While deer antler velvet has been used for over 2,000 years as a health supplement, a lot of people remain wary about supplements that contain this ingredient, concerned about any possible deer antler velvet side effects that they might encounter. This concern is quite legitimate, what with the several news reports about people experiencing adverse reactions after taking health supplements being offered by shady companies.
This article takes a look at the deer antler velvet side effects to give you a better idea about whether these supplements are worth getting or not.
Update: There’s been a LOT of news in early 2013 regarding this, due to some news on Ray Lewis (NFL) and Vijay Singh (PGA). We clear everything up below, and add our two thoughts on the safe (and unrecommended, unsafe) ways of boosting growth hormone for strength and recovery. Read on!
What is Deer Antler Velvet?
Before taking a look at the deer antler velvet side effects, it’s important to understand what deer velvet actually is. This is really from the antlers of male deer – but the antlers are at their earliest stages in growth. As such, instead of being tough and hard, the material is quite pliable and has a velvety texture, thus giving rise to its name (velvet).
In order to get these to be used for supplements, ethical companies hire veterinarians and other professionals to extract these without causing pain or injury to the deer. The velvet is then crushed to a powder form and dried, which will then be processed into supplements.
Benefits of Deer Velvet
There are a host of health benefits associated with deer antler. These include:- Improves bone and joint health;
- Hastens the body’s natural healing ability and provides relief from aches and pains, even those caused by arthritis;
- Boosts the immune system to give you added protection from all sorts of diseases;
- Keeps you protected from a wide variety of illnesses, including gastrointestinal, liver, and kidney problems, osteoporosis, asthma, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and chronic skin ulcers;
- Boosts your cognitive skills;
- Improves circulation;
- Helps your body fight against fatigue and stress; and
- Improved sexual function.
What are the Deer Antler Velvet Side Effects?
The good news is that there are no known deer antler velvet side effects to date – at least when using high-quality, pure products.The reason is that deer antler velvet helps your body create more of its own growth hormone, which is completely natural to itself. This gives an extremely low chance of side effects – you’re not injecting a foreign HGH (human growth hormone) from someone else or some other animal. That’s when your body starts shutting down. We’ll get into this more later.
Furthermore, there are no known possible drug interaction effects, so you can take the supplement without fear of experiencing any negative effects.
Despite the fact that there are no known deer antler velvet side effects, it might still be a good idea to consult with your physician to make sure that the supplement is safe for you. There are some people who may experience a mild allergic reaction when they start taking the supplement. Pregnant and lactating women, children, and those who have a chronic or acute condition can also benefit from consulting with a doctor before taking supplements containing deer antler velvet so they can be sure that the product is safe for them. Even if you’ve already received the go signal from your doctor, it might still be a good idea to try out the supplements a little at a time just so you can check for any side effects. That way, you can discontinue use if you notice that you are experiencing adverse reactions because of the supplement.
So Why is it Banned by The PGA, NFL, MLB, etc etc?
So you’re now wondering, if this is natural and safe, why is it banned by so many professional sports organizations??? Clearly someone is lying!
Actually, nobody is lying.
It’s banned for a reason: Because it works!
The young antlers are in the process of growing, and contain materials that are extremely similar to your IGF-1 growth hormone precursors. Your body safely accepts this, and goes on to create more growth hormone of its own, giving you all of the benefits listed above. And it’s made from, and for, your own body. A very important thing.
Now, here’s the rub:
It’s so effective that organizations that do test for deer velvet products simply can’t tell whether you’re naturally boosting your own GH levels (the safe way), or if you’re injecting unnatural human growth hormone that is neither from nor for your own body!
So what’d they do, knowing that they wanted to ban HGH injections, yet there’s other stuff like Deer Antler Velvet whose results “look” the same?
They BAN BOTH!
And now, you have guys like Ray Lewis, Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson, and Vijay Singh, in all sorts of hot water. We’re not sure if they really used it. Whether or not they deserve punishment is not at all our issue. If it’s banned for you, then don’t take it or you risk trouble.
The fact is, these two methods are very similar, but one is safe, and one is not. Since I’m not being tested, I stick with the safe stuff.
By the Way… Those Unnatural Methods are Where the Real Side Effects are From
Oh, and the process of injecting human growth hormone that the PGA / NFL / MLB are so against? Yeah, that’s the UNSAFE way of doing things – do NOT do this! Any time you add a completely foreign substance to your current “pool”, your body will stop making its own. Not good.
But that’s avoided when you “trick” your body into making more of its own, as discussed with deer antler products.
Being an amateur athlete and overall gym junkie, I’m not under testing like the pro athletes. But I’m still not going to be unsafe and stupid about things! I cycle on and off of Antler X – the natural and safe way to go about it.
Antler X: No Deer Antler Velvet Side Effects Here!
So, while there may be a lot of supplements containing deer velvet being sold in the market today, not all of these are actually good or effective, and some may even endanger your health. Some disreputable companies take deer antler velvet indiscriminately. As such, it’s possible that some of the products released in the market contain deer velvet from deer that have chronic wasting disease or any other such illness. That’s the cheap stuff… nearly as bad as the dangerous stuff. This can in turn lead to unexpected deer antler velvet side effects and other health problems for you.To avoid this problem, make sure to purchase the product from a reliable source. If you want to play safe, try the Antler X IGF-1 Enhancer. AntlerX IGF-1 is essentially a human growth hormone (HGH) supplement that helps your body regain its youthfulness and make it fit and healthy. Unlike other HGH supplements that introduce artificial HGH to your body, putting your system into danger, Antler-X IGF-1 encourages your body to produce more HGH. Because the HGH is actually produced your body, you won’t have to worry about endangering your health.
With IGF-1, you don’t have to worry about deer antler velvet side effects. If you’re planning on purchasing the supplement, consider buying the product online. Online stores have much more affordable rates compared to brick-and-mortar stores, so you get to save as much as 40% when you purchase the supplement over the Internet. What’s more, some online stores offer free shipping for their products, so that’s one less expense to worry about.
