Is it good for anti-ageing?

The 2007 systematic review of healthy older adults found small body composition changes — no functional benefit — and frequent adverse effects. The lead author of the 1990 study that started the whole idea later wrote publicly that his work had been misrepresented and that the risks outweighed the benefits in this group.

How is it different from the secretagogues on this site?

Secretagogues push your pituitary to release its own growth hormone in pulses, which is limited by your own feedback loops. This is the hormone itself, at whatever dose is injected, with no such ceiling. That is why it works more reliably and why the adverse effects are more reliable too.

Why is it a controlled substance?

Because of non-medical use in sport and body composition. The US provision is unusually strict: distributing it for anything outside its approved indications is a criminal offence rather than an off-label decision.

Muscle & performanceAnti-aging & longevity

HGH (Somatropin)

HGH · Somatropin · Human growth hormone · Growth hormone · Recombinant hGH

ApprovedProhibited in sportReviewed 18 Aug 2026

Somatropin is recombinant human growth hormone: the same 191-amino-acid protein the pituitary produces, made in bacteria. It has been an approved medicine since 1985 and treats real conditions: growth hormone deficiency in children and adults, Turner syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, short bowel syndrome and HIV-associated wasting.

Almost everything on this site is a compound reaching for the credibility of a real drug. This is the real drug, and the problem runs the other way: it is used for things it was never approved for, by people who do not have the deficiency it treats.

The anti-ageing use traces to a small 1990 study in the New England Journal of Medicine that reported increased lean mass in older men. It became the foundation of an industry. Its lead author later publicly disowned that use, writing that the study had been misrepresented and that the risks in healthy older adults outweighed any benefit. That is an unusually clear correction, and it is worth knowing before reading a clinic's marketing.

In the United States, distributing it for anything other than an approved indication is a criminal offence, not an off-label prescribing decision. Very few drugs are written that way.

How it works

Growth hormone binds its receptor on the liver and other tissues, driving production of IGF-1. Most of the growth-promoting effect is IGF-1's rather than growth hormone's own.

Directly, it promotes lipolysis, breaking down stored fat, and it opposes insulin's action on glucose uptake. The second of those is why it causes insulin resistance and why diabetes risk rises with use.

It also causes fluid retention through sodium and water handling, which accounts for the carpal tunnel and joint symptoms that are the most common adverse effects at supraphysiological doses.

The pituitary normally releases it in pulses, mostly during deep sleep. Daily injection produces a very different pattern, and the growth hormone secretagogues elsewhere on this site exist to preserve pulsatility instead. That is their main argument, and it is mechanistic rather than an outcome.

Quick reference

Commonly described dose: 200 mcg–500 mcg
How often: Daily
Route: Subcutaneous
Where: Abdomen, Thigh, Upper arm
Timing: Usually in the evening, roughly mimicking the natural nocturnal pulse.
Storage once mixed: Refrigerated, 28 days

These describe what sources report, not what you should do. Full detail and provenance in the dosing section below.

Price index

Per-milligram pricing across vendors arrives with the directory. We are recording prices now so the history exists when the page ships.

Vocabulary on this page

IU: An international unit: a measure of biological activity, not of mass. How many milligrams an IU corresponds to depends entirely on the substance.
Titration: Raising a dose in planned steps rather than starting at the target, so side effects appear at a dose small enough to retreat from.
Unit: A mark printed on an insulin syringe. A unit is not a fixed volume. What it represents depends entirely on the syringe's scale.
Secretagogue: A substance that makes the body release something it already produces, rather than supplying that thing from outside.
Duration of action: How long an effect lasts. This is not the same as half-life and often much longer.
Vial: The small sealed glass container a peptide is sold in, holding a stated mass of freeze-dried powder under a rubber stopper.

The whole glossary →

Regulatory status — United States

Approved by the FDA and EMA as a prescription medicine, and a Schedule III controlled substance in the United States. Federal law makes distribution for anything other than an approved indication a criminal offence. Unusual, and specific to this drug.

Last reviewed 18 Aug 2026. Regulatory positions in this category change frequently; we date this line so you can see how current it is.

What it is studied for

Each entry states the evidence behind it. We do not rank indications by effectiveness — for most compounds here, that would be a claim nobody can support.

Growth hormone deficiency in children and adults

Published review

The core approved indication.

EvidenceDecades of controlled trials establishing growth in deficient children and improvements in body composition, bone density and quality of life in deficient adults.

Turner syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, short bowel syndrome, HIV wasting

Published review

Other approved indications.

EvidenceApproved on trial evidence in each population.

Anti-ageing and body composition in healthy adults

Clinical trial

Not approved, and specifically prohibited in the US.

EvidenceThe 1990 study behind the claim reported modest lean mass gains in older men. Its lead author later disowned the anti-ageing use in print. A 2007 systematic review found small body composition changes alongside frequent adverse effects and no functional benefit.

