Humanin: The Definitive Guide

What is humanin?

Humanin is a small peptide, a chain of 24 amino acids, that the human body makes from a gene in its mitochondria, the tiny structures that produce most of a cell's energy. In cell and animal studies it helps stressed cells avoid a built-in self-destruct program called apoptosis. People buy lab-made humanin hoping for healthier aging, energy and brain protection. It is not approved as a medicine anywhere, and no study has ever given it to people. [1], [2], [3]

Researchers first described it in 2001 after finding its gene in brain tissue from a person with Alzheimer disease, in a search for anything that could stop nerve cells dying from Alzheimer-related damage. Two other teams found it separately in 2003, one because it grabbed a cell-death protein called BAX and one because it bound a growth-factor partner called IGFBP-3. [4], [5], [6]

Its gene sits inside a larger mitochondrial gene called MT-RNR2, which makes part of the mitochondria's protein-building machinery. That made humanin the first known mitochondrial-derived peptide, a family that now includes MOTS-c and several “small humanin-like peptides”. There are also 13 humanin-like genes in the cell's main DNA, which make similar but not identical peptides. [1], [7], [8]

Humanin and HNG are different molecules. HNG (also written S14G-humanin or “humanin-G”) is a lab-made analogue in which the 14th amino acid, serine, is replaced by glycine. That single swap made it hundreds to about a thousand times more potent in some cell tests. Most of the animal research quoted on websites used HNG, and products and dosing pages often mix the two up. [9], [10], [11]

Doserly

One swap, a different molecule

Chemical databases and cell studies

Natural humanin

C₁₁₉H₂₀₄N₃₄O₃₂S₂ · 2,687.2 g/mol

HNG (S14G-humanin)

C₁₁₈H₂₀₂N₃₄O₃₁S₂ · 2,657.2 g/mol

Position 14: Ser (S) in humanin, Gly (G) in HNG

Natural humanin

Where it comes from

Made by the body from the mitochondrial gene MT-RNR2

Full protection of nerve cells in one 2001 dish experiment

10 micromolar

Used in

Human blood-level studies; some cell and animal studies

HNG

Where it comes from

Lab-made analogue

Full protection in the same experiment

10 nanomolar (about 1,000 times lower)

Used in

Most whole-animal studies, including the long-running mouse aging study

Sources: UniProt and PubChem entries · Hashimoto and colleagues 2001 · Sponne and colleagues 2004

A potency ratio measured in a dish is not a dose conversion. Many products and dosing pages do not say which molecule they mean.

Humanin is sold as a freeze-dried powder, usually in 5 or 10 mg vials labelled “for research use only”, to be mixed with water and injected. The natural peptide weighs 2,687 g/mol (formula C119H204N34O32S2); HNG weighs 2,657 g/mol. Many products do not say which of the two is inside. [12], [9], [13], [14], [15]

Typical Humanin Protocols

The most common protocol in the reviewed sources is about 1 mg per subcutaneous injection, given anywhere from once a day to two or three times a week, for 4–12 weeks, followed by a break. Among the pages that give a single amount for natural humanin, the middle value is 1 mg, and most ranges start at 1 mg and top out at 3–5 mg. Daily injections are more common than two or three a week, by about 17 publishers to 10. [18], [17], [13], [20], [21], [22]

Titration Changing the amount in steps

Most pages keep one amount for the whole course. A few start lower: one gives 1 mg every other day for two weeks, then 1 mg three times a week; another steps from 500 mcg to 1 mg to 2 mg a day over four weeks. One clinic page suggests raising the amount only after 6–8 weeks with no effect. [19], [22], [23]

Breaks and cycles

Pages describe 4–12 weeks of use, then a break of about 4–8 weeks: for example 10 weeks on and 5 off, or 12 weeks on and 4–8 off. Others describe running it continuously. No study has tested either approach. [18], [21], [23], [24]

Timing

Most pages give no reason to prefer a time of day; the ones that do usually say morning. In community education groups, one member moved the dose to the morning after waking at night with evening doses. See timing. [16]

Read the units: mcg means micrograms; 1 mg equals 1,000 mcg. The dose is the amount each time, the daily total is everything injected in one day, and the weekly total is everything in a week: 500 mcg every day adds up to 3.5 mg a week, while 5 mg three times a week adds up to 15 mg. These amounts are for natural humanin; pages give HNG amounts that are up to 1,000 times smaller, so the two can never share a row. [16], [18], [20]

Each row is a complete schedule from one source, so its amount and duration belong together. Low, mid and high are alternatives, not steps to move through. These schedules come from protocol websites rather than clinical trials, and several of those pages say they extrapolated their amounts from mouse studies of HNG; the cited references give the full details. [18], [25]

Before relying on any row: no amount of humanin has been tested for safety in people. In mice with an aggressive breast cancer, natural humanin made tumors grow faster and respond less to chemotherapy, so anyone with cancer, a history of cancer or a pre-cancer diagnosis has the strongest reason to stay away from it. Humanin analogues lowered blood sugar in rats, which matters for anyone taking metformin, insulin or other diabetes medicines; do not stop or change a prescribed medicine to make room for it. Products are unregulated: one tested vial labelled 10 mg held 8.22 mg, and a wrong amount in the vial or the syringe changes every dose, so check the math with the reconstitution calculator. Two serious illnesses after injections that included humanin have been reported; neither was shown to be caused by it, but both show how badly unregulated injections can go. It has not been studied in pregnancy, breastfeeding or anyone under 18, and anti-doping rules ban it at all times. See the full risks. [3], [26], [27], [15], [28], [29], [2], [30]

What amounts do websites give for HNG?

