Safe medication: Demystifying the misunderstandings about the use of growth hormone in children

In recent years, many parents have gone crazy in order to make their children grow taller. Even if their children are not short, they still try various methods, such as height-increasing drugs, height-increasing shoes, and height-increasing folk remedies. Blindly choosing to inject growth hormone is one of them. Let's reveal the secrets of growth hormone and understand that it is not a magic weapon for children's height growth, and children are not the target of growth hormone!

The true face of growth hormone! As the name suggests, growth hormone is a substance that can promote human growth and development. It is secreted by the human brain and its main function is to stimulate bone growth and promote human height growth.

A lack of growth hormone will lead to slow growth and short stature, a condition called dwarfism. Conversely, an overproduction of growth hormone will lead to gigantism[1].

Tips : If your height growth is slow or you are short due to some reason, you need to supplement your growth hormone exogenously to improve your height. This exogenous growth hormone is synthesized using genetic recombination technology and is consistent with the growth hormone secreted by the human body in structure and physiological effects. It is a safe and effective drug approved by the State Food and Drug Administration for improving the height of short children [2].

Growth hormone is not a miracle drug, its abuse and misuse can cause great harm!

●Can growth hormone be used for all children with short stature?

Growth hormone is not suitable for everyone. Although there is no absolute age limit, it is only effective for people whose epiphyses have not closed and who are short due to a lack of growth hormone[3]. However, a child's short stature does not necessarily mean that he lacks growth hormone. Short stature may be caused by a variety of factors, both congenital and acquired[4].

Be sure to go to a regular hospital and do special examinations such as bone age and growth hormone secretion. After excluding the influence of various diseases, ask a professional doctor to conduct a strict evaluation. Then decide whether to use growth hormone based on the actual situation, and use it strictly according to the dosage recommended by the doctor.

●Oral growth hormone can make children grow taller.

Many parents mistakenly believe that buying growth hormone and taking it orally at home will make their children grow taller. Here, the editor would like to remind everyone: there is currently no regular oral "growth hormone" on the market. Growth hormone is a protein polypeptide hormone. Protein will deform in the stomach acid environment and will be decomposed when taken orally [5]. Therefore, it cannot be supplemented orally and can only be supplemented by injection.

●If you are anxious about your height, should you take a “height-increasing injection”?

Abuse of growth hormone can cause considerable harm to children’s bodies. If normal children use growth hormone externally, their own growth hormone secretion levels will decrease, epiphyses will be difficult to heal, and their final height will be affected. It is also easy to cause a decrease in the child’s own immunity and endocrine disorders, leading to other diseases such as acromegaly, femoral head slippage, scoliosis, etc. [6].

●The more growth hormone is used, the taller the child will be?

Many parents mistakenly believe that the more growth hormone is used, the taller the child will grow. This is actually wrong. As a drug, growth hormone may also cause adverse reactions during use, such as pain at the injection site, edema, joint pain, etc. Excessive use of growth hormone may also cause changes in the child's blood sugar. Therefore, medication should be strictly followed according to the doctor's instructions[7].

Develop healthy habits and grow taller in your daily life!

Injecting growth hormone is only suitable for a small number of people. If you want your children to grow taller, it is best to cultivate healthy living habits, actively exercise, and improve themselves.

1) Nutrition: Children should eat a balanced diet of coarse and fine foods, meat and vegetables, eat less snacks, and reduce the intake of carbonated beverages. Do not give children other health products and supplements. Children should drink 500 mL of milk, 1 egg, meat, vegetables, and fruits every day for a balanced nutrition[8].

Warm reminder : Friends with excessive appetite should pay attention to control and prevent excessive weight gain!

2) Exercise: Appropriate exercise and a happy mood can help you grow taller. You should do rope skipping, running, and high jump exercises for at least half an hour every day. Also, you should make sure to sit up straight.[9]

3) Sleep: Try to maintain a quiet and comfortable sleeping environment and get enough deep sleep. The best time for growth hormone secretion is around 10 pm, so it is best to fall asleep between 21:30 and 22:00 every night [10].

4) “Respect the human body’s circadian rhythm.” The secretion of growth hormone is also affected by the circadian rhythm. The longer the light exposure time, the more growth hormone secretion will increase[11].

Some children are afraid of the dark at night and sleep with the lights on. Some parents have heard that light can promote the secretion of growth hormone, so they also turn on a night light for their children to sleep at night. But in fact, this is not advisable. The correct way is to exercise well in the bright sunshine during the day and sleep well in the quiet darkness at night, so as to recharge our energy and look forward to the next day.

Tips

Some so-called "height-increasing products" can indeed be effective in the short term, but in fact they accelerate the aging of bone age, overdraw future height, and even cause bone age to close prematurely, causing growth to stop. So don't abuse or misuse height-increasing products. Especially for the use of growth hormone, you must be particularly cautious. Use it as the doctor tells you how to use it, and don't abuse it privately. That's the end of our popular science today. Safe medication starts with you and me.

References

1. Li Ping. Growth hormone is not a panacea for dwarfism[J]. Jiangsu Health Care, 2021(11):29

2.Fantini C, SgroP, Pittaluga M, et al. Short-term, supra-physiological rhGHadministration induces transient DNA damage in peripheral lymphocytes of healthy women[I]. Journal of Endocrinological Investigation, 2017:1-8.

3. Huang Xinyu, Qiu Bohui. Clinical study on the treatment of dwarfism in children with recombinant human growth hormone for injection[J]. Wisdom Health, 2021, 7(31): 120-122+126.

4. Expert consensus on the diagnosis and treatment of growth hormone deficiency in adults (2020 edition)[J]. Chinese Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism, 2020.36(12):995-1002.

5.PfÃfle R. Hormone Replacement Therapy in Children: The Use of GrowthHormone and IGF-IfJ. Best Practice & Research Clinical Endocrinology &Metabolism, 2015.29(3):339.

6. Shen Jian. Don’t take growth hormone casually. Be careful of overdoing it. [1. Traditional Chinese Medicine Health and Wellness. 2020.6(09):58-60.

7. Li Hui, Short stature and standardized use of growth hormone[]. Chinese Journal of Practical Pediatrics, 2019.34(10):815-818.

8. Chen Yizhu. Height anxiety and growth hormone[1. Everyone's Health, 2021(24):10-13.8.

9. Wu Wei, Luo Xiaoping. Interpretation of "Expert Consensus on Diagnosis and Treatment of Transitional Growth Hormone Deficiency"[J]. Chinese Journal of Practical Pediatrics, 2021, 36(08): 565-569.

10.PAN. Is growth hormone a magic drug for children to grow taller?[N]. Pharmaceutical Economic News, 2021-09-16(B01).

11. Ding Youhong, Don’t abuse growth hormone, growth depends on these factors[]. Jiangsu Health Care, 2020(12):36.

12. Li Ping. Should growth hormone be used? [J]. Public Health, 2021(08):86-87.

(Su Hui, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University)