The finder
Pick what you want to change. See who actually measured it.
Every other tool like this gives you a compound and a match score. Those scores are not measured. Ours does not exist. What you get instead is what was actually measured and where: trials in people first with the participant count, then the animal and cell work kept separate, then what people using it report, and the trials that found nothing, counted rather than dropped.
82 of the 444 compounds here have never been through a trial in people. That is worth knowing and it is not a verdict: a molecule nobody can patent has no sponsor to pay for a trial, so a thin human record is usually a fact about money rather than about the compound. Where that is the case, this says so and shows you what does exist.
What are you trying to change?
Pick as many as you like. The number on each one is how many people it has been measured in across the whole archive, so you can see where the evidence is before you choose.
Or start from the compounds
Somebody handed you a stack. What is actually known about it?
Add what you are looking at and you get every outcome those compounds have been measured for in people, and then the longer list of the ones they have not.
Keeping or building muscle
Does it build muscle, or just stop you losing it?
Two different claims that get sold as one. Keeping lean mass during weight loss and adding lean mass to a healthy person are measured in different trials with different results.
1,182 people · 28 human studies · 22 compounds
- 233 people2 studies1 found nothing
found nothingThe pharmaceutical-grade version of this molecule in 233 older adults with sarcopenia. The primary endpoint, gait speed on a 400-metre walk, improved 0.07 m/s against placebo in the full analysis set and was not significant, and improved 0.09 m/s in the per-protocol population at p = 0.008. Detail on the BIO101 page.
Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle, 2025 · 233 people
A controlled clinical trial in humans. Significantly higher increases in muscle mass in participants dosed with ecdysterone, and significantly more pronounced increases in one-repetition bench press performance. The same hypertrophic effect appeared in C2C12 myotubes in vitro. No increase in liver or kidney toxicity...
Archives of Toxicology, 2019 · no headcount in the line
- 201 people1 study1 found nothing
found nothing201 older adults randomised, 99 to placebo and 102 to the antibody, from 365 screened. At 24 weeks appendicular lean body mass changed by minus 0.123 kg on placebo and plus 0.303 kg on drug, a difference of 0.43 kg (95% CI 0.192 to 0.660, p < 0.0001). On function: twelve-step stair climb minus 1.28 s (p = 0.011),...
Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, 2015 · 201 people
- 159 people1 study1 found nothing
found nothing159 patients with cancer and at least 2% weight loss, randomised to enobosarm 1 mg, 3 mg or placebo for up to 113 days. Total lean body mass rose significantly on both doses (median 1.5 kg on 1 mg, 1.0 kg on 3 mg) while placebo did not change. This is the Phase 2 trial that preceded the POWER Phase 3 program.
The Lancet Oncology, 2013 · 159 people
- 94 people1 study
94 adults aged 65 and over did 14 weeks of supervised resistance training on 1,700 mg/day metformin or placebo. Placebo gained more lean body mass (p = .003) and thigh muscle mass (p < .001), with greater gains in thigh muscle area (p = .005) and density (p = .020), plus a trend toward blunted strength gains.
Aging Cell, 2019 · 94 people
- 76 people1 study
The long-term efficacy and safety experience behind the approval. 76 children with IGF-1 deficiency due to growth hormone insensitivity treated with recombinant human IGF-1 for up to 12 years under a predominantly open-label design, at 60 to 120 micrograms per kilogram subcutaneously twice daily. Height velocity rose...
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 2007 · 76 people
- 65 people1 study1 found nothing
found nothing65 adults aged 60 to 81 on MK-677 25 mg daily for up to 2 years: GH and IGF-1 rose to young-adult levels and fat-free mass increased 1.1 kg vs a 0.5 kg loss on placebo, but strength and function did not improve and fasting glucose and insulin resistance rose.