These HNG amounts differ from each other by up to 1,000 times (5 mcg to 5 mg), and the top of the range is as large as the natural-humanin amounts above, even though HNG is the more potent molecule in cell tests. Community education groups contain only one HNG schedule, 300 mcg every morning for 4–8 weeks and then 4 weeks off, with no source and nobody reporting having used it. Why the HNG numbers disagree. [20], [17], [31], [32]

In community education groups, the amounts members actually inject cluster at 1 mg, taken daily for months, five days on and two off for about 8 weeks, or in 10-day blocks rotated with MOTS-c and SS-31; one member used 500 mcg a day for 15 days. Educators disagree by about 20 times: one course teaches 500 mcg three times a week for 8–12 weeks, another in the same group teaches 2–5 mg two or three times a week, and a third teaches 250 mcg to 1 mg five to seven times a week for no more than 4 weeks, then 4–8 weeks off.

Where protocols differ: HNG, amounts, frequency, breaks and stacks ↓

What is humanin commonly used for?

People usually look into humanin for healthier aging and longevity, for energy, and to protect the brain and memory. Websites also link it to blood sugar and heart health, and animal research adds eyesight and fertility. Most often it is taken as one part of a “mitochondrial stack” with MOTS-c and SS-31. [36], [37], [24]

The subsections below describe that interest and the evidence behind it. They do not establish that humanin treats or prevents any condition, and no study has tested any of these uses in people.

Longevity and healthy aging

This is the biggest reason people try it. The idea comes from two findings. Adult children of people who lived to 100 had higher humanin in their blood than people of the same age without that family history (18 people compared with 19). In rats and mice, humanin levels in the blood fell with age. [2], [27], [38]

What people often miss is the main mouse experiment. Female mice given HNG twice a week from late middle age for 14 months had less body fat and, in related reports from the same group of mice, better memory tests and less scarring of the heart. But they did not live longer. The authors wrote plainly that HNG “did not increase lifespan”. How humanin might work. [2], [39], [40]

Energy and “mitochondrial support”

Because humanin comes from mitochondria, it is sold as an energy peptide. No study has measured energy or fatigue in people taking it. In community education groups and public forums, people who describe more energy were almost always also taking SS-31 and MOTS-c, and several heavy users say humanin on its own did nothing noticeable. What people report. [41], [42]

Brain health and memory

Humanin was discovered as an Alzheimer “rescue factor” in nerve cells grown in a dish, and HNG or related analogues protected the brain in many mouse and rat models of Alzheimer disease, stroke and injury, usually injected directly into the brain or given through the nose. In people, blood humanin did not tell Alzheimer disease apart from milder memory problems in a 2025 study, and no study has tested humanin for memory in anyone. [4], [43], [44], [45]

Blood sugar and metabolism

In rats, humanin given into the brain improved how well the body responded to insulin, and a more potent analogue cut blood sugar in diabetic rats by nearly half within hours. In people, humanin levels tend to be lower in type 2 diabetes and in raised fasting blood sugar, which is an association, not evidence that adding more helps. Blood sugar is also a safety question. [27], [46], [47]

Heart, eyes, fertility and other uses

Animal studies report less heart damage after a blocked artery, protection of eye cells in models of macular degeneration, and protection of eggs and sperm-making cells during chemotherapy, mostly with HNG. Each of these is a lab or animal finding. In one large-animal test, HNG shrank heart damage in pigs after 60 minutes without blood flow, but the benefit vanished when the blockage lasted 75 minutes. [48], [49], [50], [51]

See the human research or explore how it might work.

Where do humanin protocols differ?

Humanin protocols disagree more than most, because nobody has a human dose to anchor them. The biggest questions are which molecule a page means, how much, how often and for how long.

Is the dose for humanin or HNG?

Check this first. HNG protected nerve cells in a dish at about 1,000 times lower concentration than natural humanin in one 2001 experiment (10 nanomolar versus 10 micromolar), and about 500 times lower in a 2004 prion-model study. Websites turn this into dose advice in opposite ways: some give HNG at 5–10 mcg, others at 0.5–5 mg, the same as natural humanin. A concentration ratio in a dish says nothing reliable about how much of either to inject. [11], [10], [20], [32], [31]

It is often unclear which one a vial contains. One dosing page warns that “most vendors sell HNG”; a member of a community education group who checked supplier paperwork concluded the opposite, that the 10 mg vials sold as humanin are the natural peptide. Health Canada has seized a product labelled “Humanin HNG”. [19], [52]

How much per injection?

Most amounts for humanin (natural, or not specified) on websites run from 100 mcg to 5 mg per injection, with one outlier of up to 10 mg a day. The low end appears on a few clinic and vendor pages (100–500 mcg, or 200–300 mcg a day), the middle at 1–2 mg and the top at 3–5 mg. [53], [54], [20], [36], [33]

Doserly

Amounts per injection on dosing websites

Website protocols, not clinical evidence

Amount per injection (log scale: each gridline is 10 times the last)

Natural humanin (or not specified)

1 mcg10 mcg100 mcg1 mg10 mg

Shaded: where most natural-humanin amounts cluster (1–5 mg)

Low daily schedule (website)

500 mcg · once daily

Starting level (website)

200–300 mcg · daily; molecule not specified

Historical compounding claim (website)

100–500 mcg · per injection; molecule not specified

Mid range (website)

1–3 mg · 2–3 times a week

Reported range (website)

1–4 mg · 2–3 times a week

Tier table (website)

1–5 mg · every other day to 3 times a week

Provider claim a website doubts

2–10 mg · per day; molecule not specified

HNG

1 mcg10 mcg100 mcg1 mg10 mg

Microgram range (website)

5–10 mcg · once daily

Low milligram range (website)

100–500 mcg · 2–3 times a week

Milligram range (website)

0.5–2 mg · once daily

High milligram range (website)

1–5 mg · per day

HNG amounts span about 1,000 times (5 micrograms to 5 mg), although HNG is the more potent molecule in cell tests.

Website protocols, not clinical evidence. No amount has been tested in people. Sources: public dosing websites.

Websites disagree by up to about 1,000 times on the amount, and none of these amounts has been tested in people.

Where do the numbers come from? Several pages say theirs were “extrapolated” from HNG studies in mice and cells, and several cite the long-running mouse study, which used 4 mg per kilogram of body weight injected into the belly cavity (intraperitoneal). Animal doses per kilogram cannot be converted into a safe human amount. One page presents a mouse study as “clinical research”, and another claims human tolerability data that do not exist. [18], [25], [2], [34], [21]

Every day or a few times a week?

