Growth Hormone, Cardiovascular Risk, and Visceral Adiposity

Exclusion Criteria

• •Diabetes mellitus (fasting plasma glucose greater than 126 mg/dL or 2-hour post-oral glucose tolerance test \[OGTT\] plasma glucose greater than 200)
• •Taking the following medications in the last 3 months: weight loss or lipid-lowering agents, medications to treat diabetes mellitus or "pre-diabetes", oral contraceptives or estrogen-containing medications, other medications known to significantly affect weight
• •Smoking
• •Hematocrit below the lower limit of normal
• •Amenorrhea for 3 months (in women)
• •Pregnant or breastfeeding (in women)
• •Polycystic ovary syndrome (in women)
• •Weight that exceeds 280 pounds
• •SGPT greater than 2 times the upper limit of normal
• •History of malignancy, except for fully resolved basal cell carcinomas of the skin (Specific Aim 2 only)
• •Radiation exposure greater than 1000 mrem over the last 12 months
• •Previous diagnosis of cardiovascular disease
• •History of pituitary or hypothalamic disease, brain radiation, or childhood growth hormone deficiency
• •History of carpal tunnel syndrome that has not been surgically treated