Human growth hormone (HGH) is a key hormone responsible for the human body’s growth and development in childhood as well as keeping the body healthy and working well in adulthood.
In children, HGH boosts bone growth, so if they have enough HGH in their blood, they’ll develop genetically determined height. However, children with growth hormone deficiency (GHD) may have short stature in adulthood. HGH therapy is an FDA-approved treatment used in pediatric endocrinology to help GH-deficient children become taller when they become adults. Because of the therapy’s wide use for children, many adult patients wonder if HGH can make them taller.
Does HGH make you taller? Let’s find out.
HGH and Height
The human body needs the growth hormone to develop organs and stature, regulate metabolism and blood sugar levels. HGH is the most active in childhood and adolescence when the most significant growth occurs, so this hormone makes you grow taller when you are a child.
Scientific research confirms a positive correlation between HGH production and growth velocity. Our height depends on the length of long bones (bones of legs and hands). Long bones increase their size due to growth plates, situated at the bone’s ends. Growth plates are cartilaginous templates that transform into bone tissue and add bone lengths. HGH promotes cell division and expansion in growth plates, thus making bones longer.
Growth plates stop growing when girls reach 12 to 16 years, and for boys, the growth stops from 14 to 19 years. The process of growth plates activity termination is called fusion and closure. For children with GHD, HGH therapy should be applied as early as possible to bring positive effects on height. Scientists also warn that results are dose-dependent. One should take at least 0.3 to 0.4 mg/kg per week to develop adequate adult height.
Can HGH make you taller?
Our height depends on our genetics by 80%. Nutrition and environment take the other 20%.
If one isn’t satisfied with their height, HGH injections can do nothing here. When our growth plates are closed, injected HGH has no effects on them. That’s why HGH therapy for height should be used when growth plates are open.
Take into account that there’s no way bone tissue transforms back into cartilage. Thus, even high doses of HGH can’t make you taller. On the contrary, an overdose may lead to severe endocrine disorders.
Examine your growth plates
Anyone who wants to try HGH therapy to grow taller should examine their growth plates. The doctor can determine whether your growth plates are open or not with an X-ray exam.
After the doctor performs an X-ray on the patient’s wrist, he or she will clarify the results.
If your growth plates are still open, you should ask a doctor about using HGH to increase height. A professional therapist will first check your medical history and hormone levels and then prescribe you HGH. Keep in mind that obtaining HGH injections without a doctor’s prescription is illegal.
Is growth in adulthood possible?
Several companies advertise pills and supplements as an efficient way to make an adult person taller. The truth is, there’s no drug that is confirmed to have positive effects on your height. When growth plates fusion occurs, it’s impossible to increase your height.
Moreover, each person has a risk to become shorter with aging. Age-related height loss is the result of losing minerals in bones. The most widespread bone disease caused by the lack of minerals in bone is called osteoporosis. Osteoporosis makes bones thinner and leads to bone breaks. HGH has the potential to improve bone density and prevent height decrease for GH-deficient adults. For healthy adults, some natural ways to maintain bones health include:
- regular physical activities that involve resistance exercises,
- eating enough products that contain vitamins D and K, and calcium,
- quitting bad habits (smoking, overeating, drinking alcohol).
Stretching exercises and maintaining the right posture may visually improve your height.
If your height doesn’t satisfy you, the only proven way to change it permanently is by undergoing a surgical operation on your legs. Surgical intervention should be considered in critical cases only, as the operation is painful, expensive, and requires prolonged rehabilitation.
Wrapping up
Does HGH make you taller? Yes, the growth hormone influences bone growth starting from our birth to the end of puberty. Then, bone growth stops and there’s no way to reverse the process. Even high doses of HGH can’t make bones grow again. HGH increases height only in children with growth hormone deficiency. However, HGH can increase bone density in GH-deficient adults. If you’re not sure about your HGH levels, contact our experts and receive a free consultation concerning HGH therapy.
