Intermittent Fasting to Boost Human Growth Hormone of Children

(Rossi Luo) #1

Hi Guys, I have a son 7 years old, and he is shorter than his same old children and weak (little muscle, he’s not fat, he is quite lean but without muscle). One year ago, I took him to visit doctors, and made some testing, after that we were told that he was deficient of human growth hormone (HGH). And then the doctor recommended to do HGH injections every day, and we did it for a year.
The HGH injection worked very well in the year, my son’s height increased around 11 centimeters during the injection, that’s quite good. But my wife worried about the side effect of the injection, then we stopped the injection in October 2022. After that, my son only increased 2 centimeters in 8 months, it’s quite bad.
Today, I saw a article at https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/11-ways-to-increase-hgh , saying that intermittent fasting can boost the HGH naturally. So I was thinking to use it to boos my son’s HGH level. I’m a 9 months of ketoer already, so I know that the best way to do fasting is to do it with keto diet together, because keto can reduce the hunger for food.
One of my major hesitating is that, my son is not fat, he is quite lean without muscle, if I make him fasting with keto, I worry if that would make him more weak.

I know everyone here is not doctors, don’t worry, any information or recommendation will be appreciated! You will not get any law trouble by giving information, don’t worry!

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #2

If you are feeding him plenty of fat and protein when he is eating, he won’t lose muscle while fasting, and that’s the important thing. It also depends on what you mean by “intermittent fasting,” I suspect that the overnight fast is probably enough.

(Rossi Luo) #3

I was thinking to make him having 8/16 fasting, which is to skip his breakfast.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #4

If it works. But it may not, with a growing kid. Just do your best for him. Is there any chance your wife will relent and allow him to receive more growth hormone?

(Chuck) #5

I intermittent fast every day between 18 and 22 hours depending on schedule and family time. I am 75 my weight has stabilized but yet I am still slimming down. My goal is what I weigh but to reduce my body fat, and fasting is doing that. Yes I agree to eat plenty of protein and fat, but I also eat a limited amount of carbs. I came from the eat less exercise more to fasting and relaxing more while eating more real food.
I am eating more calories within my feasting window each day and I have changed my activity from force marches to easy walks and light resistance training with dumbbells and resistance bands and a curl bar. I am still seeing reduction of my body measurements as my weight is stable at the same weight as what I weighed my 8 years in the Navy all of those years ago.
But I have to tell you this a child shouldn’t fast or diet without the complete knowledge and approval of the child’s doctors.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #6

We have to remember that the rules are quite different for children, however. Children need more protein, for example, and limiting protein can stunt their growth. As long as @echo2080’s son can get all the food he needs during his eating window, all should be well.

My only question is whether a kid can go that long without food. If the young man is willing to try, however (and the promise of growth ought to be a good motivator), then I say, give it a shot. But fasting may not work as well with kids as with adults.

Not that it can’t, necessarily, but all of Jason Fung’s patients and all of the fasters on these forums are adults, most of them in their “mature” years, so children are something of an unknown quantity in this regard.

(GINA ) #7

I don’t think IF to increase HGH is a good idea for a child. He should have plenty of it, but he doesn’t. That means he has something going wrong in his system.

Adults do IF to boost an HGH system that is working as it should (HGH is meant to decline as we age, we just want more).

(Bob M) #8

While I’d love to see my kids stop eating snacks (and for schools to stop providing time for snacks), I don’t see that happening any time soon.

And I don’t think the data for adults is great for something like hormones and fasting, as I seem to remember you have to fast a while to get some hormones up. Longer than I think a growing child should fast.

(John Bradshaw) #9

Kids need food. Think back to our Grandparents day. They might not have had enough food due to war etc, but no one used fasting with kids. The opposite happened. If they had food, particularly meat, they let them eat. More beef and other whole foods will be best for children.

