Search
Close this search box.
Search
Close this search box.
Search
Close this search box.

Epitalon Peptide Benefits, Dosage & Side Effects

Everybody wants to stay young and healthy for as long as possible, and live life for as long as possible.

This is a fundamental TRUTH – whether you like to admit it or not, every human being on Planet Earth is biologically wired to maximize their very survival.

And short of discovering a magical “Fountain of Youth” in some far-away corner of the planet, we all have to deal with aging and getting older.

But what if there was a way to verifiably increase your lifespan AND your healthspan?

Something that could improve your workout endurance, increase your energy levels, help you sleep deeper, and help you stay in your physical and mental “prime” as you get older?

I can’t promise any miracles, but I CAN introduce you to a therapeutic peptide by the name of Epitalon.

So sit back and get ready to discover how a tiny biomolecule may be the secret anti-aging solution you’ve been looking for all along…

What is Epitalon?

Epitalon life extension peptide

Epitalon (a.k.a. Epithalon, Epithalone) is a synthetic tetrapeptide (i.e. four amino acids long) that is derived from the naturally-produced peptide known as Epithalamin.

Epithalamin is naturally produced in the pineal gland and was first discovered when it was extracted from calves.

It was discovered in the 1980s by Russian scientist Vladmir Anisimov, who specializes in the field of gerontology (i.e. the study of aging in elderly individuals).

However, the man who truly brought Epitalon to the limelight was Dr. Vladmir Khavinson, who was working at the St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology at the time.

It was part of his larger decades-long research project into the field of peptide bioregulators:

“The theory proposed by Professor Khavinson is based on the underlying assumption that changes in gene expression result in decreased protein synthesis, eventually leading to aging and the development of diseases.

Stimulation of peptide production through use of “peptide bioregulators” is designed to affect a specific organ, system or condition in the body, using a highly specific short chain peptide to act as a shortcut to initiate protein synthesis and increase organ function.

“… peptide bioregulators – first discovered and researched in the 1980s by professor Khavinson – are based on the premise that each body organ uses a very specific peptide that acts like a gene switch, triggering or “regulating” a biological reserve. When isolated from individual organs and glands, these specific peptides stimulate protein synthesis of the tissues they are derived from.”

(If you want to see his IMPRESSIVE CV and all the work he has done, his official website is here)

Khavinson was alto the scientist who was responsible for numerous patents pertaining to the use of Epitalon, and it has been approved for general use in Russia since 1990.

How Does Epitalon Work?

I could get into the very complicated details of how Epitalon works in the human body, but here’s the primary mechanism of action:

“Epitalon’s primary role is to increase the natural production of telomerase, a natural enzyme that helps cells reproduce telomeres, which are the protective parts of our DNA. This allows the replication of our DNA so the body can grow new cells and rejuvenate old ones.

Younger people produce a relatively large amount of telomerase and longer telomeres. The longer the telomere strands are, the better cell health and replication they provide. However, as people age, the production of telomerase falls and consequently cell replication and health decline. This is the main reason that people age.”

To really understand why this is so important, we need to look at something called the Hayflick effect:

“[A telomere] protects the DNA from unraveling during each cell division. Each cell division results in a slightly shorter telomere length, and eventually, the cell can no longer divide. This is called the Hayflick Limit, after Dr. Leonard Hayflick’s discovery that cells have a limited number of times that they can divide

… The pineal gland produces a hormone called epithalamin that tells the cells to produce telomerase which in turn results in longer telomeres in our DNA. The functionality of the pineal gland declines with age, and is partly responsible for age related diseases”

Ben Greenfield does a great job of explaining the connection between Epitalon and the Hayflick effect in his book Boundless:

“After fifty to seventy divisions, cells can no longer divide and worn out, damaged, or diseased cells can’t be replaced… reaching the Hayflick limit coincides with the death of a living organism. In sufficient doses, epithalon allows cells to exceed their Hayflick limit, thus extending the life span of the organism.”

