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Page 5 of 6
The Pathway to Ultimate Size
The central features of the metabolic syndrome are: obesity (especially intra-abdominal fat), dangerous cholesterol and fat levels in the blood, fatty buildup in the liver, insulin resistance, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and heart attacks.17 Inflammation has also been suggested to be part of the metabolic syndrome.20 The exceedingly high levels of GH used by some bodybuilders predispose them to symptoms of metabolic syndrome by interfering with the body’s ability to respond to insulin.19,21 This leads to elevated levels of both insulin and sugar, causing fat cells to grow, making it difficult to break down stored fat and get sugar for energy into the muscle cell. The fat releasing (lipolytic) effect of GH appears to be strong enough to counteract the insulin resistance of fat cells in the subcutaneous layer, but another very important reservoir of fat, the visceral fat surrounding the abdominal organs, grows. As the visceral fat deposit enlarges, physiologic changes occur in the body which make the metabolic syndrome more pronounced, worsen Heart Health and promote cardiovascular disease.22,23
These effects compound the heart-altering effect of anabolic steroids and GH, placing many of these bodybuilders at great risk for a heart attack.24,25
Beyond the gut-bulging effect of GH (acting by increasing heart, liver, spleen and intestine size as well as increasing the visceral fat), there’s also the effect of insulin. Not only do these bodybuilders already have high natural insulin levels due to the GH-induced insulin resistance, but they also administer insulin for its potent anabolic effect.26 Insulin is the primary anabolic hormone of the body, funneling sugar and other nutrients into active tissue and maintaining fat stores for periods of starvation. Though it’s less popular now than it was five to 10 years ago, bodybuilders felt taking insulin before meals, along with daily GH injections, was the pathway to ultimate size. In a way, they were right, in that the amount of size put on by these athletes was tremendous. Unfortunately, insulin can lead to a severe hypoglycemic reaction, a potentially fatal drop in blood sugar, which hospitalizes many diabetics every year.27 The use of insulin to induce a fatal hypoglycemic event was implicated in the attempted murder case of tycoon Claus von Bulow, whose wife remains in a coma after 20 years.28 Many others have used insulin as a murder weapon, including serial killer William Archerd of California.29
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Research and Review 
