Even savvy consumers are being duped by deceptive marketing of so-called HGH products.

After a decade or more of bogus human growth hormone (HGH) products being peddled on the internet, I figured that by now most people would have caught onto this scam. Then I got a call from a close friend, who I think of as being fairly savvy and discriminating, asking me whether I thought it would be a good idea for her to sell an HGH product on the internet. She had signed up on a “make money working at home” site, giving them her name, address, e-mail address and phone number. (Yikes!) In response she was getting phone calls from a very authoritative-sounding man who insisted that their product raised HGH levels and that she could make millions(!) selling it on the internet. He was citing research and invited her to check the references for herself. The references are there all right, showing that injections of bioidentical HGH confer many anti-aging benefits, from weight loss and muscle gain to better skin and libido. But those references have nothing at all to do with the products being pushed by HGH scammers.

Real HGH supplementation, meaning prescription bioidentical HGH given by injection, has become a popular anti-aging treatment among those with an extra $2,000 or so a month to spare. HGH has many benefits, at least for a couple of years, but then it seems to lose its effectiveness. In excess it can cause serious joint pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, water retention and other side effects, and may also contribute to cancer growth—it’s called growth hormone for good reason.

For the rest of us who can’t afford real HGH, there are dozens if not hundreds of pseudo-HGH treatments, none of which have been shown to have the benefits of real HGH. They are marketed under names such as pro-HGH, homeopathic HGH, HGH enhancers, secretagogues and releasers. This is code for: “there’s no actual HGH in this product,” but you would never know that from the advertising and marketing.

HGH and Amino Acids

Some of the “pro” HGH products are amino acid mixes, meant to supply the body with the materials needed to manufacture HGH. Many of the amino acids taken in high doses will temporarily raise HGH levels, but there’s no evidence that over time this creates the same benefits as HGH injections, and all of the amino acids can have side effects at high doses. Arginine is the amino acid most studied for its ability to raise HGH. It has to be given by injection, or in oral forms in doses so high that many people have an upset stomach for hours afterwards. Furthermore, the increase in HGH after an oral arginine dose peaks in about 1 ½ hours, and drops back to normal within three hours. Arginine mega-dosing was popular among body builders until research showed that the combination of exercise and arginine created less HGH than exercise alone.

Homeopathic HGH

Many of the bogus HGH products claim to be homeopathics, which is why, they say, when you send a sample of the product to the lab for testing there is no detectable HGH in it. However, a friend of mine who has used homeopathics in his practice for decades, says that most of these are not genuine homeopathic products. There is one patented homeopathic HGH product from Biomed Comm. Research done with this product was published in the journal Alternative and Complementary Therapies and showed small but measurable increases in IGF-1, which is how HGH is measured, as well as some typical HGH benefits.

Then there are the products that claim to contain a super small dose of HGH, but because it’s sprayed or rubbed on, it has HGH effects, but these products have no research to back up these claims.

The Lack of Research is the Rub

Bogus HGH products have pulled  in literally hundreds of millions of dollars over the past decade—maybe billions by now—but there is no research to back up claims that these products have the benefits of HGH injections. It seems to me that when you’re making millions, you could spare a few hundred thousand to do some small but well designed double-blind, placebo-controlled studies. The absence of this research speaks loudly.

HGH and Miracle Herbs

The latest trend in fake HGH appears to be combinations of the latest miracle herbs and fruits from high mountains and deep jungles in exotic and remote corners of the globe. At best this is wishful thinking.

You Can Raise HGH Without Supplements

Please visit the Virginia Hopkins Health Watch to read the article, 5 Ways to Increase Your HGH Levels – for Free!

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