Medical experts: HGH doesn't improve performance

BY KEN DAVIDOFF | ken.davidoff@newsday.com

February 13, 2008

WASHINGTON - On Dec. 15, Andy Pettitte confirmed what Brian McNamee told George Mitchell. The Yankees' lefthander said that he used human growth hormone - and only HGH - twice, in an effort to expedite the rehabilitation of his ailing left elbow.

According to a panel of medical experts who spoke in front of Congress yesterday, those actions, if accurately described, accomplished virtually nothing.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which will host Roger Clemens and his accuser, McNamee, in a highly anticipated hearing, entertained the quartet of experts in what likely will prove to be a far more low-key environment than today's heayweight bout. Only nine of the 40 committee members, including chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and ranking minority member Tom Davis (R-Va.), asked questions of the panelists.

The consensus was that HGH alone, as well as B12, doesn't help athletes much, although the panelists all agreed that much more research needed to be performed on HGH.

Todd Schlifstein, an assistant professor at the NYU School of Medicine, said: "When studying the performance-enhancing effects of HGH by itself, it has failed to improve performance. It has been shown to increase muscle mass."

That "ripped" look of increased muscle mass, the experts agreed, could have a placebo effect, as athletes could feel better simply because they look better. HGH must be combined with anabolic steroids to provide a real impact, the panelists said.

Pettitte and others have purported to use HGH to come back from injuries, but Schlifstein said of that drug, "We really don't have any proof that it is beneficial in that matter."

Actor Sylvester Stallone of "Rocky" and "Rambo" fame recently touted the impact of HGH, but Alan Rogol, a professor of clinical pediatrics at both the University of Virginia and Indiana University, said: "He may very well have been taking human growth hormone. None of us in this room know what else he was taking. And I think it's the 'what else' - meaning the anabolic steroids - that made him what he is."