Doping with growth hormone (GH) is a problem among both elite athletes and ordinary young adults who use gyms. However, the role of GH as an effective anabolic muscle doping agent, when taken alone, is questioned, although at lower doses GH may be seen to be effective when taken together with other anabolic androgenic steroids. Furthermore, GH doping does not seem to have any positive effects on cardiac performance, and fluid retention and other acromegalic side-effects reduce its use. A positive effect of supraphysiological doses of GH does seem to be the stimulation of collagen synthesis, though, which could lower the risk of muscle and tendon rupture, allow ruptured muscles and tendons to heal faster, and allow harder training with shorter recovery periods. This may explain its ongoing use as a doping agent. Moreover, it cannot be excluded that in the future this effect on collagen synthesis could become useful in clinical practice for the treatment of muscle and tendon ruptures.

Keywords:
Collagen, Doping, Growth hormone, Muscle, Young adult
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2007
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