“… Professor Khavinson believes the limit of animal and human life span is approximately 30 to 40 percent longer than the current mean life span, and that the limit of the human life span is 110 to 120 years”

If you want to understand all of the science behind telomere extension in greater detail, this YouTube video is a great summary of the entire process:

Epitalon Benefits

Despite Epitalon’s long history of nearly 40 years, only 122 search results appear on PubMed between 2000 and 2021.

This is because the majority of the studies are written in Russian and published in journals which aren’t always accessible in North America’s medical databases.

As such, we have a limited number of translated studies to critically examine Epitalon’s effects in animals and humans.

But don’t let this deter you, because you’re about to discover why Epitalon is commonly referred to as the “Fountain of Youth”!

Lengthens Your Telomeres

This is by and far the most important benefit of Epitalon, as it’s the only treatment in existence that is verifiably proven to extend the length of your telomeres.

If you look at the cell culture studies, the results are consistent:

“These results indicate that in human somatic cells Epithalon can induce the expression of telomerase enzyme component, telomerase activity, and telomere elongation (by on average 33.3%). Hence, we for the firsts time demonstrated induction of telomerase activity with a peptide” (Source

Addition of Epithalon to aging cells in culture induced elongation of telomeres to the size comparable to their length during early passages. Peptide-treated cells with elongated telomeres made 10 extra divisions (44 passages) in comparison with the control and continued dividing. Hence, Epithalon prolonged the vital cycle of normal human cells due to overcoming the Heyflick limit” (Source)

“Addition of Epithalon peptide in telomerase-negative human fetal fibroblast culture induced expression of the catalytical subunit, enzymatic activity of telomerase, and telomere elongation, which can be due to reactivation of telomerase gene in somatic cells and indicates the possibility of prolonging life span of a cell population and of the whole organism.” (Source)

I can’t personally attest to this effect through my own experience, but one private client of mine had this to say after running a single treatment of Epitalon:

“I took a test on 6/17/2019 to see how long my telomeres were. 0.89, 34th percentile. At 51 years old, I was totally bummed out to hear my cells’ actual age was 59 (7 years older than my biological age)

On August 15, I started a week-long protocol of Epithalon. I took a 15 mg bottle and diluted it in 2.1 mL of bacteriostatic water. Did a subcutaneous injection of 70 units 3 times per day for 7 days straight.

I got re-tested on 10/01/2019, and the results were fucking amazing. Telomere length was 1.07, 83rd percentile. Now the age of my cells is 36. That’s 23 years shaved off in such a short amount of time.

I also improved my time for running a mile from 9:27 (a few weeks before Epithalon) to 7:11 (a few weeks after Epithalon) without changing anything in my training or diet.

I do feel more energetic for sure. Not nearly as tired as usual, my workouts have improved, cardio and endurance have gone way up.

This shit is the real deal. Take care and thanks for all you do.”

Another worthwhile testimonial is the YouTube video below, created by the same gentleman whose video you saw earlier in this article:

 

May Extend Your Lifespan

If Epitalon has the ability to increase telomerase activity and elongate our telomeres, then by extension it should lead to some measurable difference in lifespan.

This is indeed the case, as demonstrated in several animal studies:

“The geroprotector activity of epitalon, a synthetic tetrapeptide Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly, was studied on the Drosophila melanogaster wild strain Canton-S. The substance was added to the culture medium only at the developmental stage (from egg to larva)… Epitalon significantly increased the lifespan (LS) of imagoes by 11-16% when applied at unprecedented low concentrations-from 0.001 x 10(-6) to 5 x 10(-6) wt.% of culture medium for males and from 0.01 x 10(-6) to 0.1 x 10(-6) wt.% of culture medium for females” (Source)

“Epitalon did not influence food consumption, body weight or mean life span of mice. However, it slowed down the age-related switching-off of estrous function and decreased the frequency of chromosome aberrations in bone marrow cells (by 17.1%, P<0.05).

