I found John Berardi’s article on growth hormone releasing peptides very interesting. Although GH supplementation for bodybuilding appears to have very little benefit, I’m primarily interested in it for life extension purposes. I have used amino acids to increase Gh secretion in the past but since they have to be taken on empty stomach, the overnight catabolism due to the lack of protein outweighs the benefit of any increased GH secretion, at least for bodybuilders anyway. A possible way around this is the GHRP’s which John spoke of in the article. These appear to be available as oral sprays which would allow one to consume a protein meal before bed and still reap the benefits of increased GH secretion. I have been reluctant to purchase any of these sprays because many if not most are outright scams and none of them seem to really disclose what they contain. I guess they assume the consumer is too stupid to understand what a GHRP is so they just put “Growth Hormone” on the label. Then savvy consumers are unable to determine what is a GHRP and what is bunk. So, my question to Mr. Berardi or anyone else in the know is, are there any legit GHRP products available over the counter? I did some searching on the web and as a example I found 2 products from a seemingly reputable supplier. The first is a Somastatin supressor (which is also the name of the product) and the second is the GH stimulator which is called Biotropin. They do not reveal specifically what is in these products which makes me suspicious. I am in no way recommending these products. Are these the real deal?
I did some further research and found that GHRP appears to be quite expensive at $120 for 5 mg. I don’t know what the dosing is, but this sounds prohibitively expensive. This wasn’t in supplement form. It was from a wholesale lab.
Also, I assumed above that GHRP’s could be taken sublinguily but I may be wrong?
And I researched the available GH products/stimulators. As we already know all products claiming to contain real GH are scams. Lately products have been claiming to contain the GH molecule in a “polymer matrix” which is supposed to stabilize the molecule and allow transport through the mucus membrane. A group of researchers looked for literature referencing “polymer matrix” and could find none. Also, none of the product manufacturers would comment on it.
So John can confirm but I don’t think there are any true GHRP products available yet however they may surface later since GHRP’s do not appear to require a prescription.
Hey Alex, looks like youve been snooping around for a while in your own search for the fountain of GH. Pump de Leon would be proud.
Although I cant be certain that the current abundance of “otc” GH products and secretagogues are useless, that seems to be the consensus. Your comments regarding no discussion of ingredients is always a red flag in my book. For example, the owner of one company I contacted told me that he has the best testosterone product. He wouldnt tell me what was in it and after much prodding he admitted microgram amounts of creatine, DHEA, pregnolone, and “other ingredients” (he wouldnt tell me all). MICROGRAM AMTS!!! When I asked him how on earth microgram amounts would have effects when hundreds of milligram amounts dont, he tried to tell me that his product has a special “isokinetic charge” and that it “contains 17 compounds of DHEA and 23 enzymatic pathways”. When I told him I was an exercise biochemist and asked him how the F a capsule could contain an enzymatic pathway, he told me he had another appt and had to go! I have dozens of other similar examples regarding unlisted ingredients.
The point is that I personally dont trust products without listed ingredients or products that you cant call the manufacturer and get the ingredient list. That reaks of scam to me. Also if any of these are legit, then a company would be dying to fund a study in my lab or the labs of other supplement researchers to prove that their product works. And needless to say, I have not seen this data! If I were to release a GH product, you had better believe there would be data to support it from the beginning.
So in summary, the only GHRP's and GH secretagogues that actually work (according to the data) are the few I mentioned in the article. Nova Nordisk and Merck are studying them but they are currently unavailable (even by prescription). Im not sure how soon they might be either since the direction of their research seems to be headed toward finding better compounds and not releasing MK-0677 or Hexarelin.
Maybe finding a novel secretagogue should be my next project?!?
Alex, there’s a new product coming out called Intra Growth which sounds very promising. They actually used this in Europe with great results.