The guest
Dr. Craig Koniver: A board-certified medical doctor (trained at Brown and Thomas Jefferson) who practices what he calls 'performance medicine,' using peptides, NAD, and other therapies to improve health and performance. He runs clinics in Charleston and London and has treated elite athletes, celebrities, and members of the royal family.
What this episode covers
Huberman and Koniver explore peptide therapies as a middle tier between lifestyle and prescription hormone drugs. They cover GLP-1 agonists (semaglutide, tirzepatide) for weight loss and the case for micro-dosing them, BPC-157 and its substitute pentadeca arginate for inflammation and tissue repair, growth hormone secretagogues (ipamorelin, tesamorelin, sermorelin, hexarelin, MK-677) for sleep and body composition, and pinealon for boosting REM sleep. A major thread is NAD therapy, which Koniver calls the single most impactful agent he has used. They also discuss methylene blue, CoQ10, methylated B vitamins, glycine, and the FDA's October 2023 move to ban many peptides from compounding pharmacies, plus the dangers of gray-market 'research only' peptides.
Recommended on this episode
ProductRecommended
Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10)
(supplement)
“it's been dramatic for me with migraine headaches”
“it's been dramatic for me with migraine headaches and you basically reducing them to zero”— Craig Koniver
ProductRecommended
Pinealon
(bioregulator peptide)
“it's doubling the amount of rapid eye movement sleep that I'm getting”
“with pinin I'm ... it's doubling the amount of rapid eye movement sleep that I'm getting doubling”— Andrew Huberman
ProductRecommended
Glycine
(amino acid supplement)
“huge fan of it”
“I really like glycine as an inhibitory neurotransmitter ... huge fan of it we've been using it a long time”— Craig Koniver
ProductRecommended
NAD (intravenous / subcutaneous)
(coenzyme)
“if I had to pick one thing for people ... it really”
“if I had to pick one thing for people engaging in N would be it ... NAD has been the most impactful from where I sit working with patients”— Craig Koniver
ProductRecommended
NMN (sublingual)
(NAD precursor supplement)
“I take sublingual nmn each day”
“I take sublingual nmn each day um it makes my hair grow ridiculously fast ... makes my nails grow really fast”— Andrew Huberman
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
ProductReferenced
Tirzepatide (Mounjaro)
Eli Lilly
“we've been using primarily tepati which is like semi glutide version 2.0 mostly for the past two years have learned a tremendous amount”— Craig Koniver
ProductReferenced
Semaglutide (Ozempic)
Novo Nordisk
“semi Glu OIC was approved longer than that for four type 2 diabetics helping with you know glucose control and helping with glucose utilization”— Craig Koniver
ProductReferenced
BPC-157 (body protection compound 157)
(peptide)
“we'd like to use bpc almost with every patient it is very anti-inflammatory ... thousands upon thousands of patients where their inflammation comes down”— Craig Koniver
ProductReferenced
Pentadeca arginate (PDA)
(peptide)
“we're using that and having really good results ... it seems very close to bpc in the clinical responses we're getting from our patients”— Craig Koniver
ProductReferenced
Nandrolone (Deca-Durabolin)
(anabolic steroid)
“we combine nerone with testosterone it changed his life ... this guy in his 80s who was had to use a cane who came back to life”— Craig Koniver
ProductReferenced
Ipamorelin
(growth hormone secretagogue peptide)
“iiron very clean you know as long as you stay within 100 micrograms or less people are going to lean out a little bit sleep a little bit better”— Craig Koniver
ProductReferenced
GHRP-6 (growth hormone releasing peptide 6)
(peptide)
“if you're looking to put on mass or get strong ghrp6 is your go-to right because you will increase your appetite”— Craig Koniver
ProductReferenced
Tesamorelin
(growth hormone secretagogue peptide)
“testelin works on visceral fat reduction so fat around the organs and it's been FDA approved for that purpose”— Craig Koniver
ProductReferenced
Sermorelin
(growth hormone secretagogue peptide)
“one would be tesalan U which is similar to saralin and that it also is going to work on the growth hormone releasing hormone aspect”— Craig Koniver
ProductReferenced
CJC-1295
(peptide)