It also increased by 13.3% the life span of the last 10% of the survivors (P<0.01) and by 12.3% the maximum life span in comparison with the control group. We also found that treatment with Epitalon did not influence total spontaneous tumor incidence, but inhibited the development of leukemia (6.0-fold), as compared with the control group.” (Source)

“[Epitalon] failed to modify the food consumption and physical strength of mice, and was followed by the increase in the body weight, mean survival (by 5.3%, P<0.05) and maximum (by 10 months), by slow down of the ageing of estrus function, by the decrease in body temperature, physical activity, free radical processes and spontaneous tumor incidence (mainly, lung adenomas) in mice.” (Source)

Ready to have your mind blown?

In human clinical trials performed by Russian scientists, Epitalon led to a noticeably different outcome in overall survival and mortality amongst the elderly:

“Over three years 39 coronary patients received, in addition to basic therapy, regular courses of epithalamin (peptide drug), while 40 coronary patients (control group) received basic therapy alone. Long-term treatment with epithalamin (6 courses over 3 years) decelerated aging of the cardiovascular system, prevented age-associated impairment of physical endurance, normalized circadian rhythm of melatonin production and carbohydrate and lipid metabolism.

A significantly lower mortality in the group of patients treated with epithalamin in parallel with basic therapy also indicated a geroprotective effect of the peptide preparation from the pineal gland.”

The reduction in mortality is even greater when Epitalon is combined with Thymalin:

“… 2.0-2.1-fold [reduction] among the Thymalin-treated patients, 1.6-1.8-fold–in the Epithalamin-treated group, and 2.5-fold–in the patients treated with Thymalin combined with Epithalamin, as compared to the control group.

A separate group of patients was treated with Thymalin combined with Epithalamin annually for 6 years. We registered a 4.1-fold mortality decrease in this group as compared to the control level.”

Keep in mind that the above 6-8 year study was done on 266 senior adults over the age of sixty, which should tell you about powerful Epitalon can be in increasing human lifespan.

I have no idea when the American sickcare system will ever give Epitalon a fair shot, but for the sake of humanity I sure hope the time comes soon.

Can Improve Sleep Quality

Another awesome health benefit of Epitalon is the ability to improve your sleep, primarily through restoring optimal melatonin production:

“Epitalon was proven to significantly stimulate melatonin synthesis in senescent monkeys in the evening, thereby normalising the circadian rhythm of cortisol secretion.” (Source)

“Administration of pineal peptides–epithalamin (at the dose 5 mg/animal/day intramuscularly during 10 consecutive days) or epitalon (at the dose 10 micrograms/animal/day intramuscularly during 7-10 consecutive days) induced significant increase in the night plasma melatonin in old monkeys” (Source)

This use of Epitalon is directly endorsed by world-class peptide physician Dr. Heather Smith-Fernandez, who has personally used it for herself and her clients for better sleep at night:

“It’s one of the true antiaging peptides, in my opinion, and it promotes better sleep, healthier sleep, much healthier sleep, and when it’s used in combination with certain other peptides, you get a synergistic effect. Literally, people can feel their brain getting younger when they’re using epitalon regularly”

And in case you were wondering… yes, lowered melatonin production at an older age can be highly detrimental:

“There are several reports of an extension of lifespan of both vertebrate and invertebrate animals treated with melatonin, suggesting that this agent has effects on the general systemic metabolism rather than acting on a single organ”

“… Some of the general changes associated with brain aging in the absence of clinical disease, include memory deficits, cerebral arterial thinning and deposition of lipofuscin and amyloid plaques. All of these changes may be partially prevented by extended melatonin treatment. Melatonin can restore the ability of the aging brain to respond to an inflammatory stimulus”

So if you’re looking for something to help you fall asleep faster at night, Epitalon might be the hidden key!

Unexplored Health Benefits

Sadly, there are some major uses of Epitalon that have been understudied in its nearly 40-year history.

