The Human Growth Hormone Steroid this is how it is most commonly referred. If you turn on your T.V. you'll easily find some reporter talking about the human growth hormone steroid; if you listen to one of your politicians discussing performance enhancing drugs you'll hear them talk about the human growth hormone steroid. Lets be clear, very clear, saying Human Growth Hormone Steroid is one of the dumbest things any person could ever say and truly shows the ignorance many possess regarding performance enhancing drugs.
Of course for many this has already created confusion; whats wrong with saying human growth hormone steroid if its a performance enhancing drug it must be a steroid; right? No, not even close and referring to HGH as a human growth hormone steroid is as stupid as referring to steak as a vegetable. True, steak and broccoli are both foods but one is a meat and one is a vegetable and while HGH and steroids are both hormones they belong to two very different classes of hormones.
HGH belongs to a class of hormones known as peptide hormones; specifically protein based peptide hormones that exist based on amino acids that converge and enter into the blood. Anabolic androgenic steroids do not belong to this class; anabolic androgenic steroids are fat based hormones derived from and based on the male sex hormones. As you can easily see these are two very different categories and within the body neither performs like the other. It is true both can have an anabolic effect but anabolic merely refers to muscle growth; even food is anabolic, in-fact food is the most anabolic substance on earth but you wouldn't call food a steroid.
Why does it matter, are we splitting hairs here? Does it really matter if someone refers to HGH as the human growth hormone steroid? Of course it does; when people refer to anything inaccurately how can you take them seriously? If they haven't taken the time to truly understand the very basics of what they're talking about how can their words hold any weight? If someone were referring to the dangers of cardboard and referred to cardboard as a metal would you take them serious? Even if they made a good argument, an argument that sounded educated and well placed would you take them serious? Of course you wouldn't and if someone refers to HGH as the human growth hormone steroid why should we make any exception? The reason this exception is tolerated is simple and its easy to understand. Most people do not understand hormones to begin with and most do not have a desire to and that's fine. However, for those who do have an interest, for those who wish to take part in performance enhancement and understand such use can be beneficial and safe allowing such blatant disregard for a simple truth is damaging to your case.
If you're a performance enhancing athlete and you tolerate little phrases such as human growth hormone steroid you're only aiding in perpetuating ignorance. Of course most are afraid to say anything but there's no reason to be; there's nothing against the law regarding speaking, there's nothing against the law regarding sharing facts and opinions. The truth is simple and if most understood the basics of these truths we would begin to see a change, we would begin to see an end to the hysteria. The next time you hear someone refer to HGH as the human growth hormone steroid correct them and when you do you'll more times than not peak their curiosity. When you peak someones curiosity this opens the door for true discussion and this is your opportunity to shed some light on a subject that is important to you.
