Written by Steve Blechman
20 November 2019

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DAMN! GH CAUSES INSULIN RESISTANCE AND DIABETES

Insulin Use vs. Metformin

By Steve Blechman 

 

            We all know that many bodybuilders use growth hormone to enhance fat loss and enhance lean body mass. Unfortunately, GH can cause insulin resistance and promote diabetes! Insulin resistance results in the inability of the body to utilize insulin and raises blood glucose levels and insulin levels. Elevated blood glucose levels cause the pancreas to release more insulin to lower blood glucose levels.

 

 

            Hyperinsulinemia occurs when the body produces too much insulin and raises blood insulin levels because of insulin resistance on the insulin receptors of cells. Hyperinsulinemia is different than high glucose (hyperglycemia). However, insulin resistance can cause Type 2 diabetes. Diet and exercise is usually the first treatment for insulin resistance. If diet and exercise are not adequate, then your physician would often recommend drug treatment such as the use of metformin. Metformin is a relatively very safe and inexpensive anti-diabetic drug. It is occasionally associated with gastrointestinal side effects. For those people with gastrointestinal side effects, a sustained-release form of metformin has recently been approved. The American Diabetes Association has recommended metformin as the only drug considered for the prevention of Type 2 diabetes. Metformin is the first-line medication for the treatment of insulin resistance, pre-diabetes and Type 2 diabetes after lifestyle measures (diet and exercise). Metformin works by suppressing liver glucose output and sensitizing insulin receptors. Most recent research has shown that metformin also has a positive effect on blood glucose by improving the microbiome in the human gastrointestinal tract.

 

            In a new double-blind trial, researchers at the University of Kentucky found that older adults (65 and over) who took metformin while performing rigorous resistance exercise training had smaller gains and muscle mass than the placebo group. In this study, metformin blunted muscle hypertrophy (but not strength) by lowering mTORc1 (a key regulator of muscle growth) in response to progressive resistance exercise training in older adults (Aging Cell, September 26, 2019). It’s not known at this time if the same results would occur with metformin in younger adults! It’s also very unlikely that metformin would blunt muscle hypertrophy in young bodybuilders today, with the prevalent use of anabolic drugs (anabolic steroids, testosterone, growth hormone, etc.). Testosterone increases mTOR as well as the amino acid leucine (5 grams), the anabolic trigger of muscle protein synthesis. Leucine also increases mitochondrial biogenesis in muscle. I have personally taken metformin for over one year for anti-aging purposes, and also because I have a strong family history of diabetes. I have not seen a loss of lean body mass on metformin; in fact, I have seen additional abdominal and body fat loss.

 

            Research has shown that exogenous insulin accelerates cardiovascular disease in insulin-resistant individuals. Taking insulin for Type 2 diabetes has been shown in the scientific literature to increase mortality and increase risk of heart attack, stroke and cancer (Journal of Clinical Endocrinology, February 2013; Atherosclerosis, April 15, 2013). A most recent study reported in the journal Nature (September 5, 2019) found that growth hormone (0.015mg/kg) taken 3-4 times per week (Omnitrope, from Sandoz International) combined with metformin (500mg) and DHEA (50mg) can reverse biological age in humans. The investigators acknowledge that growth hormone by itself can cause diabetes, but metformin has anti-diabetic effects when taken with growth hormone (Aging Cell, September 8, 2019).

 

 

            I’m not surprised about the findings of this study because it has been shown in the scientific literature that metformin has cardiovascular and anti-cancer benefits. Please do not start metformin without first speaking to your physician and getting proper blood work such as fasting blood glucose levels and hemoglobin A1C. I am really pissed off that some of today’s so-called bodybuilding gurus continue to recommend insulin use as an anabolic drug, and also practice medicine without a license, as a remedy for the treatment of insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes from growth hormone use! Insulin use has been the most single factor in bodybuilding that has hurt the quality, conditioning and muscle separation of physiques today compared to the bodybuilders of the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s such as Arnold, Frank Zane, Shawn Ray, Flex Wheeler, Kevin Levrone and Lee Haney. “Insulin is like the Miracle-Gro for fat cells,” says noted Harvard endocrinologist David Ludwig, Ph.D in The New York Times (August 27, 2019). My biggest concern is the health risks of exogenous insulin and abuse!! There is strong evidence that hyperinsulinemia increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer!