(Rossi Luo) #10

I don’t think so. We had talked on that quite a lot, and always had quarrel as the end. She said that “We didn’t need to worry about his stature, every child’s growth rate is different at different age, he will grow taller at some later age…”

(Rossi Luo) #11

Thanks for sharing your experience! To be honest, I don’t very trust the doctors on this topic, because as I know that even the doctors have little knowledge on the HGH things nor the relations between the HGH and the fasting, especially related to children, because the doctors have no way to collect data or do experiment on children, no one would allow that. If I talk to a doctor here about the adult’s fasting ideas, they will say at my back “this man is an idiot, fasting will damage the stomach”.
Fasting damages the stomach is a widely spread “knowledges” here in China, I don’t know if Americans have such idea. Their theory is that “If you don’t eat food, the some sort of acid secreted by your stomach will damage the stomach”. And almost all the people here believe that the gastritis disease are caused by irregular diet time.

(Rossi Luo) #12

The problem of my child is that, he doesn’t eat too much. And he doesn’t have snack at school, because the his school doesn’t allow snack to be carried to there. I know that the stature is more related to gene, I am not tall (162 cm), nor my wife (159 cm), but I can see that nowadays, many many children are much much taller than their parents.

(Rossi Luo) #13

Yeah, the information I got from google also said that the data is all about the fasting of 2+ days. That’s why I am still hesitating, there is not a easy way to measure HGH level, if there is such way, I will start the experiment with no hesitation.

(Chuck) #14

Fasting is great to help the digestive system to relax and recover after eating a meal. Almost my entire life I have skipped breakfast without any issues. I also don’t like eating after about 6pm because I sleep better when I haven’t eaten for at least 3 to 4 hours before bedtime.

(Rossi Luo) #15

Yeah, I know that kids need food and nutrients. The human’s body is so confusing that foods make us stronger and taller while hunger produces HGH to make us stronger and taller… I am really confused which side I should believe, oops

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #16

This is partly nutritional but also partly genetic.

My grandmother was very short, under 152 cm (5’), and her sons were both large from birth, and they both grew to 183 cm (6’) tall in adulthood. Given when they grew up in the 1930’s, that they grew so tall was definitely not because of nutrition. But where they got their height is a mystery, because their father wasn’t particularly tall, either (though he was taller than Nana).

A friend of mine in school was always the shortest in our class, from age 14 till 17. Then, at age 17, he shot up from about 152 cm to about 193 cm (6’4"), in the space of about nine months. His brothers were both around that height also, but their growth came at a much earlier age, so it was surprising that this guy grew so late and so fast. You never know, I guess.

In any case @echo2080, your son’s full height is not established until the growth caps of his bones stop growing, so you do have some time.

(Rossi Luo) #17

Thanks PuaIL like always! I heard such stories here also, that is the reason why my wife doesn’t worry, she said our son will grow tall at later age. I’m so worried and hesitated on this, :tired_face:

(John Bradshaw) #18

Hi Rossi Luo, “while hunger produces HGH to make us stronger and taller…”
The response to hunger, via HGH, is to get energy from fat (via ketosis). That is not to make us stronger and taller, but to survive - especially if the hunger is prolonged to starvation. We should not confuse the growth mechanism of HGH with the protective mechanism that kicks in via fasting/starvation. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3529368/

(Rossi Luo) #19

Many thanks for the study link! It’s important! Thank you!
After getting the suggestions from all of you, I decided not to take fasting with my son.
I have bought L-Arginine to feed him every day, an article says arginine can increase HGH level, I will try that, but the arginine is for adult, I think it’s all right for kid to take it, as I know, the arginine is just some sort of acid

(John Bradshaw) #20

Hi Rossi,
Arginine is an amino acid. It is a building block of protein. (About 20 different amino acids link together in various combinations to make different proteins like collagen, muscle, kidneys, liver - all our organs) He will get all the Arginine he needs from any food like eggs, beef, fish, chicken. Feed him these foods daily and you won’t need to be buying supplements… And, if I may add, keep sweets, junk food, out of the house. Whole food, like meat and veg, will help him the most.