Ray Peat on Growth Hormone
Short answer: Ray Peat questioned the anti-aging reputation of growth hormone. In an article that asks whether it is the hormone of stress, aging and death, he wrote that it causes edema, blocks the use of glucose by raising free fatty acids, and rises together with estrogen.
What Ray Peat wrote about growth hormone
Growth hormone clearly causes edema, and he considered that swelling to be part of the damage it can do. Source: Growth hormone: Hormone of Stress, Aging, and Death?
It antagonizes insulin. One of the ways it does that is simply by raising free fatty acids, which block the oxidation of glucose. Source: Growth hormone: Hormone of Stress, Aging, and Death?
One of the characteristic effects of estrogen is to raise growth hormone in the blood. Source: The dark side of stress (learned helplessness)
In dementia, he wrote, growth hormone increases while its antagonist somatostatin decreases. Source: The dark side of stress (learned helplessness)
He cites publications suggesting that blocking growth hormone is beneficial in prostate cancer, and placed it with estrogen, cortisol and unsaturated fats as a promoter of degenerative change. Source: Prostate Cancer
It is sold to make men lean and muscular, he noted dryly, not for its other known effects. Source: Growth hormone: Hormone of Stress, Aging, and Death?
What he suggested in practice
- He treated high growth hormone as a marker of stress, not something to raise.
- Sugar, thyroid function and low free fatty acids keep the stress hormones, including this one, down.
Where he wrote about it
This topic comes up in 20 of the articles on his site. These are the most relevant ones:
- Growth hormone: Hormone of Stress, Aging, and Death? · original on raypeat.com ↗
- The dark side of stress (learned helplessness) · original on raypeat.com ↗
- Glycemia, starch, and sugar in context · original on raypeat.com ↗
- Prostate Cancer · original on raypeat.com ↗
- TSH, temperature, pulse rate, and other indicators in hypothyroidism · original on raypeat.com ↗
- Aging, estrogen, and progesterone · original on raypeat.com ↗
- Diabetes, scleroderma, oils and hormones · original on raypeat.com ↗
- Osteoporosis, aging, tissue renewal, and product science · original on raypeat.com ↗
Quick answers
What did Ray Peat say about growth hormone?
That it behaves like a stress hormone: it causes edema, raises free fatty acids, opposes insulin and increases with estrogen, and that its reputation as a youth hormone is not deserved.
15 studies Ray Peat cited on growth hormone
- Studies on the renal kinetics of growth hormone (GH) and on the GH receptor and related effects in animalsJ Pediatr Endocrinol · 1994 · PMID 8061766 · cited in Growth hormone: Hormone of Stress, Aging, and Death?
- Progestins induce down-regulation of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) receptors in human breast cancer cells: potential autocrine role of IGF-IIMol Endocrinol · 1991 · PMID 1649393 · cited in Preventing and treating cancer with progesterone
- Effect of growth hormone on fatty acid oxidation: growth hormone increases the activity of 2,4-dienoyl-CoA reductase in mitochondriaArch Biochem Biophys · 1986 · PMID 3707134 · cited in Glycemia, starch, and sugar in context
- Inflammation and IGF-I activate the Akt pathway in breast cancerInt J Cancer · 2007 · PMID 17096325 · cited in Preventing and treating cancer with progesterone
- Increased mortality associated with growth hormone treatment in critically ill adultsN Engl J Med · 1999 · PMID 10477776 · cited in Growth hormone: Hormone of Stress, Aging, and Death?
- A hypopituitary patient who attained tall stature without growth hormoneIntern Med · 1998 · PMID 9652904 · cited in Growth hormone: Hormone of Stress, Aging, and Death?
- Sleep, respiratory rate, and growth hormone in chronic neonatal lung diseasePediatr Pulmonol · 1998 · PMID 9811073 · cited in Growth hormone: Hormone of Stress, Aging, and Death?
- Inhibition of in vivo proliferation of androgen-independent prostate cancers by an antagonist of growth hormone-releasing hormoneBr J Cancer · 1997 · PMID 9184172 · cited in Prostate Cancer
- Diminished function of the somatotropic axis in older reproductive-aged womenJ Clin Endocrinol Metab · 1995 · PMID 7852528 · cited in Rosacea, inflammation, and aging: The inefficiency of stress
- Circadian variation of insulin requirement in insulin dependent diabetes mellitus the relationship between circadian change in insulin demand and diurnal patterns of growth hormone, cortisol and glucagon during euglycemiaHorm Metab Res · 1995 · PMID 7607604 · cited in Diabetes, scleroderma, oils and hormones
- Expansion of extracellular volume and suppression of atrial natriuretic peptide after growth hormone administration in normal manJ Clin Endocrinol Metab · 1991 · PMID 1826008 · cited in Growth hormone: Hormone of Stress, Aging, and Death?
- Kinetic studies of growth hormone and prolactin during adaptation of coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch, to different salinitiesGen Comp Endocrinol · 1991 · PMID 1855642 · cited in Water: swelling, tension, pain, fatigue, aging
- Coexistence of acetylcholinesterase and somatostatin-immunoreactivity in neurons cultured from rat cerebrumScience · 1984 · PMID 6140757 · cited in The dark side of stress (learned helplessness)
- Prolactin and growth hormone receptorsCiba Found Symp · 1982 · PMID 6291882 · cited in Growth hormone: Hormone of Stress, Aging, and Death?
- Metabolic effects of human growth hormone and of estrogens in boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophyJ Clin Invest · 1972 · PMID 5057128 · cited in Meat physiology, stress, and degenerative physiology
Not affiliated with raypeat.com. This page describes Ray Peat's published articles in our own words and links to the originals. Educational content, not medical advice.