HGH Therapy
Growth hormone is the most abundant anterior pituitary hormone in terms of levels secreted throughout the day. HGH secretion is high in children, hits peak levels at puberty, and then decreases in adulthood as age advances.

However growth hormone deficiency is all too common in children as well as adults. In children dwarfism or pediatric growth hormone deficiency (GHD) is prevalent. In adults growth hormone deficiency results in lethargy, loss of sexual function and decreased muscle and bone density.

In such cases it is advisable to go in for HGH therapy by getting HGH injections, oral pills or even HGH sprays that are now increasingly dominating this market.

Previously HGH therapy was only approved for promoting growth in HGH-deficient children. In fact history of human growth hormone shows that HGH is being used to treat children having low levels of the hormone since the last three decades. Pituitary extracts from cadavers were used to treat children having short stature, but this carried the risk of mad cow disease or

The production of human GH by recombinant DNA technology meant that the hormone was now available for wider uses. It also eliminated the risk of disease transmission associated with the pituitary extracts derived from cadavers.

The US Food and Drug Administration approved growth hormone for use in adults in 1996. The FDA also has approved HGH therapy for AIDS-associated wasting and for malabsorption linked to short bowel syndrome

The wide availability of recombinant HGH has meant that doctors are now able to treat HGH deficiency in adults as well.

In children the FDA recommends HGH injections of 40 mg/kg per day subcutaneously in the evening. For children suffering from Turner's syndrome, higher daily doses to the tune of 50 mg/kg are recommended as these children have partial HGH resistance.

According to Quigley C A, who reported in the 2003 issue of Current Opinion in Endocrinology and Diabetes and Obesity, HGH therapy in children can be extended into the transition period from childhood to adulthood although it is generally administered for two years or until the epiphyses of the bones are fused.

In adults, the FDA recommends a starting dose of 3 to 4 mg/kg, which is to be administered subcutaneously once daily. The agency also recommends a maximum dose of 25 mg/kg in patients under 35 years old and 12.5 mg/kg in older patients.