For a long time now, scientists have always been aware of the beneficial attributes, especially for human beings, oh cow’s milk in the context of growth and development. In cows, just as in humans, specialized hormones produced in the body are the ones that are responsible for growth of bones and other tissues. Exploring this relationship, scientists have been able to extract the bovine growth hormone and adapt it for use in humans using technologies similar to DNA technologies.

Recombined bovine growth hormone, commonly known as rBGH, is in its simplest definition just HGH derived from cows. Like most of the other more common HGH products that are available in the market today, rBGH also has its own set of unique advantages and disadvantages and these apply both for human beings as well as the cows from whom the hormone is extracted and used. In fact, this is the reason why although the use of recombined bovine growth hormone was approved by the FDA more than two decades ago- in the year 1993- it is yet to get approved and become legal in other parts of the world including the European Union and Canada. At this point, it is worth pointing out that the use of recombined bovine growth hormone has shown signs of reducing in the years since 2007 and this is, perhaps, an indicator that people are beginning to realize that it may not be exactly 100% risk free.

The technology for the creation of rBGH used today is so advanced that not more than a single amino acid has been found to constitute the only difference between bovine somatropin (which is the growth hormone naturally produced by cows) and its synthetic version. When used on cows, rBGH can have the effect of increasing milk productivity along with a host of other additional benefits. However, on the negative side, research over the years has suggested that there could be a close and direct relationship between the use of rBGH and increase in the risk of udder inflammation and mastitis in cows.

Growth hormone therapy in humans is mostly usually carried out in circumstances where the human body is no longer able to produce enough growth hormones on its own. One of the clearest signs of this problem is abnormally short statures in children. Although legal in the United States, the use of rBGH in humans should be carried out under the supervision of a trained, qualified and experienced medical practitioner. You will need to have a doctor’s prescription in order to legally be able to buy the rBGH products. If not properly administered, recombined bovine growth hormone products can be very harmful to the human body and scientists have found the use of such products to have a very close link to increased risk of cancer. Besides the growth of bones mentioned above, the HGH obtained from cows can be used for a number of additional purposes just like one would use regular HGH products. For instance, it can be used to increase the size of muscles and to improve strength although most medical experts do not advise the latter.