Does Hexarelin work?
Not properly: animal or lab studies, or small uncontrolled human reports. small short tests in healthy people, with no muscle or heart results.
For the muscle-building use hexarelin is sold for, the cited human evidence is an acute hormone study in six young and six elderly adults showing a growth hormone pulse along with rises in prolactin, ACTH and cortisol. The heart claims come from rodent and cell work on the CD36 receptor. No trial has measured body composition or any clinical outcome. 21
Arvat and colleagues gave single doses of hexarelin and GHRP-2 by vein to six healthy young adults and six elderly subjects. They compared both with GHRH. In the young adults, both peptides gave a growth hormone response larger than GHRH. In the elderly subjects it was smaller than in the young. The two peptides were indistinguishable from each other. Both raised prolactin, ACTH and cortisol. The cortisol rise was similar to that from corticotropin-releasing hormone. 2
Reviews of the GHRP class record that long use raises IGF-1 in humans. But no hexarelin trial in the citation set measured muscle mass, strength, fat or heart function. 3
Evidence checklist
- Randomised controlled trial Acute hormone study, no randomization
- Human study over 100 people Cited human study had 12 people
- More than one research group Mostly one Turin research group
- Clinical outcomes, not surrogate markers Hormone levels only; no body or heart outcomes
- Human safety data beyond case reports Acute studies only; long-term unknown
More on Hexarelin
Citations
- Bodart 2002, Circulation Research: CD36 mediates the cardiovascular action of growth hormone-releasing peptides in the heart doi.org
- Arvat 1997, Peptides: effects of GHRP-2 and hexarelin on GH, prolactin, ACTH and cortisol in man pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Ghigo 1997, European Journal of Endocrinology: growth hormone-releasing peptides, review pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Reference information only, not medical advice. Drawn from the Hexarelin article, fact-checked against the cited sources. No dosing anywhere on this site.