The abuse of human growth hormone or HGH can lead to serious health complications and celebrities and others using them to stay young or look better are the likely sufferers, as per Dr. Alan Rogol, testifying before the U.S. House of Representatives Government Reform Committee on behalf of The Endocrine Society, and outlining the legal medical use of human growth hormone (HGH) and serious repercussions surrounding its abuse.

It was remarked that off-label HGH use can lead to increased health risks such as heart diseases and muscle weakness.

From News-Medical.Net:

“Magazines and the internet are replete with advertisements for substances marketed as ‘growth hormone‘,” said Dr. Rogol. “Growth hormone, however, can only work if injected, and many of these preparations are taken orally, so they cannot possibly be HGH.”

These compounds falsely sold as HGH may contain other unlisted ingredients, including anabolic steroid hormones or steroid precursors, which have been found to promote the growth of tumors. These unlisted ingredients can also appear in unknown quantities, while the entire preparation is of unknown purity.

In addition, the vast majority of clinically administered growth hormone is made by recombinant DNA techniques and not from human tissue. “Growth hormone made from human tissue has largely been removed from the market because of the rare but fatal Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease,” said Dr. Rogol. “Some of the HGH now available clandestinely is of human origin and may carry this deadly biological agent.”

People abusing the human growth hormone run a greater risk of damaging their health and body function, as per Dr. Rogol.