About 17 publishers describe daily injections and about 10 describe two or three a week; a few give every other day or both options. The only published timing data come from rodents, where HNG cleared from the blood of mice within hours, which some pages use to argue for daily injections. No study has compared schedules. [20], [17], [18], [55]

In community education groups, members' actual practice leans toward daily or five-days-on, two-off injections, while educators' schedules run from twice a week to every day.

How long, and what about breaks?

Course lengths on websites include 10–15 days repeated a few times a year, 20–30 days, 4–8 weeks, 8–12 weeks and 10 weeks, followed by breaks of 4–8 weeks; some describe continuous use. [56], [16], [17], [21], [18], [37]

Community education groups disagree in the same way. One course caps a cycle at 4 weeks on, then 4–8 weeks off, citing limited human data; another says there is no established cycling and treats humanin as a continuous longevity baseline. Members run anything from 15 days to several months without a break.

Morning or evening?

No study has compared timing. The few pages that mention it suggest the morning or consistent daily timing; one clinic page adds that some practitioners give bedtime doses for memory goals, and calls the reasoning for any timing theoretical. In community education groups, one member who injected in the evening woke repeatedly at night in the first days and settled after moving the dose to the morning, while one member planned evening doses. [16], [23]

Other routes: nasal sprays and pills

One website gives 1–3 mg of natural humanin through the nose (intranasal) and says absorption this way is poorly understood. In mice, natural humanin given into the nose was detected in the brain, and HNG given the same way improved memory measures in an Alzheimer model. No study has tested humanin taken by mouth. [20], [57], [43]

What about stacks and blends?

Humanin is rarely used alone. The most common partners are MOTS-c and SS-31, then NAD+, Epitalon, GHK-Cu and 5-Amino-1MQ. Stack pages give each compound its own amount, for example humanin 2–4 mg a day alongside MOTS-c 5–10 mg three times a week and SS-31 0.25–1 mg a day, or humanin 1–2 mg three times a week in a five-compound “longevity stack”. [58], [24], [59]

In community education groups, members describe pre-mixed vials of MOTS-c and humanin at 5 mg each, and replies doubted that humanin stays stable in a blend; no one has tested it. A blend's total weight is not its humanin amount. A common sequence in those groups is a course of FOXO4-DRI, then SS-31, then humanin and MOTS-c. Humanin blocks cell death and FOXO4-DRI is sold to trigger it in old cells, so members ask whether the two cancel out; there are no data either way.

No combination has been studied in people. The two 2026 papers titled “humanin and MOTS-c” tested each peptide in separate groups of mice or cells, not together. [60], [61]

How do milligrams convert to syringe units?

Pages often give amounts as units on a U-100 insulin syringe, which holds 100 units per millilitre. Units measure volume, so how much humanin each unit holds depends on how much water went into the vial.

For example, a 10 mg vial mixed with 2 mL of water holds 5 mg per mL. Then 500 mcg is 0.1 mL (10 units), 1 mg is 0.2 mL (20 units), and 5 mg is 1 mL (100 units), a full 1 mL syringe. The same amount in units changes completely if the vial holds 5 mg instead of 10 mg, or if a product contains less peptide than its label says. Doserly's reconstitution calculator works out units for any vial and shows each step. [13], [22], [15]

What happens when you stop humanin?

Nobody knows. No study in people or animals has looked at what happens after humanin is stopped, and there are no reports of withdrawal effects or a rebound.

• Blood levels. In rodents, blood levels of injected HNG halved in about 30 minutes in mice and in more than 4 hours in rats, where some was still measurable a day later. How long any effect lasts after the last dose has not been measured. Whether injections change how much humanin the body makes for itself has not been studied. [55]
• Cancer cells in the lab. In tumor cells taken from people with a brain cancer (glioblastoma) and grown in the lab, repeated humanin or HNG made some samples grow faster, and that growth boost “returned to control levels” after the peptide was withdrawn. [69]
• Personal accounts. One person on a longevity forum reported swollen bags under the eyes the morning after a single injection of a product sold as humanin, given at the same time as Epitalon. Two months after stopping they had not gone, and more than a year later they were “somewhat reduced, but not gone away”. [70], [71]

In community education groups, the only member who gave a detailed account said their loose stools lasted the whole course and were slow to settle afterwards. Several members expect no noticeable change on stopping, because they noticed none while taking it.

Does injected humanin behave like the humanin your body makes?

Nobody has measured this in people. There is no human pharmacokinetic study, so the bioavailability of a subcutaneous injection (how much reaches the blood) and how long it stays there are unknown. The only data come from one 2013 study in rodents, which used HNG and a related analogue called HNGF6A, not natural humanin, and injected them into the belly cavity. [55]

In that study, the injected peptide showed up in the blood and the liver of rats but was undetectable in the brain and heart. HNG also lowered the growth-related hormone IGF-1 in mice by 23% after a single dose. Whether a subcutaneous injection of natural humanin in a person does any of this is unknown. [55]

There is a second complication. The body makes humanin inside cells, where some of it works on the cell's own mitochondria, and it also releases humanin into the blood. An injection only adds to the blood, and blood tests for humanin cannot reliably tell natural humanin apart from its relatives. [5], [72]

How long does humanin last in the body?

Nobody knows how long it lasts in people. In mice, HNG injected into the belly cavity had a half-life of “approximately 30 minutes”; in rats it was “greater than 4 hours”, and HNGF6A lasted longer than HNG. The “30-minute half-life” printed on dosing pages is the mouse HNG figure presented as if it were human. [55], [36], [25]

Does the form matter: natural, HNG, 21 or 24 amino acids?