But I believe they should be investigated further, as it would open our eyes to the many more routes through which Epitalon exerts its anti-aging effects.

Some of of the most interesting explorations of Epitalon include:

This hasn’t stopped people from claiming they’ve experienced other unexpected benefits of using Epitalon, such as:

I don’t think there’s anything else out there like Epitalon, and it’s a shame this revolution medical breakthrough doesn’t get any more attention in the world at large.

Epitalon Dosage

Just like MOTS-C, there doesn’t appear to be a universal consensus on the dosing regimen for Epitalon.

Nevertheless, there are several options for you to choose from, and I’m confident each of them will add many more years of healthy living to your lifespan…

The Khavinson protocol, according to Ben Greenfield: 10 mg of Epitalon injected subcutaneously 3 times a week for 3 weeks straight, done once a year

An alternative Russian dosing protocol, according to Dr. William Seeds in his book Peptide Protocols, Volume 110 mg of Epitalon injected intramuscularly every day for 10 days, done once every year for a total of two years.

The Ukrainian approach according to the International Peptide Society: 10 mg of Epitalon injected intramuscularly every THIRD day until you reach 50 mg total, done once every six months for a total of 3 years.

Dr. Heather Smith-Fernandez: 1 mg of Epitalon injected subcutaneously every night.

(NOTE: Epitalon MUST be administered via either injection method, as an oral formulation would break down the peptide in the digestive tract and prevent it from entering the bloodstream. IN FACT, most peptides ONLY WORK if injected for the very same reasons. If your Doctor is selling you oral peptides, FIND ANOTHER DOCTOR.)

People seem to be varied as to WHEN to take Epitalon – some users insist on taking it before bed to improve sleep, while others swear on a morning injection for more energy throughout the day

And while other users claim Epitalon is equally effective if taken orally or nasally, I would personally choose to stick with the tried and true of localized subQ injections.

But as you can already tell, Epitalon is one of those unique peptides where a very short protocol “takes care of the results” for a very long period of time.

This means Epitalon can be used intermittently alongside other scheduled peptide therapies.

It can be given as a stand-alone therapy twice a year to stop cellular senescence from taking place, or as a starting therapy to assist DNA repair and up-regulate anti-oxidant production.

However… due to its long-term anti-aging effects, be ready for the possibility that you won’t “notice” anything when taking Epitalon.

One bodybuilding forum writer on ProfessionalMuscle.com says it best:

“By itself, it’s what didn’t happen that should matter with this stuff. It keeps the telomeres young, but that by itself doesn’t guarantee that the body is suddenly gonna go through an error correction program.

Otherwise, there is no single “thing” that’s gonna reverse aging. Are you kidding me? Some of those people are nuts…but there may be a few for whom this is exactly what they need in order to induce noticeable results.

Otherwise, Epithalon is just a part of a larger solution involving complex processes.”

It is indeed possible to experience some of the short-term benefits described in the prior section of this article, but don’t bet all your life savings on it.

Finally, with regards to the actual injections, this YouTube video does a decent job of showing you how to prepare Epitalon properly:

Epitalon Side Effects and Safety

If you look at all of the available clinical data in both humans and animals, you won’t find any reported side effects of Epitalon.

Likewise, anecdotal reports from biohackers do not appear to present any serious adverse effects.

The only notable side effects I can truly think of are the redness and itching you may experience at the site of injection.

You may not “feel” any benefits upon taking Epitalon, but that’s only because its anti-aging effects are not immediate in nature.

To add to this point, many users advise Epitalon to be reserved for older individuals (think 40+ years old) as younger adults might not get what they’re looking for from this peptide.

Truthfully, the only real fear behind using Epitalon is a mere possibility of increased cancer risk:

“… in the case of cancer, too much telomerase can be just as bad as too little telomeres. Too much telomerase can help confer immortality onto cancer cells and actually increase the likelihood of cancer, whereas too little telomerase can also increase cancer by depleting the healthy regenerative potential of the body”

However, a quick look at the literature refutes and debunks this notion wholeheartedly.

