In this TRT discussion, we're looking into the possible effects of peptides that mimic human growth hormone (HGH). Do these secretagogues peptides have the potential to replace HGH as a viable alternative?

This is a hot topic right now, as many people are looking for an alternative to HGH therapy due to the increase in cost. We'll discuss the possible effects of peptides that mimic HGH, and what the benefits and drawbacks may be. Please let us know your thoughts in the comments!

It should be noted again, despite the disclaimer in this video, that some mentioned peptidess are not for human consumption nor regulated by the FDA. They cannot be prescribed & we cannot recommend them. However some are & others yet are being tested with promise to be released soon. This is for educational purposes.

Link to current Reddit AMA about this topic: https://www.reddit.com/r/trt/comments...

Transcript

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Garrett Soames: Hello again, everyone, it's Garrett with Alpha MD. Today, we're going to be discussing peptide hormones. Specifically, we're going to be talking about the peptide hormones used as an adjunct for growth hormone. So first, before we dive in, it's important to discuss the fact that the

Garrett Soames: Medications that we're going to be discussing. Today are not FDA approved. With that being said, they are currently being researched. There is certainly some promise to them, but as a as of now, none of the medications were describing today can be prescribed by any medical provider as they are, not yet approved for that. So we do want to answer any questions that anyone may have and these medications are often used by people who are currently on testosterone replacement therapy as an adjunct, they're often used in bodybuilding communities, things like that. But it's important again to remind you, that we are not currently recommending their use, we just again want people to be informed.

Garrett Soames: So again, we're talking today about growth hormone secretagogues. So what is a growth hormone secretagogue? A growth hormones, secreted, God. Like it sounds, it helps it secrete. So you produce more growth hormone. Basically, these medications were being investigated because human growth hormone itself. Which is again a peptide hormone, which, which can currently be prescribed, but it was so heavily regulated by the government. That it made it very difficult to prescribe it or use it in, really any way, shape, or form as it stands. Now, human growth hormone, can pretty much only be prescribed for children with pituitary disorders and so it leaves very little opportunity to use it in other situations where it may be beneficial.

Garrett Soames: so, these medications again, Are basically being used in more natural manner, where it doesn't necessarily give you human growth hormone exogenously. But these medications do, is they help your own body produce more of what it already, produces meaning it. It's like ringing out a towel like, you know, making your, your pituitary gland work harder to produce more human growth hormone. And so that's that's the premise of these medications. So just a brief overview. What is human growth hormone? Um again he well the whole process is in the hypothalamus. Your body releases, what's called growth hormone, releasing hormone. So that's ghrh growth hormone releasing hormone from the hypothalamus triggers. Growth hormone release from the pituitary.

Garrett Soames: And then that's released into the bloodstream. And then from that point, it growth hormone gets into the tissues at which point it stimulates production of insulin like growth factor. One our IGF-1, and that's where really you start to get the actual benefit mainly acting as On the muscle tissues in particular but also you know the liver and several other organs to control metabolism and growth. So it's also important to remember that growth hormone releasing hormone.

Garrett Soames: It's counteracted by a hormone called somatostatin, which prevents growth hormone release. So every hormone kind of has this balancing act that it plays. So again, growth hormone releasing hormones, antagonist is known as somatostat and that's important later. Ultimately, again these medications that we're discussing, they're broken down into two separate parts. So there's we're known as growth hormone, releasing hormones. Um and then there are what are known as growth hormone, releasing peptides They sound similar, but they actually have a little bit different mechanism of action. The growth hormone releasing hormones. To put it simply they act directly.

Garrett Soames: By stimulating the pituitary gland to produce and release more growth hormone. So they look like growth hormone releasing hormone but they're not quite growth hormone releasing hormone and ultimately. They do have some side effects, just like any medication. So, we'll kind of go into those now. So, basically, one one medication that is, is thrown into this growth hormone releasing hormone group. Is known as Cjc or cjc. One one, two nine five. It has another name known as Grf-1-29. So it again those are important to remember. But against CJC is it increases levels of growth hormone in the blood?

Garrett Soames: And specifically IGF-1 so it does this again by creating more release from the pituitary gland itself. So again this is not like injecting human growth hormone. It's basically triggering your body to produce more so that's important to remember. Cjc is, is a common one, found on the Internet. It has a very short, half-life. So you sometimes, you'll hear about this, there's CJC 1295, with DAC or without DAC. Um, the DAC basically stands for drug affinity complex. And basically its goal is to prevent its breakdown giving it a longer half light. So that one's very commonly prescribed I should say not, not prescribed, it's very commonly used.