Yes, in three ways:

• Natural humanin or HNG. They are different molecules with different potency in cell tests, and a product label may not say which it is. [10], [11]
• 21 or 24 amino acids. Mitochondria read their genes with a slightly different genetic code. Read that way, the humanin gene would give a 21-amino-acid peptide; read by the machinery in the main body of the cell, it gives 24. Which form circulates in people is still unresolved. The peptides sold and studied are the 24-amino-acid version, so pages calling it “21 amino acids” are describing a predicted form. [1], [73]
• Salt form. Laboratory humanin is often sold as a trifluoroacetate (TFA) salt, left over from how peptides are purified, so the weight of powder in a vial is not all peptide. [74], [9]

How should humanin be stored, and how long does it last?

There is no approved product label and no stability study of humanin mixed for injection. What exists are statements from suppliers of laboratory-grade peptide, which say their products are not for human use, plus two chemistry studies:

• Powder, before mixing. Laboratory suppliers say to keep the freeze-dried (lyophilized) powder frozen at about −20 °C (−4 °F), where they give shelf lives of 3 years to at least 4 years. One supplier allows 0–5 °C (32–41 °F) for up to 6 months. [74], [75], [76]
• After mixing (reconstitution). The only supplier figure for dissolved humanin comes from one maker of a research humanin peptide, which dissolves it first in a laboratory solvent: up to 5 days in the fridge at 4 °C (39 °F), or up to 3 months frozen at −20 °C. Other suppliers give times only for laboratory stock solutions kept at −80 °C or −20 °C, which do not apply to a vial kept in a fridge. [76], [75], [77]
• What the chemistry shows. HNG dissolved in plain lab water broke down fast: only 11% was still intact after 28 days at 4 °C, as the peptide oxidized and paired up into dimers. Natural humanin clumps into fibers (aggregation) in slightly alkaline conditions and in common phosphate or Tris buffers. [78], [79]
• Protocol websites say to refrigerate after mixing and use it within 4 weeks, or within 21–30 days. None cites a stability test, and the supplier and chemistry data above point to a much shorter window. [13], [18]

Mixing problems are common enough to show up online: one person described a humanin vial that turned “mad foamy” after adding water and would not settle. Careful storage cannot tell you what is in a vial or whether it was made correctly (see product quality). [14]

What do we actually know about humanin in people?

No one has ever been given humanin or any of its analogues in a published or registered study. Every human study measures the humanin people already make, in blood, muscle or other fluids, and looks for links with age, disease or exercise. [3], [2]

Has anyone tested humanin as a treatment?

No. ClinicalTrials.gov lists seven studies that mention humanin, and none gives it to anyone: they measure humanin levels around heart surgery, kidney injury, fertility treatment, cerebral palsy, anesthesia and exercise. The one company that took a humanin-family peptide into people, CohBar, tested CB4211, which is based on MOTS-c, not humanin. [3], [80], [81], [82], [83]

What do blood-level studies show?

These are observational studies: they compare people's own levels and cannot show cause and effect.

Does humanin go up or down with age?

The evidence disagrees. Humanin fell with age in rats and mice, and two human studies, one from 2009 and a 2019 study of 225 people, found lower levels in older people. But a 2019 study found blood humanin higher in old age and highest in people over 100, and a 2021 study of 569 people found higher levels with age in healthy people. [27], [38], [46], [96], [97]

Doserly

What studies found in people's own blood

Observational human studies

Measured, not given: no study has given humanin to people

• Adult children of centenariansHigher18 vs 19 people of similar age
• AgeMixedFell with age in rodents and two human studies; rose in two others
• Raised blood sugar / type 2 diabetesLowerTwo studies; a third found no difference in type 2 diabetes
• Poor artery-lining functionLower40 people
• After growth hormone treatmentLowerAbout 20% lower in 11 children
• Endurance exerciseHigherBlood levels rose after one session
• PreeclampsiaHigher37 vs 34 women
• Gestational diabetesLower84 vs 73 women
• COPDHigher165 vs 49; high levels went with more flare-ups
• Breast cancerHigher75 vs 70 women

Associations from observational studies using different lab tests; they do not show what taking humanin would do.

Humanin levels were higher in some conditions and lower in others; none of this shows what taking humanin would do.

Why do these numbers disagree?

Studies of the same condition can also disagree: unlike the two blood-sugar studies in the table, a 2021 study of 569 people found no difference in type 2 diabetes. [96]

Part of the reason is the lab tests (immunoassays). Published average levels range from about 124 pg/mL to about 2,200 pg/mL depending on the study, the test kit and the group, and researchers caution that the antibodies in these kits may also pick up the 13 humanin-like peptides. That is why there is no accepted “normal range” for humanin. [47], [84], [72], [7]

What do these measurements mean?

A level measured in the blood shows how much of the body's own humanin a test detected at one moment. It does not show that raising it would help. The same pattern can mean different things: higher levels in COPD flare-ups or cancer might reflect a body responding to stress rather than protection. The only way to know whether taking humanin helps anyone would be a controlled trial that gives it to people and compares them with a placebo group, and none has been done. [91], [92]

How might humanin work?

Everything in this section comes from cell studies and animal studies (preclinical research). Many experiments used HNG or other analogues rather than natural humanin, and no study has looked at how humanin works in people.

Blocking cell death from the inside

In 2003, researchers found that humanin binds BAX, a protein that normally moves to the mitochondria and punches holes in them to start apoptosis. Humanin kept BAX from moving, and later work showed it can also bind related cell-death proteins and lock BAX into inactive fibers in a test tube. [5], [98], [8]

Signals from outside the cell

Released humanin can also act on cells from the outside. It binds a three-part receptor on nerve cells (CNTFR, WSX-1 and gp130), which switches on a survival signal called STAT3, and it activates a second receptor, FPRL1 (also called FPR2). These findings come from cells in a dish. [99], [100], [101]

Growth hormone and IGF-1

Humanin binds IGFBP-3, a protein that carries the growth-related hormone IGF-1 in the blood. The two systems seem to push against each other: HNG lowered IGF-1 in mice, and in the other direction, growth hormone or IGF-1 lowered humanin in mice and in children treated with growth hormone. Mice engineered to make extra humanin were about 10% smaller, and their litters were 46.5% smaller. This matters for anyone also using growth hormone or peptides that raise it. [6], [55], [38], [2]

Insulin and blood sugar

In rats, humanin infused into the brain improved how well the body responded to insulin, through signals from the hypothalamus. Natural humanin injected into a vein at the tested dose did not, while the more potent analogue HNGF6A did, and a single dose of HNGF6A lowered blood sugar by nearly 50% in diabetic rats. Natural humanin also delayed diabetes in mice prone to it. [27], [102]

What did the aging studies in mice find?

