Deer Antler Velvet – What is is and How it's used

Deer Antler Velvet – What it is and How it's used

Photo by: Trent Busenbark

What is the Velvet on a Deer Antler?
As most of you know,  deer, elk and moose produce new antlers yearly. The velvet stage of the growth is considered the precalcified stage where it is essentially a growth hormone called "insulin-like growth factor 1," or IGF-1.

How it is used:
IGF-1 has shown promise for helping kids with stunted growth or people with dwarfism, as well as for healing cartilage or tendon injuries. It should not be used without a doctor's care, especially as a performance enhancer.

Early research shows that IGF-1 may be effective in healing some cartilage and tendon injuries, noted Leon Popovitz, an orthopedic surgeon and founder of New York Bone & Joint in Manhattan.

A recent study found that taking IGF-1 supplements is linked to improving cartilage damage in joints due to repetitive trauma, Popovitz said.

Even so, such studies are still very preliminary, and growth hormone research is still unproven, he cautioned. At the moment, deer antler velvet is available as an unregulated supplement.


"What often happens is these supplement companies grab these promising [hormone] factors, jump on them, and market them before the entire medical community has the ability to know the real detrimental effects," Popovitz said.

According to Alison Davidson in her book Velvet Antler, the stags are not harmed or killed for the velvet antler. In some countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, deer are subject to local anesthesia and restrained during antler removal, and the procedure is supervised by licensed veterinarians. Typically, the antler is cut off near the base after it is about two-thirds of its potential full size, between 55 to 65 days of growth, before any significant calcification occurs. The procedure is generally done around June in the Northern Hemisphere and December in the Southern Hemisphere.

Performance Enhancers
Velvet Antler IFG-1 has been linked to many athletes who use the drug as a performance enhancer. Many athletes choose to abuse the dosage and can result in adverse effects and may cause tendons to become too tight and break or may disrupt how the body metabolizes fats and sugars.

Bottom Line
For now, until the medical environment can safely identify all the benefits as well as the side effects, we should let the deer, moose and elk stick with the use of Velvet.