Does IGF-1 DES work?
Not properly: animal or lab studies, or small uncontrolled human reports. No human has been studied.
For the muscle-growth use it is sold for, the cited evidence is biochemical: cell assays showing des(1-3)IGF-1 escapes the binding proteins that restrain normal IGF-1, and one rat study in kidney insufficiency. No human has been given des(1-3)IGF-1 in a published study. 12
There are none. A 1991 rat study gave des(1-3)IGF-1 to young rats with part of their kidneys removed. It found better weight gain and nitrogen balance, with less muscle protein breakdown. A 2026 review in Frontiers in Endocrinology covers the IGF-1 lab-made versions circulating as research chemicals. But no human study of des(1-3)IGF-1 has been published. 23
Evidence checklist
- Randomised controlled trial No human study
- Human study over 100 people No human study
- More than one research group Cell and animal work only
- Clinical outcomes, not surrogate markers No clinical outcome measured
- Human safety data beyond case reports No human safety data
More on IGF-1 DES
Citations
- Ross 1989, Biochemical Journal: IGF binding proteins inhibit IGF-1 and IGF-2 but not des(1-3)IGF-1 doi.org
- Martin 1991, Am J Physiol: IGF-I and its variant des-(1-3)IGF-I enhance growth in rats with reduced renal mass doi.org
- Dominikowski 2026, Front Endocrinol: performance-enhancing peptides that act on the GH-IGF-1 axis, review doi.org
Reference information only, not medical advice. Drawn from the IGF-1 DES article, fact-checked against the cited sources. No dosing anywhere on this site.