• Lifespan: female mice given HNG at 4 mg per kg twice a week from 18 months old for 14 months did not live longer than untreated mice. [2]
• Health measures in the same mice: less weight gain and belly fat without eating less, lower IGF-1, better memory tests at 24 months, and less scarring in the heart. These come from one group of mice reported in three papers, not three separate experiments. [2], [39], [40]
• Worms: tiny roundworms engineered to make extra humanin lived slightly longer, about 19.0 days on average versus 17.7, and in a later study 27 days versus 24. [2], [103]

A 2023 review states that humanin extended lifespan in mice. The mouse study it relies on says it did not, so this guide follows the original study. [104], [2]

Explore more of the preclinical research.

What are the risks and unanswered questions?

Is humanin safe?

Its safety in people is unknown. No one has been given humanin in a study, so there are no data on side effects, safe amounts, blood levels or immune reactions (immunogenicity). Animal studies used different molecules, routes and doses, and were not designed as safety studies. [3], [55]

Three concerns stand out: an unresolved cancer question from animal studies, a possible drop in blood sugar in people on diabetes medicines, and the quality of products sold for “research”.

What problems have actually been reported?

Adverse-event reports. FDA's adverse-event database (FAERS) holds one report that names humanin: a US physician reported in 2024 a botulism-like illness, with weakness, blurred vision, facial and wider paralysis and breathing failure needing hospital care. The report lists humanin at 5 mg by subcutaneous injection, used for about five days in late August 2024, and is marked life-threatening. It gives no toxin test, no product testing and no outcome, and FAERS reports cannot show that a product caused an illness. [28], [105]

A case in Nevada. At an anti-aging festival in Las Vegas in July 2025, a pharmacist injected a woman with humanin together with vitamin B-12 and two products labelled ACE-31 and CJC; she had a severe reaction, was intubated by paramedics and taken to hospital, and later recovered. The state pharmacy board fined those involved, but investigators could not test the injections and could not tell whether contamination or a reaction to the peptides explained the illness. [29], [106]

Neither case shows that humanin caused the illness. Health agencies have reported similar paralysis after injections of fake or mishandled botulinum toxin in the same period, and whether that explains either case cannot be assessed from the public records. Both do show that injecting unregulated products can go badly wrong. [107], [108]

Personal accounts. Public forum posts describe swollen bags under the eyes after one injection given with Epitalon, a self-described allergy, trouble sleeping after a small dose, and anxiety after accidentally injecting about 9.5 mg. In community education groups, one member taking humanin 1 mg five days a week alongside metformin, growth hormone and a MOTS-c blend described night waking with evening doses, loose stools for the whole course and repeated low blood sugar, down to 53 mg/dL after a workout; the lows stopped after they dropped the MOTS-c blend and then metformin. None of these was investigated, and most involved other compounds. [70], [109], [110], [111]

Could humanin help cancer cells survive?

This is the central open question. Humanin works by stopping cells from self-destructing, and destroying damaged cells is one of the body's defenses against cancer.

• Evidence of harm, in animals and cells. In mice with an aggressive (triple-negative) breast cancer, natural humanin injected every other day made tumors grow faster, spread more to the lungs and respond less to chemotherapy. In glioblastoma, a brain cancer, humanin made cancer cells harder to kill with chemotherapy and helped them invade in a mouse model; an analogue did the same with another chemotherapy drug, and humanin protected pituitary tumor cells from dying. [26], [69], [112], [113], [114]
• Evidence the other way, in animals. In other mouse cancer models, HNG protected healthy sperm-making cells and white blood cells from chemotherapy without weakening its effect on tumors, and it did not significantly speed up neuroblastoma tumors. [51], [115], [116]
• In people: breast cancer patients had higher humanin in their blood than women without cancer, and triple-negative breast tumor samples contained more humanin than healthy breast tissue. These are associations, not effects of taking it. [92], [26]

The result may depend on the molecule, the cancer and the dose, and none of it has been tested in people. In community education groups, a cancer caution is rare in lessons, and one member used humanin for eight weeks while dealing with a pre-cancer diagnosis, the kind of situation this concern is about.

Could product quality change the risk?

Yes. Humanin is sold as unregulated “research” powder, and no official quality standard exists. In one public lab test of a vial labelled 10 mg, purity was 98.5% but it held only 8.22 mg; sterility and bacterial toxins were not tested, and the public report does not say whether its identity check told humanin apart from HNG. [15]

People buying it describe vials that foam and difficulty finding any product that “tests well”. In community education groups, members also describe powder that looks like glitter instead of a solid cake, pool money for independent testing, and note that most sellers publish no test results. Health Canada has seized humanin products as unauthorized injectable drugs. [14], [117], [52], [118]

Is humanin legal? Is it FDA-approved?

Checked September 23, 2026. Rules differ by country and change quickly. A “research use only” label does not make a product legal to sell or safe to use.

United States. Humanin is not an FDA-approved drug or part of one, and there is no public sign that it has reached the investigational stage: no company has registered or published a human study of it. It has an FDA substance identifier, which is a naming code, not an approval. It is not on either of FDA's lists of bulk ingredients nominated for pharmacy compounding (the May 14, 2026 list for pharmacies and the March 2025 list for outsourcing facilities), was not among the peptides on the July 23–24, 2026 advisory-committee agenda, and is not on FDA's list of ingredients flagged for significant safety risks. Not being listed is not permission: pharmacies generally cannot compound with a bulk ingredient that is not on an approved list, part of an approved drug or covered by an official monograph. [119], [120], [121], [122], [123]

Canada. Humanin is not authorized. Health Canada named humanin products in two 2025 seizure notices: “Humanin HNG without Mannitol” (April 2025) and “Humanine” (August 2025). [52], [118]

Australia. Humanin is not a named entry in the June 2026 Poisons Standard, and we found no approval for it. The TGA warned in May 2026 about the risks of importing unapproved peptide products. [124], [125]

New Zealand. A June 2025 proposal to make all mitochondrial-derived peptides, “including humanin, MOTS-c and SHLP peptides”, prescription medicines was deferred in July 2025, and we found no later decision. [126], [127]

United Kingdom and European Union. We found no authorization and no humanin-specific action by UK or EU medicine regulators in our searches.

