POST 16 — Ones I’d AVOID

Melanotan II

It’s an odd combo but it’s for tanning and libido.

Popular, and worth naming as a caution rather than a recommendation. It’s often used by body builders trying to look tan for competition. Marketed for tanning and libido, it causes nausea and blood pressure changes, and it darkens and changes existing moles. That can mask or mimic the warning signs of melanoma. Dermatologists have flagged it repeatedly.

SLU-PP-332

Sold as exercise in a pill, but I doubt that.

Not actually a peptide. It’s a small molecule that activates estrogen-related receptors, marketed as an exercise mimetic on the strength of mouse studies showing improved endurance and fat metabolism without training. The mechanism is real and the research is interesting.

The problem is that there are no human trials at all. Human dosing has never been established, which means anyone selling you a capsule with a number on it made that number up. It’s also being sold at a substantial premium to people who believe they’re buying exercise in a pill. Come back to this one in a few years. If you want a peptide to help with exercise and enhance the benefits of exercise, MOTS-c is far better, plus better bone health.

Dihexa

Marketed for cognition on the strength of rodent data. The potency that makes it interesting is also the reason to be careful.

An angiotensin IV analog studied in rodents for forming new synapses in the brain, with reported potency many times that of nerve growth factor. Marketed aggressively for cognition on the strength of that number.

That potency is the reason to be careful. A compound that powerfully drives new cell connections and blood vessel growth raises obvious questions about what it does to cells you don’t want growing–like cancer, and those questions have not been answered because no human trials exist. Aggressive growth signaling with no human safety data is not a trade I’d make.

NAD+ injections

A very expensive version of an answer that already exists in capsule form. I’m not saying it doesn’t work, I’m saying it works just as well or better orally.

Questions? Reply here or message me.