Goal

Metabolic health

Compounds12

With human trials7

A measurable goal, which makes it one of the few here you can actually check.

Metabolic health means fasting glucose and HbA1c, insulin sensitivity, triglycerides, visceral fat, and how well your mitochondria handle a fuel load. It overlaps heavily with fat loss without being the same thing, and that overlap is the first question to ask of anything on this list: losing weight improves nearly all of these markers by itself, so does this compound do anything beyond the weight it removes?

The list falls into two clusters. The incretins — tirzepatide, semaglutide, retatrutide — have the largest and best-documented effects, mostly through glycaemic control and weight, and tesamorelin sits at 3 for visceral fat specifically. The second cluster goes at the machinery directly: MOTS-c, SS-31, NAD+, 5-Amino-1MQ and SLU-PP-332 target mitochondrial and metabolic signaling, and with one exception their evidence is preclinical. That exception is SS-31, which has a real randomized phase 2 and phase 3 record in mitochondrial disease — and several of those trials missed their primary endpoints. ARA-290 appears at 2 on the strength of its neuropathy work in type 2 diabetes rather than any effect on glucose itself.

This is the goal where you should insist on numbers. Get a fasting panel and an HbA1c before and after, because the whole point of metabolic health is that it is measurable and you do not have to guess. If your HbA1c is in the diabetic range this belongs with a clinician rather than a protocol. And note who is missing: MK-677 raises growth hormone but worsened fasting glucose and insulin sensitivity in trials, which is why it carries no weight here at all.

How to read this

Match — how squarely it aims here

The weight the dataset gives this compound for this goal, 1 to 5. It describes intent and mechanism, not benefit, and not direction: a 5 means the compound acts hard on the system in question.

5/5primary use

Evidence — whether anyone has shown it

Read from the compound’s evidence note and handling grade, for the compound as a whole rather than for this goal alone. A 5/5 match on animal data is a hypothesis, not a result.

Human trialsRandomized or controlled human trials exist, or the compound holds a regulatory approval somewhere. Trials existing is not the same as trials succeeding — some of these were negative.
Some human dataPublished human work exists but is small, early-phase, acute, or from a single group that nobody has replicated.
Animal data onlyThe case rests on rodent and cell work. Doses shown are extrapolated, not established in people.
Anecdotal onlyNo published trial record of any kind. Every number comes from vendor packaging and community practice.

12 compounds, strongest match first

Ranked for metabolic health

Match 5/5 · Primary use

Match 4/5 · Strong secondary

Match 3/5 · Meaningful contributor

Match 2/5 · Marginal

Named stacks

Protocols built around this goal

Retatrutide + KLOWAlso targets16 weeksAdvancedA fat-loss block that pairs weekly retatrutide with the daily KLOW healing blend. The logic people give is that aggressive weight loss is catabolic and hard on skin, joints and gut, and KLOW is meant to offset that. Retatrutide does the fat loss; KLOW does nothing for it.Retatrutide + GH PulseAlso targets16 weeksAdvancedWeekly retatrutide for the fat loss, plus the standard nightly GHRH + GHRP pulse (CJC-1295 without DAC and ipamorelin) bolted on. The stated reason is preserving lean mass through an aggressive incretin cut. Read the evidence note before you buy that reason - the lean-mass problem is real and measured, but this specific fix is not.Tirzepatide + TesamorelinAlso targets26 weeksAdvancedThe same idea as Retatrutide + GH Pulse, built from the two compounds in their classes that actually have FDA labels: weekly tirzepatide for the weight loss, daily tesamorelin for visceral fat and the GH axis. It is the conservative version of the muscle-sparing stack - better documented on both sides, more expensive, and with a clearer glucose problem to watch.Energy / Immunity (NAD+ + Glutathione + Methyl-B12)Also targets8 weeksBeginnerThe three things that end up in almost every "energy and immunity" product: NAD+ for mitochondrial redox, glutathione as the headline antioxidant, and methylcobalamin because B12 is what people associate with energy. They are combined because they are convenient to sell together, not because anyone has shown the three work better in combination than separately.Advanced Mitochondrial (MOTS-c + SS-31)Also targets8 weeksAdvancedThe two most talked-about mitochondrial peptides run together: MOTS-c, a mitochondrially encoded peptide that activates AMPK, and SS-31 (elamipretide), a tetrapeptide that binds cardiolipin on the inner mitochondrial membrane. Two different points of attack on the same organelle, which is the whole rationale. Graded advanced because both are thin on human data and because nothing you can measure will tell you whether it worked.

Not sure this is your goal

Most people arrive wanting two or three of these at once, and the honest answer is usually to pick one and run it properly. The quiz weighs your goals against your experience, the routes you will tolerate and your contraindications, then shows its reasoning rather than just a name.

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Other goals

Educational information only, not medical advice. Talk to a licensed clinician before starting, changing, or stopping anything.