Is humanin banned in sport?

Tested athletes should treat it as banned. Humanin is not named on the World Anti-Doping Agency's 2026 list or the 2027 list that takes effect on January 1, 2027, but category S0 bans at all times any substance with no government approval for human use, and the 2027 list adds “peptides” to its examples. WADA notes that a peptide “not specifically named” may still be prohibited. MOTS-c, its best-known relative, is named separately. [30], [128], [129]

Who should be especially cautious?

These groups have no safety data in people. That is a reason for caution, not proof of harm.

• Anyone with cancer, a history of cancer or a pre-cancer diagnosis. Because of the tumor results in animals and cells above. [26], [69]
• People taking diabetes medicines such as metformin, insulin or other glucose-lowering drugs. Humanin analogues lowered blood sugar in rats, and one community account describes repeated lows. [27]
• People using growth hormone or peptides that raise it, because humanin and IGF-1 push against each other in animal and child studies. [38], [55]
• Pregnancy, breastfeeding or trying to conceive. Never studied in people; mice engineered to make extra humanin had smaller litters. [2]
• Children and teenagers. No study included anyone under 18 as a recipient, and this guide is written for adults.
• Competitive athletes. See the anti-doping section above.
• People taking other medicines. Interactions have not been studied; see the next question.

Has humanin been tested alongside other medicines?

Not in any study designed to look for interactions. The possible overlaps come from animal and cell research: blood sugar with diabetes medicines, the growth hormone and IGF-1 system, chemotherapy (protective for healthy cells in some mouse models, protective for cancer cells in others) and blood clotting, since HNG reduced platelet activity in mice without prolonging bleeding. Nothing is known about combining it with MOTS-c, SS-31, FOXO4-DRI or other peptides it is usually stacked with. Bring a complete list of everything you take to a pharmacist or doctor. [27], [38], [51], [26], [130]

What should be monitored while using humanin?

No regulator has written a monitoring plan for humanin, because no approved product exists. Below is what animal studies measured, and the reasons behind the concerns above. It can help you prepare questions for a clinician; it is not a personal testing plan.

What did studies measure?

• Blood sugar. An analogue lowered glucose in diabetic rats, and natural humanin improved glucose tolerance and delayed diabetes in mice prone to it. [27], [102]
• IGF-1. HNG lowered IGF-1 in mice, both after one dose and over months. [55], [2]
• Body weight and fat. Long-term HNG reduced weight and belly fat in older mice without changing how much they ate, and reduced weight gain and liver fat in mice on a high-fat diet. [2], [131]
• Blood counts. HNG protected white blood cells during chemotherapy in mice. [51], [115]
• Not measured in people: no study has recorded side effects, blood tests or organ function in anyone taking humanin. [3]

Which measures matter, and why?

Can a blood test show my humanin level?

Not in a useful way. We found no routine clinical lab test for humanin, published results differ more than tenfold between studies, there is no accepted normal range, and a test after injections would measure whatever the antibodies detect, not necessarily intact humanin. [72], [47]

What do people in public communities report?

Humanin is discussed far more than it is used. Most public threads are about whether to try it, where to buy it and how to stack it; only about 20 posts describe using it, and almost all of those people took it with other peptides. These selected discussions are not a survey of all users. [132], [133]

What do the positive reports look like?

Most are short. One person with symptoms they linked to Lyme disease said that after the second 2 mg injection, given every other day, “I started sleeping a solid 8 hours”. Another person said a small dose of about 50 mcg “helped tremendously with energy production”, though they had trouble sleeping that night, and later said humanin worked better for them than MOTS-c. One person said HNG at about 2 mg a day was “VERY anxiolytic” (calming); another felt less anxious on 500 mcg and raised placebo as a possible explanation. [134], [110], [135], [136], [137]

People with chronic fatigue or long COVID describe small gains, such as standing for 20 minutes instead of 10 on good days, after adding NAD+ and a MOTS-c and humanin combination, but none can separate humanin from the rest. [138], [139]

Does everyone notice a difference?

No, and nonresponse is the most common outcome. Accounts include “didn't notice any difference” after 5 mg doses, “No perceptible effects in the short or medium term”, and “triald 2-5mg daily for 10days and didnt notice anything”. One person who first noticed nothing at 5 mg later reported better sleep, but was also taking Epitalon at bedtime. [134], [42], [140]

In community education groups, six people say humanin on its own did nothing they could notice, including an educator. Members who describe clean, steady energy were taking it inside SS-31 and MOTS-c stacks, and one heavy user credits the combination, not humanin.

How long does it take to notice anything?

There is no reliable answer. Reported changes range from the first night to the second dose, and many people noticed nothing in 10 days to 8 weeks. Educators in community education groups tell members to expect no immediate effect and to judge it over 8–12 weeks, which also makes any change hard to attribute. [134], [140]

What about unwanted effects?

Public accounts describe persistent swollen bags under the eyes after one injection given with Epitalon, a self-described allergy confirmed with “different distributers”, a sleepless night, and anxiety after an accidental 9.5 mg injection. One person found 2.5 mg of HNG “too strong”. See reported problems. [70], [109], [110], [111], [141]

In community education groups, the one detailed account describes night waking with evening doses, loose stools for eight weeks and repeated low blood sugar while also on metformin and a MOTS-c blend. Shorter courses were described as uneventful.

What do community education groups teach?