Identity and clearance

Molecule

Class: Recombinant protein hormone, identical to endogenous hGH
Molecular weight: 22124 Da
Length: 191 amino acids

Dose protocols reported in sources

Displayed for reference only. Every row says where it came from, and a trial protocol and a community convention are not the same kind of information. None of this is fed into the calculator, and none of it is a recommendation.

Dose protocols reported in sources, with the source of each.
Goal	Dose	Frequency	Route	Units, 5 mg vial	Source	Start this protocol
Adult growth hormone deficiency	200 mcg – 500 mcg	Daily	SubcutaneousApproved practice starts low and titrates against IGF-1 levels and symptoms rather than by weight. The dose is set by bloodwork, which is the part that does not transfer outside a clinic.	12–30 u	Published review	Start this
Doses described in non-medical use	660 mcg – 4 mg	Daily	SubcutaneousRoughly 2 to 12 IU per day in the units these sources use. Well above replacement, which is why the adverse effects (fluid retention, joint pain, carpal tunnel, insulin resistance) are common at this level rather than occasional.	from 39.6 u	Community practice	Start this

Start this copies a row into a protocol of your own, which you can then edit. Where a source gave a dose range or an ambiguous frequency, those fields arrive empty — we will not pick a number on your behalf.

CheckRows marked community practice describe what people commonly do, drawn from public discussion. They are not derived from any trial and are not evidence that a dose is safe or effective.

Calculator

Work out what to draw

Pre-filled with a 10 mg vial as a worked example. These are not recommended values — change them to match the vial in front of you.

Draw to 8 units on a 1 mL U-100 syringe. That is 0.08 mL, containing 400 mcg of HGH (Somatropin).

Concentration5mg / mL

Volume drawn0.08mL

Doses per vial25doses

Per unit50mcg / unit

8 units sits exactly on a printed line.

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Bioalmanac performs arithmetic on values you enter. It does not recommend doses, schedules or compounds, and nothing here is medical advice. Confirm every calculation against your vial and syringe before drawing, and speak with a licensed healthcare provider.

Open this calculation in the full calculator

Units, concentration, bacteriostatic water — the glossary defines the vocabulary, and a unit is not a fixed volume.

Safety

Reported effects

Fluid retention, joint pain and carpal tunnel syndromePublished review
Common, and dose-dependent
The most frequent reason people stop. Uncommon at replacement doses, common above them.
Insulin resistance and raised blood glucosePublished review
Common at higher doses
Growth hormone directly opposes insulin. Diabetes risk rises with dose and duration.
Acromegalic changesClinical trial
With prolonged supraphysiological use
Coarsened facial features, enlarged hands and feet, jaw growth. Bone changes do not reverse when the drug is stopped.
Enlargement of the heart and internal organsClinical trial
With prolonged supraphysiological use
Suppression of natural productionPublished review
Expected
Exogenous growth hormone suppresses the pituitary's own output while it is being taken.

When to stop

Numbness or tingling in the hands, or wrist pain. That is carpal tunnel from fluid retention.
Persistent swelling of hands, feet or face.
Raised blood glucose, increased thirst or increased urination.
Severe or persistent headache, vision changes, or nausea and vomiting. Raised intracranial pressure is a recognised effect and needs urgent assessment.
New or worsening joint pain.
Any change in a mole or a new lump. Growth hormone drives cell proliferation, and this warrants prompt assessment rather than watching.

Interactions and situations that need care

Active or previous cancerAvoid
Growth hormone and the IGF-1 it produces are proliferative signals. This is an absolute contraindication in the prescribing information, not a precaution.
Diabetes, or impaired glucose toleranceAvoid
It directly opposes insulin and raises blood glucose. Prescribed use in this group requires close monitoring and dose adjustment; unmonitored use does not have that.
Acute critical illnessAvoid
Trials in critically ill patients found increased mortality. This is a contraindication written from a trial that was stopped.
Active proliferative diabetic retinopathyAvoid
Contraindicated in the prescribing information.
Pregnancy and breastfeedingAvoid
Not established as safe, and there is no non-medical use during pregnancy that could justify the unknown.
Using it without a diagnosed deficiencyAvoid
This is the situation almost everyone reading is in. It is a Schedule III controlled substance in the United States and distribution for non-approved use is a criminal offence. Beyond the law: replacement doses in a deficient person are a different intervention from supraphysiological doses in someone whose pituitary works, and the adverse effects that are uncommon in the first are common in the second.
Competing in a tested sportAvoid
WADA class S2, prohibited at all times. Detection methods for recombinant growth hormone exist and are in use.

SportProhibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency under S2: Peptide Hormones, Growth Factors, Related Substances, at all times, in and out of competition. Detection methods for recombinant growth hormone exist and are in routine use, which is not true of most things in S2.

