Does the research match your goal?

Much of the older work was in children

Growth hormone is a body signal that helps children grow.

A 1996 growth study treated 110 children with a growth-hormone shortage; 86 were included in the analysis of benefit.

The study details available for this guide do not explain why the others were left out of that analysis. Being left out does not tell us whether those children were helped.

In that study, average growth rose from about 4 centimetres a year to about 7 to 8 in the first year.

There was no untreated comparison group in that trial.

A centimetre is a measure of height. Those results concern children with a diagnosed hormone shortage, so ask how they relate to an adult goal.

The adult studies were small and short

In the older-adult studies behind this chapter, groups contained 10 to 19 people and treatment lasted 2 to 16 weeks.

Those studies tested sermorelin or a similar substance with a small change in its makeup, and found higher growth-hormone levels.

In the studies that checked body fat, the amount stayed the same.

One study used the changed version, with a different part in the chain, rather than sermorelin itself.

Ask for a study of the same substance and the same goal as the treatment being proposed. Keep changes in blood tests separate from changes in daily life.

Ask about the form as well

The studies behind this chapter mostly used injections.

In a nasal-spray study, about 3 to 5 percent of the sprayed medicine reached the body.

Swallowed, under-the-tongue and skin-applied forms were not studied in the research read for this guide.

These studies do not tell us whether sermorelin swallowed, held under the tongue or applied to the skin works. Ask for research on the form you are being offered.

This guide has not checked every study, so it cannot say that no research on those forms exists.

A useful question to bring

Which study supports the result you are discussing, and did it test people like me using this form of the drug?