Educators mostly present humanin as an optional, expensive add-on to SS-31 and MOTS-c for energy and longevity, and often the first compound to drop. Their doses differ by about 20 times, and some lessons repeat errors: calling humanin 21 amino acids, filing it as a “bioregulator” or a senolytic (it is neither), quoting the mouse half-life as human, saying human trials are under way (there are none) and citing the centenarian study as if it measured centenarians (it measured their children). Some groups are commercial, with seller links beside the protocols.

Members' behavior is shaped more by scarcity and price than by results: kits cost roughly $170–300 per 10 mg, stock runs out, and many plan courses that never start. The most carefully designed plan, a low daily dose for 12 weeks with monthly blood tests, had not started when we reviewed it.

How can you judge a humanin story?

Ask: Was it humanin or HNG, and was the product tested? What else was in the stack, such as SS-31, MOTS-c, NAD+, growth hormone or a GLP-1 medicine? Was anything measured, such as sleep, blood sugar or a lab test, the same way before and after? What happened after stopping? One public account of better weight, blood sugar and blood pressure came from someone also taking SS-31, MOTS-c and other peptides plus retatrutide, which they credited for most of the weight loss. Selected stories cannot replace a controlled study. [142]

How does humanin compare with MOTS-c, SS-31, NAD+ and Epitalon?

Humanin is usually discussed, and often stacked, with other compounds sold for “mitochondrial” health or longevity. The table compares what each one is and how much has been tested in people. The schedules are the ones each compound's own sources describe and cannot be carried over to humanin.

The real differences are in how much has been tested. SS-31 is the only one with an approved medicine, for one rare disease, and several of its larger trials were negative. NAD+ has small randomized trials in specific diseases. MOTS-c and Epitalon have little or no human data, and humanin has none. No study has compared humanin with any of them in people; the few direct comparisons were in mice or cells and tested HNG, not natural humanin. For tested athletes, MOTS-c is banned by name, while humanin falls under the general ban on unapproved substances. [152], [153], [60], [30]

Common questions about humanin

Is humanin the same as HNG?

No. HNG is a lab-made version with one amino acid changed (glycine instead of serine at position 14), and it was hundreds to about a thousand times more potent in some cell tests. Most animal studies used HNG, websites often confuse the two, and some products do not say which they contain. The potency ratio comes from concentrations in a dish and does not convert one dose into the other. [9], [10], [11] See where protocols differ.

Has humanin been tested in people?

Not as a treatment. No published or registered study has given humanin or any analogue to a person. The seven studies on ClinicalTrials.gov that mention humanin all measure the body's own levels, around surgery, kidney injury, fertility treatment, exercise and other conditions. The only company to test a humanin-family drug in people used one based on MOTS-c. Every human dose on the internet is therefore a guess. [3], [83] See the human research.

Does humanin make you live longer?

There is no evidence that it does in people or mammals. In the key mouse study, HNG twice a week for 14 months improved some health measures but “did not increase lifespan”. Roundworms engineered to make extra humanin lived slightly longer. In people, adult children of centenarians had higher levels than others their age, which is an association, not proof that raising humanin extends life. [2], [103] See the aging studies.

How long does humanin take to work?

There is no reliable answer, because no study has measured any effect in people. Some forum users describe better sleep or energy within the first few doses; many notice nothing after 10 days to 8 weeks, and several say it did nothing on its own. Educators in community education groups tell members to expect no immediate effect. Longevity effects, if any, would not be something a person could feel. [134], [140] See what people report.

Can humanin be taken with MOTS-c and SS-31?

That combination is the most common way people use it, but it has never been studied. Stack pages give each compound its own amount and schedule, and the two 2026 studies titled “humanin and MOTS-c” tested them separately in mice and cells. Using several peptides at once also makes it impossible to tell which one caused a benefit or a side effect. [58], [24], [60], [61] See stacks and blends.

Is humanin a senolytic or a bioregulator?

Neither. A senolytic kills worn-out (senescent) cells; humanin does roughly the opposite, helping stressed cells survive, and in a cell study neither HNG nor MOTS-c killed senescent cells. Bioregulators are very short peptides from a Russian research program, such as Epitalon; humanin is a mitochondrial-derived peptide discovered in a different line of research. [152], [5], [1] See what humanin is.

Does humanin lower blood sugar?

In animals, yes: a humanin analogue cut blood sugar by nearly half in diabetic rats, and natural humanin delayed diabetes in mice prone to it. In people, lower natural levels go with raised blood sugar, but nobody has tested what taking humanin does. One community account describes repeated low readings in someone also taking metformin and a MOTS-c blend, which is why people on diabetes medicines should be cautious. [27], [102], [47] See monitoring.

Is it legal to buy humanin?

It depends on the country, but it is not an approved medicine anywhere we checked. In the US it is not an FDA-approved drug and is not on the lists of ingredients pharmacies may compound with. Health Canada has seized humanin products, and New Zealand considered making this peptide family prescription-only. A “research use only” label does not make a product legal or safe. [120], [52], [126] See the dated legal-status summary.

Glossary

Plain explanations of the route, dosing and research terms used in this guide. Underlined terms in the text link here.

Accelerated approval

An FDA pathway that approves a medicine for a serious condition based on an early measure that is expected to predict benefit, on condition that later studies confirm it.

Adverse event

A harmful or unwanted medical event reported after someone used a treatment. A report alone does not prove the treatment caused it.

Aggregation

Peptide molecules clumping together, sometimes into fibers. Clumps can make a product weaker and, when injected, more likely to trigger an immune reaction.

Amino acid

A small chemical building block. Chains of amino acids make up peptides and proteins.

Analogue

A lab-made variant of a molecule with a small change to its structure, such as one swapped amino acid. HNG is an analogue of humanin.

Animal study

Research in animals such as rats or mice. It shows what a substance does in a living body, but results in people can differ.

Apoptosis

A built-in program that makes a damaged or unneeded cell dismantle itself. It protects the body, for example by removing cells that could become cancerous.

BAX

A protein that starts apoptosis by moving to the mitochondria and making them leak. Humanin binds BAX and holds it back in cell studies.

Bioavailability

How much of a dose reaches the bloodstream in a usable form. It depends heavily on the route. For humanin it has not been measured in people by any route.

