The Morning Dose #7: HMB and Alzheimer’s, SARMs Safety, Reader Q&As

In this week’s edition of The Morning Dose:

Coach’s Corner: Peptide Feedback

Reader Q&A: Are SARMs Dangerous?

Bodybuilding Supplement May Fight Alzheimer’s Disease

In the News: Semaglutide and Heart Health

Let’s inject this.

First time reading? I’m Matt and this is The Morning Dose. Every week, our team scours 100s of sources to bring you need-to-know news and insights you won’t find elsewhere. All in 5 minutes. Were you forwarded this email? Sign up here.

Coach’s Corner: Peptide Feedback

Every week, our coaches will be sharing their feedback on users’ peptide experiences, protocols, and results.

If you’ve ever wondered whether the average peptide user really knows what they’re doing, you’ve come to the right place.

This week, we have an interesting BPC-157 experience from the r/peptides forum on Reddit.

“Extreme Fatigue from BPC-157.

I’m not sure if it’s related since I have run BPC-157 in the past. I’ve been on oral BPC for about a week. Yesterday I slept for 15 hours and was so tired I had to call out of work.

Today I felt the same sleepiness, had 3 energy drinks, but I’m not sure if they did anything. I’m trying to figure out what this could be. I legit cannot get anything done, because it constantly feels like I’m on no sleep.”

Our Feedback:

Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon side effect, and we don’t really know why.

While most people can use BPC-157 just fine with no side effects, many users do report chronic fatigue, headaches, and mood swings that can last for days or even weeks after stopping the protocol.

It’s speculated that this may be due to BPC-157s impact on neurotransmitters in the brain, but we just can’t say for sure.

Most peptide clinics do include a standard list of BPC-157 side effects: fatigue, nausea, inflammation at the injection site, loss of appetite, mood swings, and hot or cold flashes.

If you’ve tried BPC-157 and felt unpleasant side effects, you may have better luck with a different healing peptide, like TB-500.

That said, any type of medication can have potential side effects, so be sure to speak with your doctor before trying any new medications or peptides.

Reader Questions

Want us to answer your questions?

Hit reply, ask us your training, nutrition, or peptide questions, and we’ll choose one to answer in each edition of The Morning Dose.

We can’t guarantee an answer, but we’ll pick an interesting question each week to share. And if you want to speak with us directly about your burning questions, our coaching team is available for consultations.

This week’s question:

“I’ve been interested in SARMs for a while, but I want to know the truth – how dangerous are SARMs?”

Our Answer:

The short answer: Sarms are not as dangerous as anabolic steroids… but nothing is 100% safe.

The longer answer: As with everything, this depends on your individual response.

Whenever you’re using any type of compound, you need to be monitoring your health with regular bloodwork throughout the duration of the cycle.

Don’t make the mistake of taking your bloodwork before and after, and assuming nothing happened while you were 6 weeks into your SARMs cycle.

Always check your bloodwork at the peak of your cycle.

We’ve seen people using full-blown steroids with very little, if any impact on their bloodwork, and everything returns to normal after their cycle.

We’ve also seen people on relatively low, doctor-prescribed TRT doses end up having to give blood every 2-3 months to manage high hematocrit and blood pressure.

SARMs are probably somewhere in the middle, so of course, we can’t predict what the side effects will be for every single person.

SARMs bind only to muscle and bone tissue, which means they are not likely to cause the same health side effects as anabolic steroids.

They might adversely affect your lipids, which should be monitored, but the impact won’t be nearly as bad as a full-blown steroid cycle.

Bodybuilding Supplement May Fight Alzheimer’s Disease

While many supplements marketed towards bodybuilders are mostly useless (looking at you, fat burners and testosterone boosters), some of them may just be pretty useful.

This week, we’re looking at hydroxymethylbutyrate, or HMB, which is an old-school bodybuilding supplement that’s been used for decades and is easily available at your local health store.

Leucine is one of the essential amino acids associated with muscle protein synthesis and is often the primary ingredient in amino acid supplements.

When broken down, your body produces some HMB – but not nearly enough to have substantial benefits.

HMB is thought to help minimize muscle protein breakdown, which would improve recovery time and minimize post-workout soreness.

Users report mixed results, but scientists have found a new use for HMB…

Fighting Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers at RUSH University found that in mice with Alzheimer’s disease, HMB was shown to reduce plaque load, restore cognitive functions, and improve hippocampal plasticity, which would improve one’s ability to organize and store memories.

Of course, just because something works in mice, doesn’t mean it’ll work in humans. But nearly all research begins with mouse studies, and this is a very promising new discovery.

Human research will be the next step, though we can’t say when that may happen.

Considering that bodybuilders have been using HMB safely for decades, we have to assume that human studies are close, given the supplement’s overall safety, and it’s probably safe to give this a try if you’d like to incorporate HMB into your daily routine.

 In the News: Semaglutide and Cardiovascular Disease

Semaglutide is exploding in popularity, thanks to celebrity endorsements, advertisements, and social media viral videos raving about the weight-loss benefits.

Researchers are paying close attention, and they’ve just found a new potential benefit–protection against heart disease.

Now, we’d be foolish to ignore the potential bias here. The trial results that show the cardiovascular benefits of semaglutide come from Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of Wegovy, one of the only FDA-approved semaglutide products.

Still, we’d be even more foolish to ignore the results…especially when they make sense based on what we know about this peptide.

According to the trials, a weekly dose of Wegovy slashed the risk of severe cardiovascular events by 20% in adults with heart disease and either overweight or obesity. 

We don’t know if this is due to the drug itself, or the resulting weight loss–the full trial details are expected to be released later this year at a medical conference.

Either way, we’ve seen profound weight loss, improved blood sugar, reduced alcohol use, and now potential heart protection from semaglutide. It’s quite clear that this may be the most impactful peptide treatment that’s ever been discovered.

The prices are still extremely high and demand far outweighs supply, and unfortunately, many who would benefit are unable to receive treatment.

But if the FDA ever allows other compounding pharmacies to begin manufacturing semaglutide at an affordable rate, millions of users will be able to access a potentially life-saving peptide.