ss 31 peptide benefits: Frequently asked questions

Over the past two decades, Innerbody Research has helped tens of millions of readers make more informed decisions about staying healthy and living healthier lifestyles. As a team, we’ve put in close to 2,000 hours of research and writing on the subject of therapeutic peptides, and the number continues to grow. Through our close readings of scientific studies and reviews, as well as our relationships with clinicians and patients, we’ve been able to produce comprehensive profiles of even obscure peptide therapies. Additionally, like all health-related content on this website, this guide was thoroughly vetted by one or more members of our Medical Review Board for accuracy and will continue to be monitored for updates by our editorial team.

Older people are probably the best-suited population for SS-31, as its primary therapeutic benefits relate to aging-related changes of the brain, body, and cardiovascular system. More specifically, SS-31 principally acts on the mitochondria and oxidative stress, which worsen with time. 33 34 That being the case, a rule of thumb could be: you might be a prime candidate if you have concerns about cholesterol, cognition, muscle loss, and vision impairment stemming from your age. Which isn’t to say that younger people can’t benefit from SS-31 therapy. Never has there been a bad time to enact preventive health protocols for slowing the sandfall of the biological hourglass. It’s just that a clinician might not consider a twenty- or thirtysomething to be well-indicated for this particular therapy. One may have to exhaust other options and show signs of significant mitochondrial dysfunction to qualify for a prescription. Also poorly indicated are people whose health isn’t likely to benefit from SS-31. Someone with heart disease, for example, would be a poor candidate since relevant clinical trials haven’t met the primary endpoints for that use. 29 Then there are people for whom SS-31 is contraindicated : women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, and people with a history of cancer. For these populations, SS-31 could pose an undue safety risk, which is better to avoid altogether.

User expectations and experiences are hard to come by through research papers. Fortunately, our known peptide prescribers have shared with us the knowledge they’ve gained through observing patients’ health outcomes with SS-31, and so we can relay their findings to you here.

The best (and probably only) place to get pharmaceutical-grade SS-31 is through a licensed clinic. It may not be an FDA-approved drug, but clinicians around the United States have prescribed it and continue to do so. And to qualify for a prescription, you may need to demonstrate that you need SS-31 to treat a relevant health condition — that is, no other, more widely available drug can do for you what SS-31 might. We want to reiterate that you can undoubtedly find SS-31 through online vendors without a prescription, but then you’d be dealing with (a) a business with an unvalidated reputation and (b) a research-grade peptide that can put your life in danger. We strongly urge you to ignore the presence of these vendors in your web searches, and (unless you intend to carry out sanctioned laboratory experiments) always give a wide berth to research-grade peptides.

The literature on SS-31 overwhelmingly describes a high safety profile. To illustrate, we can point to several double-blind, randomized controlled trials that otherwise failed to support its therapeutic potential for specific diseases. One such trial, from 2020, had inconclusive results on SS-31’s benefits for heart failure, but it described the peptide as “well tolerated” and reported no significant increases in blood pressure, heart rate, or electrocardiogram intervals. 29 Another trial, from the same year, yielded no significant benefit for mitochondrial myopathy but found the only noteworthy adverse effects to be injection site reactions, “the majority of which were mild.” 35 These findings are consistent with the risks described by the clinicians we know who prescribe SS-31, though they add that some users may also experience headaches , dizziness , gastrointestinal distress , flushing , or fatigue . Other peptides, and medications in general, are known to cause similar reactions. In most cases, they’re temporary. There’s only one other safety concern with SS-31, and it’s common to most therapeutic peptides: it’s contraindicated for women who are pregnant or breastfeeding and people with a history of cancer . That’s because there isn’t enough research to determine whether SS-31 poses a danger to a developing fetus or child, and its effects on cell function theoretically could increase the risk of cancer recurrence.

SS-31 is a synthetic tetrapeptide. It’s alternatively known as MTP-131 and is currently being developed by Stealth BioTherapeutics under the trademarks Elamipretide and Bendavia. It’s specifically designed to target mitochondria. On entering the body, SS-31 binds with high affinity to cardiolipin, a phospholipid uniquely found in the inner mitochondrial membrane and known to interact with a protein called cytochrome c. 2 This interaction determines whether cytochrome c becomes either an electron carrier or a peroxidase, and SS-31 promotes conversion to the former instead of the latter. 3 As an electron carrier, cytochrome c drives the synthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), our primary form of cellular energy. 4 ATP production is the principal function of mitochondria, so SS-31’s presence helps ensure that the “powerhouses of the cell” continue to carry out their critical role. SS-31 may also inhibit the opening of a channel in the inner membrane called the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP), at least in rodents. 5 Because mPTP opening has been implicated in neuronal death, SS-31’s inhibitory action is a potential mechanism of action for the peptide’s cognitive health benefits. 6 Furthermore, several studies have concluded that SS-31 is capable of scavenging mitochondrial reactive oxygen species, making it a potent antioxidant. 19 Its antioxidant mechanism of action isn’t yet fully understood, but one group of researchers has theorized that it has to do with an ability to activate autophagy 20 — a cellular recycling process that promotes efficient function and which is critical for mitigating oxidative stress. 21