Bioregulator

The name a Russian research group uses for very short peptides, such as Epitalon, that it believes act on particular tissues. Humanin is not one.

Cell study (in vitro)

Research on cells grown in a dish. It gives early clues about biology, but it is far from proof of benefit in people.

Compounding

When a pharmacy prepares a customized medicine from individual ingredients. In the US, federal lists control which bulk ingredients pharmacies may use.

Controlled trial

A study that compares people who receive a treatment with a similar group who do not, often receiving a placebo instead. Randomly assigning people to each group makes the comparison fairer.

Course and cycle

A course is the period of repeated use, such as 8 weeks. A cycle is a course plus a planned break before any further use.

Daily total

All the amounts given in one day, added together. For example, 500 mcg twice daily is a 1 mg daily total.

Dose (amount each time)

The amount given on one occasion. A protocol lists both the dose and how often it is given.

FAERS

The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System, a database of voluntary reports of problems after using a drug or product. Reports can be incomplete and cannot show cause and effect on their own.

Half-life

The time it takes for the measured level of a substance in the blood to fall by half. It is not the same as how long an effect lasts. For humanin it has been measured only in rodents given analogues.

IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor 1)

A hormone made mainly in the liver in response to growth hormone. It drives growth and is often measured to check growth hormone activity.

IGFBP-3

The main protein that carries IGF-1 in the blood. Humanin binds it in cell studies.

Immunogenicity

The ability of a product to provoke an immune response, such as antibodies or an allergic reaction. Impurities and clumps can make injected peptides more immunogenic.

Immunoassay (ELISA)

A lab test that uses antibodies to detect a substance. Humanin test kits differ from each other and may also detect related peptides.

Intranasal

Sprayed or dripped into the nose. How much humanin is absorbed this way has not been measured in people.

Intraperitoneal (IP)

Injected into the belly cavity, the space around the abdominal organs. It is a common route in mouse and rat studies and is not used for people taking peptides.

Intravenous (IV)

Given directly into a vein, by injection or drip.

Investigational

Still being studied and not approved by a regulator, such as the FDA, to treat any condition. No human study of humanin has been registered or published.

Freeze-dried (lyophilized)

Dried by freezing and removing the water, leaving a powder. Humanin is sold this way and mixed with liquid before injection.

mcg and mg

Micrograms and milligrams. 1 mg equals 1,000 mcg. Humanin website amounts are usually in mg; some HNG amounts are in mcg.

Mitochondrial-derived peptide

A small peptide made from a gene in mitochondrial DNA. Humanin was the first one found; MOTS-c and the small humanin-like peptides are others.

Mitochondria

Tiny structures inside cells that produce most of the cell's energy. They carry a small circle of their own DNA.

Observational study

A study that measures things in people without giving them a treatment, such as comparing blood levels between groups. It can show links but not cause and effect.

Oxidation and dimers

Two ways a peptide breaks down in solution: reacting with oxygen (oxidation), or two peptide molecules joining together (a dimer). Either can change how the peptide behaves.

Peptide

A short chain of amino acids. Humanin is a chain of 24.

Pharmacokinetics

How the body absorbs, moves, breaks down and removes a substance. For humanin, only rodent data with analogues exist.

Placebo

A dummy treatment with no active ingredient, used as a comparison in studies.

Preclinical research

Studies done before research in people: cell studies, tissue studies and animal studies.

Reconstitution

Mixing a freeze-dried powder with a liquid so it can be measured and injected. The amount of liquid sets how much peptide each unit holds.

Research use only

A label on products sold for laboratory research. It does not mean a product is approved, tested for human use or legal to sell as a medicine.

Senolytic

A substance that selectively kills senescent cells, old cells that have stopped dividing. Humanin is not one; it helps cells survive.

Subcutaneous (SC)

Injected into the fatty layer just under the skin. This is the route most humanin protocol descriptions use, though no human study has tested it.

Syringe units

Markings on an insulin syringe that measure volume. On a U-100 syringe, 100 units equal 1 mL. The amount of peptide per unit depends on the vial's concentration.

Titration

Adjusting a dose in steps, usually starting lower and increasing if needed.

WADA

The World Anti-Doping Agency, which publishes the list of substances banned in sport.

Weekly total

All the amounts given in one week, added together. For example, 1 mg three times a week is a 3 mg weekly total.

Withdrawal and rebound

Withdrawal effects are symptoms caused by stopping a substance. A rebound is a problem returning worse than before after stopping. Neither has been studied for humanin.

Explore more of the research

Go deeper into the experiments behind the claims.

Across this guide, the citations include 91 original scientific papers: observational studies in people, and cell, animal and chemistry studies of humanin and its analogues. The library below groups the preclinical experiments by question. Many of these studies used HNG or other analogues, and several come from the same few research groups, so paper counts are not counts of independent confirmations.

In the route details, intraperitoneal means into the belly cavity and intracerebroventricular means into the fluid-filled spaces of the brain.

How this guide was researched

This guide is built from a thorough review of the sources cited throughout it: published scientific studies, trial-registry records, regulatory documents, an FDA adverse-event report, supplier product information and published protocol descriptions. We also reviewed public online forums and community education groups where people describe their own experiences with humanin.

The guide cites 185 sources, including 91 original scientific papers. Each type of source answers a different question. Studies show what researchers measured. Protocol descriptions show how humanin is typically used. Personal accounts show what individual people experienced. Every numbered citation links to its entry below, labeled by source type.

How this guide was made

Research and drafting were AI-assisted. Every cited source was checked against the original, and the guide was reviewed and edited by Doserly before publication. It has not had an independent clinical review, and Doserly does not currently have medical reviewers. Doserly makes a medication and health-tracking app and runs Doserly Academy, both of which are promoted in this guide. Read our editorial policy for how guides are researched, updated and corrected.

This guide is for educational purposes. It summarizes what the reviewed sources report so the research is easier to understand; it is not medical advice. For a deeper dive, or to check any point for yourself, go straight to the cited sources.

Explore the sources