“we would add this other compound cjc-1295 which is going to work on the ghrh which allows the peptide and then the growth hormone to stay in your system a little bit longer”— Craig Koniver
ProductReferenced
Hexarelin
(peptide)
“more of the energy endurance growth horm releasing peptid I like it for people to use it in the morning they get a nice burst of energy”— Craig Koniver
ProductReferenced
MK-677 (Ibutamoren)
(growth hormone secretagogue)
“it's absorbed well orally so it's basically the same I see it working this very similarly to ghrp6 so stimulates appetite”— Craig Koniver
ProductReferenced
Epitalon
(bioregulator peptide)
“we used to combine it with epitalon the the Russian peptide that was used for circadian rhythm”— Craig Koniver
ProductReferenced
Thymosin Alpha-1
(peptide)
“best peptide for immune modulation ... we could use thymus and Alpha 1 and we ton down the immune response”— Craig Koniver
ProductReferenced
Cerebrolysin
(peptide preparation)
“cerebral license has been used for decades in the setting of you know poststroke um post traumatic brain injury”— Craig Koniver
ProductReferenced
Dihexa
(peptide)
“there was dihexa too ... supposedly the most potent way to increase you know brain derived neurotropic Factor”— Craig Koniver
ProductReferenced
Methylene blue
(compound)
“it's a cognitive stimulant for sure ... people say this is the best thing for you know my brain function recall memory”— Craig Koniver
ProductReferenced
Nicotinamide riboside (NR)
(NAD precursor supplement)
“Charles brener ... encouraged me to try NR I took these um NR supplements ... I didn't continue to take them ... it was very expensive”— Andrew Huberman
ProductReferenced
PT-141 (Bremelanotide / Vyleesi)
(peptide)
“pt41 ... the brand name is VII is for um uh female hypo libido so it stimulates libido in women”— Andrew Huberman
ProductReferenced
Trimethylglycine (TMG / betaine)
(supplement)
“trimethyl glycine um TMG is is a good compound methine is a good methyl donor is an amino acid”— Craig Koniver
BookReferencedISBN verified
Protocols: An Operating Manual for the Human Body
Andrew Huberman
“I have a new book coming out ... it's entitled protocols an operating manual for the human body ... now available by pre-sale protocols book.com”— Andrew Huberman
Big reveals from this episode
- Koniver says the vast majority of drugs prescribed in America are used off-label, never approved for what they treat.
- Claims micro-dosing GLP-1s (losing 2 lbs/week or less) prevents the muscle loss critics warn about.
- Recounts a patient who started testosterone in his early 20s and had zero sperm left by 25.
- The FDA in October 2023 moved many peptides (BPC-157, MK-677, CJC-1295, thymosin alpha-1, dihexa, epitalon) to a category-2 list, banning compounding.
- Huberman reports injectable pinealon roughly doubled his REM sleep, an effect he'd never achieved before.
- Huberman calls the FDA-approved sleep drug Quviviq (daridorexant) 'a total disaster' for him.
- Koniver names NAD the single most impactful agent he has ever used across thousands of patients.
- Both speculate the FDA peptide crackdown may partly serve to hand lucrative compounds to pharmaceutical companies.
Worth remembering
- The human body makes roughly 300,000 peptides; only about 150 are used therapeutically.
- BPC-157 occurs naturally in the gut, so it survives stomach acid and can be taken orally.
- The largest pulse of growth hormone occurs roughly between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., supporting early bedtimes.
- Koniver maps mitochondrial cytochromes to nutrients: CoQ10 at cytochrome 3, methylene blue at cytochrome 4.
- A study of trash outside doctors' offices found over 30% of prescriptions written that day were thrown away by patients.
- Polyphenols, matcha, glutathione, and glycine induce phase-2 liver detoxification independent of phase 1.
- Methylene blue was the first pharmaceutical ever prescribed in the U.S., in the late 1800s.
- Methylene blue turns urine green or blue for ~24 hours; absence of color can signal poor mitochondrial function.
- The original NAD infusion protocol came from Mexico in the 1990s for addiction: 3,000 mg over 6-10 hours for 10 days.
- Huberman reports sublingual NMN makes his hair and nails grow noticeably faster.
More from Andrew Huberman
All 3803 recommended