Annals of Internal Medicine, 2008 · 65 people
- 65 people1 study
65 healthy adults aged 60 to 81 took MK-677 25 mg orally once daily or placebo for two years in a double-blind randomised modified-crossover trial. Growth hormone and IGF-1 rose into the healthy young adult range without serious adverse events. Fat-free mass increased 1.1 kg on MK-677 against a 0.5 kg fall on placebo,...
Annals of Internal Medicine, 2008 · 65 people
- 53 people2 studies1 found nothing
30 men with BMI at or above 26, randomised double-blind to 250 mg of a 10 percent forskolin extract twice daily or placebo for 12 weeks. Body fat percentage and fat mass on DXA fell significantly against placebo, bone mass changed significantly, serum free testosterone rose significantly, and lean body mass showed a...
Obesity Research, 2005 · 30 people
found nothing23 women randomised double-blind to 250 mg of a 10 percent Coleus forskohlii extract twice daily (n equals 7) or placebo (n equals 12) for 12 weeks. No significant differences in fat mass, fat-free mass or body fat percentage. Non-significant trends toward mitigating gains in body mass (p equals 0.10) and scanned mass...
Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 2005 · 23 people
- 50 people2 studies1 found nothing
found nothingSARA-INT. 233 randomised, mean age 75.5, 54.3% female, three arms at 175 mg twice daily, 350 mg twice daily or placebo, planned six months and up to nine in 50 subjects. Eligibility required meeting FNIH sarcopenia criteria and a Short Physical Performance Battery score of 8 or less out of 12. Primary endpoint was...
Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle, 2025 · 50 people
The same molecule in a sports context, where a controlled human trial found increased muscle mass and bench press performance. Included because the contrast between a positive strength result in trained young people and a missed functional endpoint in sarcopenic older adults is the central fact about this compound.
Archives of Toxicology, 2019 · no headcount in the line
- 50 people1 study
The entire published obesity efficacy record: 50 participants across five dose cohorts and placebo, mean baseline weight 92.9 kg. Mean weight reduction was 7.16 percent against 0.86 percent on placebo, and 82.5 percent of treated participants lost at least 5 percent against none on placebo. Fat mass fell 4.47 kg and...
Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, 2026 · 50 people
- 48 people2 studies
One dose in 48 postmenopausal women: half-life 10 to 15 days; at 3 mg/kg total lean mass rose 3.3% and thigh muscle volume 5.1% by day 29.
Muscle and Nerve, 2013 · 48 people
The trial was stopped after the second dose level because of epistaxis and telangiectasias; only non-significant trends toward preserved six-minute walk and higher lean mass were seen.
Muscle and Nerve, 2017 · no headcount in the line
- 30 people1 study1 found nothing
found nothing30 healthy men, mean age 71, randomised to 2.5 g leucine or placebo with each main meal, 7.5 g daily for three months. No change in skeletal muscle mass measured by computed tomography and DXA, and no change in one-repetition-maximum strength, in either group. No improvement in whole-body insulin sensitivity, HbA1c or...
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2009 · 30 people
- 24 people1 study1 found nothing
found nothingSix months of rhGH in 24 GH-deficient adults raised lean mass by 5.5 kg and cut fat mass by 5.7 kg versus placebo, with no change in body weight.
New England Journal of Medicine, 1989 · 24 people
- 18 people2 studies2 found nothing
found nothingThe first randomised controlled trial. 11 healthy men aged 18 to 40, two 2-week cycles of oral clenbuterol at 80 micrograms a day versus placebo with a 3-week washout. Lean mass +0.91 kg (95% CI 0.02 to 1.81, p < 0.05), no effect on fat mass, maximal oxygen uptake -7% (p < 0.001), exercise capacity -4% (p < 0.001), no...
The Journal of Physiology, 2025 · 11 people
found nothing7 heart failure patients on a left ventricular assist device given oral clenbuterol up-titrated to 720 micrograms a day for 3 months. No serious adverse events or arrhythmias, creatine phosphokinase rose in 4 patients. Ejection fraction did not improve and end-diastolic dimension increased; body weight and lean mass...
