Deer antler velvet is harvested from the premature form of the fully developed antler and is widely acknowledged as a potential health hotcake, with a role in both muscular, as well as hormonal improvement.
Concerning growth hormones, its benefits include:
- Triggering production and release of IGF-1: it is known that deer antler velvet holds extremely high levels of the growth factor, IGF-1.
- Increasing growth hormone levels in the body: it has been observed that supplementation may briefly increase growth hormone levels after a workout.
- Deer antlers may trigger cell division and regeneration, thus activating growth-related cellular activity.
The antler has curiously been propagated as a vitality booster and used as a tonic for its extensive health benefits, including improvements in muscle strength, stamina, and not least by any means, sexual performance since the days of ancient China.
The main issues that have been observed over and over again in deer antler spray reviews are not its efficacy, but fears about safety.
These fears are connected to the spray’s main ingredient, a human growth factor (IGF-1), which is identical and associated with many people with steroids.
In fact, deer antler extract does not contain steroids, even though IGF-1 instigates catabolic cellular growth and the formation of new muscle tissue, it is not a synthetic form of testosterone, or what we would typically consider a “steroid.
Deer Antler Spray Source
Scrapped from the velvet-like coating of newly forming deer antlers and then dried into a powder or reduced into gelatin, the deer antler velvet substance has been used in Chinese medicine for centuries, where it was thought to balance yin and yang energy in the body.
For centuries, deer antler was used to improve kidney health, build bone, muscle, improve blood, and tone up many systems of the body.
Today, massive deer farms in dozens of countries in the world raise deer not only for meat but also to supply the world with deer antler velvet extract, which is widely used to aid in recovery from injury in both bone and muscle.
Furthermore, it is thought to dramatically raise athletic endurance, and reviews have also suggested that it can also burn fat and build muscle.
All of these qualities are similar to illegal anabolic steroids, which is another anabolic protein synthesizer.
IGF-1 and its receptors have been seen in deer blood throughout periods of antler growth, and it has been determined in a variety of tests that IGF- 1 and IGF-2 assist cell division in undifferentiated cells and this is what speed antler growth in fibroblasts and cartilage.
In addition, IGF-1 increases alkaline phosphatase and cell growth in the deer antler tips.
It is this postulation that deer antler extracts may serve as a valuable source of unrefined IGF-1 that gave it a positive implication for its therapeutic and distinctively growth-related use in humans
Deer Antler Spray and IGF-1
Scientific developments in recent years have suggested the relevance of deer antler in cellular growth as evidenced in its biological activities, specifically in regards to growth factors.
The fuzzy, rounded-tip of the antler is known to contain an ample collection of natural compounds, including amino acids (416 unique proteins, and peptides).
It is believed that at this stage of heightened development, deer antler is ripe with the critical growth hormone, the insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), which may not only be responsible for sparking and sustaining the antler’s rapid expansion but also have a hand in the overall cellular growth of the deer antler.
IGF-1 is an endocrine hormone with a similar molecular structure to that of insulin.
It is stimulated by growth hormone (GH) for maturation during childhood and various metabolic processes in adolescents and adults.
Its control on cellular division indicates feasible implications in cellular regeneration and repair processes in humans, for which reason it has, in recent years, been investigated for its ability to promote healing of injured tissues, tendons, and cartilages.
Deer Antler Spray Risk
It is common to hear that synthetic steroids have caused side effects for both body and mind. This often negates the value they provide to wild muscle growth.
Some known side effects of synthetic steroids include:
- Men developing female sexual characteristics
- Impotence and infertility of some degree
- baldness
- bad cholesterol
- blood pressure and heart problems
- personality changes and mood swings
- cancerous growth and tumors
- Of these, the side effects linked to IGF-1, the active ingredient in deer antler extracts sprays, are potential heart problems, unusual development of features (such as abnormally large hands and feet), blood pressure issues and over-growth of intestines
Most deer antler spray reviews point out that it is debatable whether deer antler sprays contain enough bioavailable IGF to create any symptoms as severe as those seen in synthetic steroids.
In fact, the doping ban placed on the compound by the World Anti-Doping Agency was eventually lifted when the agency researched and found that amounts of IGF found in the extracts were insignificant to pose a risk.
Conclusion
While there are many positive reviews from bodybuilders posted in online forums, it is believed that not all products that contain this ingredient will be safe and effective.
It is known that stomach acids will decay much of the active content of any IGF supplement when ingested, especially when it is taken in pill form and must be digested.
However, there is promise in spray-based deer antler products, such as the fitness product manufactured by BioAntler, which distribute the compound in a fine mist of spray under the tongue, as it is thought that this method delivers a higher amount of IGF-1 to cells, through some openings in the mouth.