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.
The gist
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.
Big reveals
- 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.
Things 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.
Recommended in this episode
Books, products and media the guest or host genuinely endorsed here — with the buy link.
Affiliate link — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10)
(supplement)
“it's been dramatic for me with migraine headaches and you basically reducing them to zero” — Craig Koniver 01:04:55Find it on Amazon
Pinealon
(bioregulator peptide)
“with pinin I'm ... it's doubling the amount of rapid eye movement sleep that I'm getting doubling” — Andrew Huberman 01:25:36Find it on Amazon
Glycine
(amino acid supplement)
“I really like glycine as an inhibitory neurotransmitter ... huge fan of it we've been using it a long time” — Craig Koniver 01:30:48Find it on Amazon
NAD (intravenous / subcutaneous)
(coenzyme)
“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 02:03:38Find it on Amazon
NMN (sublingual)
(NAD precursor supplement)
“I take sublingual nmn each day um it makes my hair grow ridiculously fast ... makes my nails grow really fast” — Andrew Huberman 01:54:16Find it on Amazon
Magnesium L-threonate
(supplement)
“still a big fan of things like magnesium 3 and8 um appenine which is a chemom mile derivative” — Andrew Huberman 01:35:30Find it on Amazon