What to expect

In someone with a diagnosed deficiency this is well-evidenced replacement therapy, and the case for it is strong.
In someone without one, the 2007 systematic review found small body composition changes, frequent adverse effects, and no functional benefit.
The lead author of the 1990 study that launched the anti-ageing industry publicly disowned that use. That is worth more than any clinic's brochure.
The dose is set by bloodwork. Without IGF-1 monitoring you are not titrating, you are guessing.
Counterfeits are common and typically underdosed or a different peptide. Appearance tells you nothing.
It is a controlled substance in the United States, and the distribution provision is written more strictly than for most Schedule III drugs.

Storage and handling

Freeze-dried powder: Refrigerated at 2–8 °C. Do not freeze.
After mixing: Refrigerated at 2–8 °C, used within the period the manufacturer states, typically 14 to 28 days depending on the product.
Long-term, frozen: Do not freeze at any stage. Freezing denatures the protein, and a frozen-then-thawed vial may look normal.

Printable one-pager How to reconstitute a vial, step by step

With other peptides

MK-677caution
MK-677 raises growth hormone by driving the pituitary. Adding exogenous hormone on top stacks the same signal, including the insulin resistance both cause.
Ipamorelincaution
Secretagogues exist to produce growth hormone in pulses, which is their whole mechanistic argument. Combining them with exogenous hormone discards it and doubles the exposure.
IGF-1 LR3caution
Growth hormone works largely through IGF-1. Adding a long-acting IGF-1 analogue on top compounds the proliferative signal from both ends of the same axis.

Check this against a whole stack

Checking your vial

Research chemicals carry no manufacturing standard, so what the vial looks like is often the only quality signal available before you use it. More on assessing quality and COAs.

Clear, colourless solution after reconstitution
Normal for correctly handled somatropin.
Cloudy solution or visible particles
The protein has aggregated. Discard it.
No manufacturer packaging or lot number
Counterfeit growth hormone is common, and the usual counterfeit is either underdosed or a different peptide entirely. There is no way to tell by looking.

Questions

Is it good for anti-ageing?: The 2007 systematic review of healthy older adults found small body composition changes — no functional benefit — and frequent adverse effects. The lead author of the 1990 study that started the whole idea later wrote publicly that his work had been misrepresented and that the risks outweighed the benefits in this group.
How is it different from the secretagogues on this site?: Secretagogues push your pituitary to release its own growth hormone in pulses, which is limited by your own feedback loops. This is the hormone itself, at whatever dose is injected, with no such ceiling. That is why it works more reliably and why the adverse effects are more reliable too.
Why is it a controlled substance?: Because of non-medical use in sport and body composition. The US provision is unusually strict: distributing it for anything outside its approved indications is a criminal offence rather than an off-label decision.

References

Somatropin: FDA prescribing information
US Food and Drug Administration, 2024 · Regulatory label
Children and adults with growth hormone deficiency and other approved indications · Titrated to IGF-1 and clinical response
Approved for growth hormone deficiency and several other conditions. Contraindicated in active malignancy, acute critical illness and proliferative diabetic retinopathy. Schedule III in the United States, with distribution for non-approved use a criminal offence.
Systematic review: the safety and efficacy of growth hormone in the healthy elderly
Annals of Internal Medicine, 2007 · Systematic review and meta-analysis
Healthy older adults across 31 studies
Small increases in lean mass and decreases in fat mass, with no improvement in strength or function, and significantly higher rates of soft tissue oedema, joint pain, carpal tunnel syndrome and glucose intolerance. Concluded the evidence does not support use as an anti-ageing therapy.
10.7326/0003-4819-146-2-200701160-00006
Community and clinic practice, unverified
Forums, coaching protocols and wellness-clinic marketing, 2026 · Anecdote
Self-selected, unverified
Doses and schedules described outside medical supervision. No study design — no adverse event capture — and heavy selection bias. People who stop because something went wrong rarely post about it.

HGH (Somatropin) compared with

Tesamorelin vs HGH

Ask the body to release its own growth hormone, or supply it from outside. The choice decides how much say the body's own feedback still has.

MK-677 vs HGH

An oral secretagogue against injected growth hormone. Cheaper, needle-free and indirect on one side. The hormone itself, dosed in IU, on the other.

Related compounds

MK-677

An orally active ghrelin receptor agonist that raises growth hormone and IGF-1. Not a peptide, and not injected. It is a small molecule taken by mouth.

Ipamorelin

A selective growth hormone secretagogue that prompts a short pulse of GH release. Widely used, and supported almost entirely by early pharmacology rather than outcome trials.

IGF-1 LR3

A modified insulin-like growth factor engineered to last far longer in the body than the natural hormone. It can cause hypoglycaemia, which makes it the most acutely dangerous compound on this site.

GHK-Cu

A naturally occurring copper-binding tripeptide with a long history in topical skincare research. Injected use is not what the research studied.

Keep this page honest

If something here is wrong, out of date, or missing a source, tell us and we will fix it and say that we did.

Suggest a correction

This page is educational. It describes what published research reports, not what you should do. Peptides discussed here are largely not approved for human use, and nothing on Bioalmanac is medical advice. No clinician reviews these pages.

Page last updated 18 Aug 2026