Oh, And By the Way: HGH Doesn't Really Aid Performance Anyway

While we're in the process of prosecuting Barry Bonds, suspending Jose Guillen, and speciously revealing names to the public-at-large, there's probably one important issue to get ironed out: Is HGH really athletically beneficial? For this, we go to Sabernomics, and a couple of recent scientific studies. Short answer: not so much, no:

There is no current study that has demonstrated a significant increase in workload capacity in response to human GH administration in healthy adults. The studies that have addressed the impact of GH on muscle mass and athletic performance do not show consistently favorable results. For instance, patients with acromegaly do have greater muscle volume than normal individuals, but they do not show an increase in strength or performance. No controlled study to our knowledge has shown a beneficial effect of supraphysiological doses of human GH on muscle strength in trained athletes.

That would be all well and good, and probably wouldn't matter a whole lot, if MLB wasn't using a giant pile of resources trying to develop a test and punishment structure for HGH users. Working hard to prevent further steroid use is a noble goal; working to prevent HGH use seems like a giant waste of time worsened by scientific ignorance. But hey, that's our baseball! Always three or four steps behind the curve, and self-righteous every step of the way.

(via Baseball Musings)