AICAR

Description

AICAR has been used medically to help with restriction of blood supply to tissues, called ischemia. Interestingly, in the 1980’s it was sometimes used during surgery to help preserve blood flow to the heart. These days, AICAR shows to be promising in diabetes treatment because of its ability to increase metabolic activity of tissues by changing the composition of muscles in the body.

DOPING

AICAR has been on the list of banned substances since 2011. However, prior to that, it was well known in the cycling sport, and during the 2009 Tour de France it was widely used by athletes in order to give them an advantage.

HOW IT WORKS

AICAR will trigger AMP activated protein kinase (AMPK), leading to glucose uptake by cells of skeletal muscle. In fact, The Howard Hughes Medical Center and Salk Institute ran a series of experiments with AICAR in the 2000’s. In these studies they found out that mice that were given AICAR could run 44% further, even without training for it. Consequently, once endurance athletes got word of this amazing compound, AICAR was being used without any regulation or fear of testing until 2011.

DOSAGE

Dosages range from 150 milligrams (mg) per day (if stacked with GW), up to 500mg a day when used solo. Considering the fact that each bottle typically comes in 50mg dosages, that is quite expensive, as already mentioned above. Economically, it makes most sense to run AICAR during the 4 weeks leading up to your competition.

SIDE EFFECTS

AICAR’s side effects are very real and serious. Since it affects blood flow, AICAR can cause less blood going to your brain and heart valve issues. Hence, those side effects make AICAR one of the most risky compounds to use in the PED world. Less significant side effects, such as diarhea and thirst, are also common.

The other problem is that AICAR is mostly available through peptide research companies. It has been proven that these companies selectively scam their customers. As a result, there is no telling what is really in the bottles they are selling to people.