The Study
Growth hormone acts along the PPARγ-FSP27 axis to stimulate lipolysis in human adipocytes.
This study looked at how growth hormone affects fat cells in a lab and in a few young men. It found a possible chain of events inside the cells, but it didn't prove that growth hormone actually causes people to lose fat or get insulin resistance. It's like seeing smoke and guessing there's a fire — you can't be sure without more evidence.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
Growth hormone tells your fat cells to break down stored fat by turning off a protein called FSP27 that normally keeps fat stored. It does this by flipping a molecular switch (PPARγ) that kicks FSP27 out of the cell’s control center.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 577 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — this explains why fasting or high GH levels (like in acromegaly) cause fat loss but can also lead to insulin resistance and higher blood sugar.
- 2Growth hormone reduces FSP27 protein by 60% and increases fat breakdown (glycerol release) by 20% in human fat cells.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
American journal of physiology. Endocrinology and metabolism
Year
2019
Authors
V. Sharma, E. Vestergaard, N. Jessen, Peter Kolind-Thomsen, B. Nellemann, T. Nielsen, M. Vendelbo, N. Møller, Rita Sharma, Kevin Y. Lee, J. Kopchick, J. Jørgensen, Vishwajeet Puri
Related Content
Claims (6)
Pegvisomant prevents specific molecular signals in human fat cells that are triggered by growth hormone, confirming that growth hormone acts directly on these cells to activate fat breakdown pathways.
Growth hormone triggers a sequence of molecular events in human fat cells that alters the location and activity of a key regulatory protein, leading to reduced production of a fat-storing protein and increased breakdown of fat.
In human fat cells, increased levels of the protein FSP27 block a specific chemical modification of PPARγ triggered by growth hormone, prevent PPARγ from leaving the nucleus, and decrease the breakdown of fat.
Growth hormone increases glycerol release by about 20% in human fat cells grown in a lab and decreases the activation of Akt at Ser473 in response to insulin in those same cells.
Growth hormone decreases FSP27 protein levels by about 60% in fat tissue under the skin within 4.5 hours, and this decrease occurs alongside increased fat breakdown and splitting of fat droplets.
When no food is consumed during fasting, insulin levels drop, leading to the breakdown of fat stores and increased burning of fat in the liver.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.