Garrett Soames: One of the cheaper ones on the Internet, so you probably will hear that one again, in the, in the locker rooms and things like that. Another one that's actually currently being studied directly is called Tesla Relin. So Tesmer, Allen actually is currently being studied

Garrett Soames: It's not, it's still not approved yet, but it's, it's primarily being studied to see if it has any indication in HIV specifically to help produce abdominal fat HIV. Interestingly causes something called lipodystrophy, which causes an increased amount of intra-abdominal, fat also causes insulin resistance and problems with cholesterol. Um tesmer Allen. The studies on this are actually very promising in this particular group. For this reason, it is also currently being used off label for, again, the bodybuilding community, they're like, well, if it gets rid of fat then, let's let's try it. So anecdotally, you'll hear people using tesmerelin there are other ones within this this growth hormone releasing hormone group that are

Garrett Soames: also used. Sometimes you may hear of somat around that one's out there. There's modified grf which again is known as cjc without back. um, There's also Rismarellan, which is harder to find and then doomarellan again, all of these kind of have that same action.

Garrett Soames: So that's one class of the growth hormone secret agogs. The next class is no known as growth hormone releasing peptides So how are these different? Well, these ones specifically work by attaching to the ghrelin receptors. So gremlin is the hunger hormone. And again gremlin is released by the pituitary gland. And it works directly in the brain to kind of trigger you to want to eat more grilling also has other functions. It basically is being studied as a target right now by by many pharmaceutical agencies to basically, try to treat obesity. Obviously, if you can block hunger, you might be able to prevent or treat obesity. So it's currently being studied in these medications again, are being studied for that indication but

Garrett Soames: the ones, these ones again, instead of attaching directly to growth hormone receptors these attached to the ghrelin receptors but they basically do the same thing and that they trigger more IGF-1 release Some of the ones you may have heard, the one most commonly heard of is known as I pamarellan. I Pam around is a growth hormone, releasing peptide most commonly used. It's the most easily found on the market.

Garrett Soames: The main reason, it's, it's felt to be the most popular one is. It seems to not increase hunger, so much as some of the other growth hormone releasing peptides. Like other IGF-1 releasing compounds. It does increase nitrogen retention.

Garrett Soames: So it does help significantly with muscle growth, it also helps with fat loss in the same same manner. So other ones you, you might have heard of There's GHR P2. So that's called primer around. That one is mainly used actually as a diagnostic. So we will use it to inject patients and then it helps us determine whether or not they're getting appropriate pituitary response. So you it's not often used as an adjunct for like bodybuilders or any in any way, shape, or form being used other than is a more diagnostic tool. Um, then there's GH Rp6. This is what's known as a hexapeptide. So you may have heard of Hexa Relin

Garrett Soames: it's very potent but it it is certainly more potent that a camera Ellen but it's increasing hunger is rather significant so it's important to remember If you do choose to use any of these products, it's generally not going to help you in a cutting phase or with weight loss because you're fighting additional hunger which is again being triggered by the

Garrett Soames: The activation of the ghrelin receptors. So just bear that in mind. Some of the other peptides that you may have heard of that are in this class again there's a ghrps basically one through six but there's also To to them around, is there, and there's real amarillan and then there's exam around as well. So, those those ones are again, not as common as I pam around. But again, you may, you may hear them out there so just bear that in mind. Um it's important to know those it's because they're half-lives tend to be rather short. Some of them and actually The half-life is as short as a few minutes.

Garrett Soames: That these medications again are often used together or in conjunction with others and an attempt to kind of get a longer lasting effect because they have such short half lives again. We don't have any really good long-term studies proving their efficacy. So you know, although they definitely work while they're active in your body, we're not sure that they're active long enough to really show any real effect. So again, if you do choose to to use any of these products just bear in mind, that really all your all all we know so far is the anecdotally. They may show some benefit but because the half-life so short, we're probably not getting as good at effect as we think we are. So

Garrett Soames: Again, none of these medications are yet at DA approved. So just bear that in mind. Take them at your own risk. But again, we wanted to make sure that everyone was fully educated. Since we've been getting plenty of questions about these these medications. So, we'll be doing some further videos on some of these other peptides. Some of the, the less commonly heard of ones known as like, Pp's C157, Malana Tan, 2, things like that. So, stay tuned for those.