Eli5: Why can’t we just inject adults with growth hormones to make them taller?

608 views

If bodily processes are so strongly governed by hormones that taking cross-sex hormones can trigger essentially a second puberty in post-pubescent people, and people like Andre the giant have their size thanks to an overactive pituitary gland which is what produces growth hormones, why can’t we just inject people with the right hormones to make them taller? Seems like there would be a pretty big market for that.

In: 7

6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Adults have fused growth plates. IGF3 will cause you to gain weight. If you exercise, you’ll gain muscle like crazy. IGF mixed with other steroids is what all those monster body builders are taking.

It just can’t make you taller. It will make your facial bones grow because the growth plates don’t fuse fully.

You are viewing 1 out of 6 answers, click here to view all answers.