply of anabolic steroids. Moreover, these so-called HGH enhancers are NOT actually human growth hormone per se, but rather a building block your body will convert into human growth hormone. IF you look at the biochemistry of human hormones, there are almost always complex chemical pathways where compound A naturally breaks down to compound B, and so forth, ultimately producing, say, testosterone or HGH. The marketers of these "over the counter steroids" try to say that if you take compund Y it will cause your body to produce, through a complex chain of steps, what you're hoping to actually get--i.e., testosterone or HGH. But there's no evidence this is true! There is, however, some evidence that your urine will test positive for steroids. You get none of the "benefit", in other words, while putting yourself at all of the risk of side effects and positive drug tests.
All so that some baement chemist somewhere can line his pockets with your money!
That is the point I was trying to make...
