IGF-1.
It stands for insulin-like growth factor, and it's very, very similar to growth hormone
and very, very similar to insulin, and its job is to help you grow and regenerate the
cells that you need to survive and look and feel your best.
I'm Thomas DeLauer with Antler Farms.
Today, I'm helping you understand the logistics and the breakdown of IGF and growth hormone
in your body.
So the IGF, just like the name implies, is a lot like insulin, and the reason that it's
a lot like insulin is because it's structurally, molecularly similar to it.
In fact, it's so similar to insulin, that it can actually bind to insulin.
But it's not insulin.
You see, what IGF is, is a particular hormone that is triggered by human growth hormone.
Our pituitary gland creates human growth hormone.
It pulses out human growth hormone, which most of us know is responsible for allowing
us to build muscle and growing new tissue and growing new organs and having new hair,
skin, and nails, all the stuff that keeps us alive and fresh.
But believe it or not, it goes beyond just the growth hormone.
You see, the pituitary gland signals growth hormone.
Then the growth hormone signals IGF, and the IGF goes around and acts upon different cells
within the body.
The IGF is almost like the troops that the growth hormone sends out.
IGF is mainly in the liver, and it's released in the liver when the growth hormone tells
it to leave.
Then it travels around through the bloodstream and goes to the muscle cells and goes to all
the other cells in the body to create new cells and regenerate ones that need to be
regenerated.
You can see how powerful this is, especially when you're looking at your fitness goals
and you're trying to build muscle and stay in amazing shape.
So what's really interesting though is once the pituitary gland signals the release of
growth hormone, and the growth hormone signals the release of IGF, the IGF binds to a specific
protein in the blood.
You see, IGF on its own is great, but when IGF goes into the blood, and it combines with
what is called insulin-like growth factor, binding protein, IGPBP, it extends the half-life
of the IGF.
What that means is the IGF that's been produced by the liver is now active for a longer period
of time in the body because it's bound to a protein.
This is good news for you and me because these levels of IGF that circulate throughout the
blood can go to muscle cells and trigger them to grow, which means after a workout, when
we have higher levels of IGF, our muscle cells grow.
It's a big key contributor to being able to build muscle and get the physique that we
want.
So the IGF is a lot like insulin.
It works in the presence of insulin, but it's not insulin, and what I mean by that is insulin
is released whenever you eat food.
Whenever you eat food, you produce insulin.
But whenever you release insulin from your food and you have IGF in the body at that
same point in time, that's when you become what is called anabolic, where your body can
actually build muscle a lot easier.
So I guess the mathematical equation kind of goes like growth hormone plus food plus
IGF equals muscle growth.
Pretty straightforward.
Now, IGF is very anabolic, but I don't want you to be afraid of that word.
What that means is that when IGF is around, cells are growing.
But when it comes down to the muscle cells, it specifically helps them out with amino
acids and glucose, which is exactly what the skeletal muscle needs to truly grow and get
stronger.
But IGF has other effects on the muscle cells too.
You see, it actually stimulates what is called mammalian target of rapamycin, also known
as MTOR.
So you've probably heard of MTOR before, here and there, maybe not understanding what it
truly is.
But what it is is it's a pathway that allows the cells to utilize protein better.
So by turning the MTOR switch on, we're allowing the muscle cell to now consume protein and
utilize it to its maximum ability.
So not only does IGF help make sure that the nutrients get to the cell, it also flips the
master switch so that the cell can actually grow from more of a hormonal and enzymatic
side of things.
This is really powerful stuff.
Now, the other ways that you can help produce more MTOR in your body are simply by working
out with a lot of intensity and getting enough sleep, also, the same ways that you produce
more growth hormone, working out and getting enough sleep.
So you can kind of do the math.
MTOR, growth hormone, and IGF all work together, hand in hand in hand.
Now, there are actually some foods and some supplements out there that have bio-available
IGF in them.
So that means that you could be in a situation where your body can get a little bit more
that IGF that's working its magic.
Now, one of the very few ways that you can find bioavailable IGF is through something
known as deer antler velvet.
You see, there was a study that was published in the Rapid Communications of Mass Spectrometry
Journal that found that four out of six deer antler velvet supplements contained bioactive
IGF-1.
So you have to make sure you're doing your homework, and that's why I recommend that
you go ahead and take a look at deer antler velvet from Antler Farms.
You want to do your own research.
You got to make sure that IGF is for you and that IGF is going to be something that's going
to allow your body to get to that next level that you're looking to achieve.
As always, make sure you're keeping it locked in here with Antler Farms, and I'll see you
in the next video.