Q: I am 35 years old and was just diagnosed with skin cancer, from years of tanning and having slightly fair skin. I’ve been training and living a healthy life for years and I’m sick about it. My doctor said I have a good chance of survival because I caught it early on. That doesn’t mean I won’t be at risk for more melanomas, because of the nature of my skin damage from sun. I know not to take hormones during this time, but I wondered if you think I could take GH safely?

A: Unequivocally, no. Growth hormone, while not a sex hormone, is still responsible for cellular growth and renewal - both good and bad. In fact, a recent study in the American Journal of Pathology says that between clinical observations and experimental studies, pituitary hormones, including growth hormone, play a role in the development of 48 cell-types of human breast cancer, as well as other forms. It also says that previously unidentified receptors found in breast tissue, whether your melanoma-type skin cancer cells respond to pituitary hormone stimulation is something even most researchers and doctors could not tell you definitely, since cancer research is ongoing. For this reason, I think you should AVOID taking any exogenous GH or any other hormone-stimulating mechanism, whether endocrine or sex-based in type.

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