Factors in Human Growth Hormone Secretion

Hormones are also protagonists of the growth process since they are responsible for accelerating or inhibiting cell division.

Also known as somatropin, it is produced by the pituitary gland found in the brain. Among its functions, it is responsible for increasing height and muscle mass, reducing body fat and controlling the body's metabolism. Some people are born with a deficiency of growth hormones, which causes various health problems. Some medicines contain this hormone and they manage to stabilize the level of somatropin and avoid various complications.

What is Human Growth Hormone?

Among the main hormones found in human growth are estrogen (production in the woman's ovaries, helps the development of the mammary glands), corticosterone (accelerates metabolism), somatotropin (regulates growth development of the body and bones) and testosterone (activates and maintains the external sexual characteristics of men.

Growth hormone (GH: growth hormone) is a peptide hormone. GH stimulates growth, cell reproduction and regeneration in humans and other animals.

The effects of growth hormone can be widely transformed as anabolic. Like most other protein hormones, GH works by interacting with a specific receptor on the surface of cells. Increasing height during childhood is the best-known effect of GH.

What Affects Your Height?

Height appears to be stimulated by at least two mechanisms.

1. Through this mechanism, GH directly stimulates the division and multiplication of cartilage chondrocytes.

2. GH also induces the production of IGF-1, which in turn has stimulating effects on the activity of osteoblasts and chondrocytes to promote bone growth.

In recent years in the United States, some doctors have begun prescribing growth hormone in older GH-deficient patients (but not healthy people) to increase vitality. It is legal, but its efficacy and safety for this use have not been demonstrated in any clinical trial. At this time, HGH still considers it a very complex hormone, and many of its functions are still unknown.

What Affects HGH Secretion?

Several factors are known to affect HGH secretion, including age, sex, diet, exercise, stress, and other hormones. Young adolescents secrete HGH at a rate of approximately 700 µg / day, while a healthy adult secretes HGH at a rate of approximately 400 µg / day.

Normally, it is detected that a child is not growing at the speed it should be until the age of three, where the comparison with the rest makes the difference in height noticeable. To make sure the child may need growth hormones, the doctor may perform a series of tests to determine bone age, insulin growth factor, the level of secretion of somatotropin or other hormones, or insulin tolerance.  Depending on the results, a supplement may or may not be prescribed to cover the possible lack of growth hormone.

One of the most visible signs of stunting is that the child is much shorter than most other children his age. This is known as short stature. Nevertheless, some children can be stunted even without being short. Sometimes it is difficult to detect a deficiency of growth hormone in adults. Symptoms such as tiredness, glucose intolerance, muscle weakness or poor physical performance can make their presence suspicious. Growth hormone in adults is important for lipid and carbohydrate metabolism is essential for the normal functioning of the body on an empty stomach, and plays a predominant role in energy balance.

Growth hormone or DGH deficiency in adults can be asymptomatic, or present symptoms such as an increase in the fatty tissue of the trunk, reduction of muscle mass, osteopenia, impaired cardiac function, adverse lipid profile (high cholesterol levels in the blood), glucose intolerance, and decreased physical endurance. In children, on the other hand, DGH is accompanied by slow growth or arrest of the growth rate, and short stature for their age and degree of pubertal development.

Growth hormone deficiency causes a marked increase in mortality in patients with hypopituitarism compared to those who are not deficient in this hormone, because of the development of cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and respiratory diseases. The human growth hormone is considered a controlled substance by the Food and Drug Administration. Using human growth hormone for an unapproved condition, such as muscle building or anti-aging treatment in older adults, is illegal.