The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation, 2006 · 7 people
- 16 people1 study1 found nothing
found nothing16 healthy men, mean age 29, randomised to eight weeks of resistance training alone (n equals 7) or with ursolic acid (n equals 9), one capsule three times daily. Body fat percentage fell significantly in the supplemented group (p less than 0.001) while body weight, body mass index, lean body mass, glucose and insulin...
Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology, 2014 · 16 people
- no headcount stated2 studies1 found nothing
found nothingA pure anti-myostatin antibody against placebo. The difference in four-stair climb time at week 49 was 0.27 seconds, 95% CI minus 7.4 to 7.9, p = 0.94. No secondary clinical endpoint separated and muscle volume gains were not significant.
Neuromuscular Disorders, 2020 · no headcount in the line
Receptor-level blockade rather than myostatin-only blockade, so it neutralises activin A too. At 48 weeks fat mass fell 20.5% (7.5 kg) against 0.5% on placebo, lean mass rose 3.6% (1.7 kg), waist fell 9.0 cm and HbA1c fell 0.76 points, all p < 0.006.
JAMA Network Open, 2021 · no headcount in the line
- no headcount stated1 study
48 weeks of low-dose intermittent rapamycin was relatively safe in normative-aging adults; lean mass and pain improved in women on 10 mg.
Aging, 2025 · no headcount in the line
- no headcount stated1 study
Preserved 54.9% of lean mass on tirzepatide; weight lost was 85% fat.
Scholar Rock press release, 2025 · no headcount in the line
- no headcount stated1 study
Triple regimen preserved 80.9% of lean mass with 27.3% more fat loss.
Regeneron press release, 2025 · no headcount in the line
- no headcount stated1 study
The head to head the skin literature never runs. Against an equal protein dose, collagen did not stimulate muscle protein synthesis where whey did, including when leucine was matched.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2020 · no headcount in the line
- no headcount stated1 study
The human trial turkesterone's reputation is borrowed from, and it tested a different molecule. Ecdysterone increased muscle mass and one-repetition bench press performance in a controlled human trial. Nothing in it concerns turkesterone.
Archives of Toxicology, 2019 · no headcount in the line
- no headcount stated1 study1 found nothing
found nothing120 ambulatory boys aged 6 to under 16 with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, 80 on domagrozumab at 5, 20 and 40 mg/kg and 40 on placebo, two 48-week periods. Primary endpoints were safety and change in four-stair climb time at week 49. The difference in mean change was 0.27 seconds (95% CI minus 7.4 to 7.9), p = 0.94....
Neuromuscular Disorders, 2020 · no headcount in the line
- no headcount stated0 studies
Muscle-restricted IGF-1 expression in mice produced persistent hypertrophy and preserved regenerative capacity into old age, the mechanistic basis for IGF-1 muscle research.
Nature Genetics, 2001 · no headcount in the line
- no headcount stated0 studies
Follistatin blocks myostatin binding to ActRIIB; transgenic mice overexpressing follistatin in muscle showed dramatic increases in muscle mass.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2001 · no headcount in the line
How this is counted
Human studies only. Animal and test-tube work never enters this ranking, because the question you asked was about a person.
A compound is listed for an outcome only when a citation on its own page states that outcome and reports a result for it. Naming it is not enough: a paper that measures testosterone and reports a result about something else does not count as testosterone evidence, which is a mistake this tool made on its first run and no longer makes.
People counts are read out of the study lines themselves and are deliberate undercounts. Where a line states no number, the study still counts as a study and adds nothing to the headcount. Counts are never added across compounds, because the same person can appear in more than one trial.
Ranking is by people measured. That is a fact about the evidence, not a judgement about the compound, and it is the only ordering this site will defend. A compound at the top of a list is the most studied, which is not the same as the best.
Nothing here is advice, and nothing here is a recommendation to take anything.