“Long-term exposure to Epitalon in small doses did not show any toxic effect. Treatment with Epitalon decreased the number of tumor-bearing mice with malignant tumors and prevented the development of metastases. Spontaneous tumors of the reproductive organs (mammary glands and ovaries) were predominant in both groups of mice (control and experimental)” (Source)

“Mitotic activity of tumor cells was significantly inhibited by Epitalon when the treatment was given throughout the experiment. In parallel, a high level of apoptosis [cell death] was seen in the same group. Thus, the strongest inhibitory effect of Epitalon on carcinogenesis in the colon mucosa was manifested when the treatment was continued throughout the experiment.” (Source)

In short, Epitalon’s powerful anti-cancer properties disprove the notion that increasing telomerase activity necessarily leads to increased tumor development.

NOTE: Many bioregulator peptides such as Epitalon come from Russia, where their research and patents are very closed off to the outside world (i.e. Western medicine).

This forum discussion provides a great insight as to the differences regarding the philosophy of medical care in America and Russia.

All supposed effects are speculative until we can do our own clinical trials on human subjects and get FDA approval for human consumption. Bioregulators like Epitalon are NOT cheap, but the risks associated with using them are low.

Where to Buy Epitalon

Due to its current status as a research chemical, Epitalon is quite difficult to find.

And the very few peptide suppliers that exist tend to offer a version of Epitalon that is impure and often full of harmful contaminants.

However, Limitless Life Nootropics is the ONLY vendor I would trust with the synthesis, manufacturing, and distribution of Epitalon.

Use code JAY15 to get 15% off your order!

Every single peptide on their website is pharmaceutical-grade (>99% purity) and tested by an independent third-party laboratory for quality control before it gets sold.

NOTE: Limitless Life Nootropics also offers an “upgraded” version of Epitalon known as N-Acetyl Epitalon Amidate (NAEA): 

It is generally accepted that adding the additional acetyl and amidate groups to a peptide molecule leads to enhancements such as better metabolic stability, lasting longer in serum (i.e. blood) due to resistance against enzymatic breakdown, and an easier time passing through lipid membranes (such as the blood-brain barrier).

For this reason, it is believed that NAEA is a more potent and effective version of Epitalon.

I have never used or tried this variant of Epitalon, so it’s up to you to decide if you want to use it, how to use it, and the most effective dose to take.

But in the meantime, you should get started by reading some of the following discussions:

Additional Reading Resources for Epitalon

As you can already tell, there is an endless amount of information about Epitalon on the Internet.

But not all of it is necessarily accurate or informative, which is why I’ve taken the trouble of reading all of it for you.

If you want additional information about Epitalon beyond what is presented in this article, I implore you to explore the following resources:

LongeCity’s 59-page forum discussion on Epitalon contains numerous experiences of people who have tested the peptide on themselves, both the good and the uncertain. 

A HUGE collection of every single Epitalon study published by Dr. Khavinson and his colleagues (along with other peptides of interest)

A categorization of all the evidence surrounding Epitalon’s effectiveness based on impact (WikiGenes) and country of origin (Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation)

And as always…

Raise Your Vibration To Optimize Your Love Creation!

If you want more game-changing intel on peptides – new ones not featured on this site, where to source them, and the best protocols for using them – join the Elite ranks of The Optimized Tribe!

JOIN MY PRIVATE MEMBERSHIP GROUP

The Only Peptide Vendor Endorsed by Jay Campbell

If you use Cialis or Viagra, You Must Use the Best

NITRIC OXIDE SUPPLEMENTS

On the Planet to Enhance the Effects!

Do you know the Answers?

FLASH SALE

$130 off
secret discount code:
JAY130

The only blood testing lab endorsed by

Scroll to Top