This story is asinine.
Here's a medical analysis:
A bottle contains around 180 sprays, and a typical dose is three sprays. Thus, a single dose of deer antler velvet contains between 50 and 84 nanograms of IGF-1. In order to mimic the research study that found IGF-1 to have similar benefits to growth hormone you would need to consume between 1,500,000 to 906,000 sprays PER DAY: that’s between 8,333 to 5,033 bottles per day. Think of the cost alone.
Claiming that deer antler velvet is “… similar to HGH in that it aids in recovery. It helps build tissue, and strengthen tissue – more than you can ever do by training alone.” Is absurd. IGF-1, maybe, in high doses, but not deer antler velvet. Does anyone really think that ground-up deer antlers will result in increased performance similar to taking synthetic growth hormone? Recreational IGF-1 supplementation can range from 20,000 to 200,000 nanograms, while less then reported in the earlier study, you would still need to consume between 4 and 40 bottles per day, and the benefits would be anecdotal at best.