 

            Studies indicate that insulin therapy increases cardiovascular risk and mortality among Type 2 diabetes! A large-scale meta-analysis, including large-scale outcome trials and patient registry studies, confirms strong dose associations for injected insulin with increase cardiovascular risk and worsened mortality! The majority of large observational studies clearly show that insulin causes weight gain, recurrent hypoglycemia, and other potential adverse effects including hyperinsulinemia. This over insulin-zation with use of injected insulin enhances inflammation, atherosclerosis, hypertension, dyslipidemia (elevation of plasma cholesterol, triglycerides or both, or a low high-density lipoprotein level that contributes to the development of atherosclerosis), heart failure and arrhythmias. These findings strongly suggest that insulin therapy has a poor, short- and long-term safety profile. Physicians approve insulin as a last resort in Type 2 diabetic patients when diet, exercise and other safer anti-diabetic drugs do not result in normal blood glucose control.

 

            Insulin enhances abdominal obesity and is the main culprit along with excess growth hormone in the so-called GH Belly, sometimes referred to as “The Bubble Gut” in some bodybuilders. In an interview published in Muscular Development, six-time Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates noted his experience with growth hormone and insulin, commenting that while growth hormone of 8 IUs per day day did have a positive effect on his size and condition, where insulin was concerned, “I got bigger than ever, but it wasn’t quality muscle and my midsection was distended.” In fact, Yates only used insulin one year during the off-season. He further stated, “For me, insulin had a negative overall impact on my physique. It kept me from getting into my usual condition that I pride myself on. Raw mass is not the same as quality muscle tissue. I got a bit bigger, but at the expense of my separation, crispness and clear muscle separation. I see that same lack of separation constantly today with the guys as well as distended abs.”

 

 

 

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References:

              1. Herman Mary E et al. Insulin Therapy Increases Cardiovascular Risk in Type 2 Diabetes. Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, Volume 60, Issue 3, 422-434, September, 2017.

              2. Fahy GM, Brooke RT, Watson JP et al. Reversal of epigenetic aging and immunosenescent trends in humans. Aging Cell, September 2019; 18:e13028. https://doi.org/10.1111/acel.13028

              3. Abbott A. First hint that body’s ‘biological age’ can be reversed. September 5, 2019 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02638-w

              4. Walton RG, Dungan CM, Long DE et al. Metformin blunts muscle hypertrophy in response to progressive resistance exercise training in older adults: A randomized, doubleblind, placebocontrolled, multicenter trial: The MASTERS trial. Aging Cell 2019; 18:e13039. https://doi.org/10.1111/acel.13039

              5. Rotella C Monami M, Mannucci E. Metformin Beyond Diabetes: New Life for an Old Drug. Current Diabetes Reviews, August 2006. https://doi.org/10.2174/157339906777950651

              6. Zilov AV, Abdelaziz SI, AlShammary A et al. Mechanisms of action of metformin with special reference to cardiovascular protection. Diabetes Metab Res Rev 2019; 35:e3173. https://doi.org/10.1002/dmrr.3173

              7. Currie CJ, Poole CD, Evans M, Peters JR, Morgan CL. Mortality and other important diabetes-related outcomes with insulin vs. other antihyperglycemic therapies in Type 2 diabetes. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2013;98(2):668-677. doi:10.1210/jc.2012-3042

              8. Gamble J, Simpson SH, Eurich DT, Majumdar SR and Johnson JA. Insulin use and increased risk of mortality in Type 2 diabetes: a cohort study. Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism 2010, 12: 47-53. doi:10.1111/j.1463-1326.2009.01125.x

              9. Sansome DJ, Xie C, Veedfald S, Horowitz M, Rayner CK, Wu T. Mechanism of glucoselowering by metformin in Type 2 diabetes: Role of bile acids. Diabetes Obes Metab 2019; 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1111/dom.13869

              10. Beyond diabetes, metformin may prove to be a “wonder drug.” Endocrine Today, February 2017. https://www.healio.com/endocrinology/diabetes/news/print/endocrine-today/%7B3d599445-6a21-46c9-b694-7d91409a503f%7D/beyond-diabetes-metformin-may-prove-to-be-a-wonder-drug

              11. Takano A, Haruta T, Iwata M, Usui I, Uno T, Kawahara J, Ueno E, Sasaoka T, Kobayashi M. Growth Hormone Induces Cellular Insulin Resistance by Uncoupling Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase and Its Downstream Signals in 3T3-L1 Adipocytes. Diabetes, Aug 2001, 50 (8) 1891-1900; DOI: 10.2337/diabetes.50.8.1891

              12. Kim SH, Park MJ. Effects of growth hormone on glucose metabolism and insulin resistance in human. Ann Pediatr Endocrinol Metab, 2017;22(3):145-152. doi:10.6065/apem.2017.22.3.145