Is 25-Hydroxycholesterol legal in the United States?

A cholesterol byproduct your body makes itself. A 2025 study found it made old mice's main artery less stiff, about as much as killing their worn-out cells with genes. Other mouse work points the opposite way in the brain, where the same molecule drives swelling and damage.

25-Hydroxycholesterol is made from cholesterol by an enzyme that immune cells switch on when they fight. It is a signal the body makes, not a drug.

How it works: Shown in mice and cells: 25-hydroxycholesterol is made by an enzyme called cholesterol 25-hydroxylase. It tells cells to make less cholesterol and it changes antiviral and swelling signals.

Approval history: Not approved for any use. The body makes it naturally, and it is sold as a lab chemical. No human study is registered.

Approves prescription drugs, each for a named use. It also acts against unapproved products, including peptides sold online. Compounding pharmacies, which mix drugs to order, may make some compounds with a prescription. That only applies when the FDA puts the compound in a category of bulk ingredients it allows.

The legal category above is how The Longevity Archive reads U.S. Food and Drug Administration listings for 25-Hydroxycholesterol on the reviewed date. It is not a legal opinion. Rules change. Bringing a compound into the country, prescribing it and owning it can each be treated differently. Check with the agency before you act on anything here.

Check FDA directly

Whether 25-Hydroxycholesterol is banned in sport is set by the World Anti-Doping Code and by military rules, not by its legal status in the United States. Before you compete or get tested, look up 25-Hydroxycholesterol by name on the Prohibited List, or look up a named product in Global DRO. Under the World Anti-Doping Code, category S0 bans, at all times, any drug-like substance that meets two tests. No other section of the List covers it. And no government health regulator anywhere has a current approval for it as a treatment in people. Many substances that are approved somewhere are banned by name in another section. So approval does not mean a substance is allowed in sport.

• WADA Prohibited List
• Global DRO (check a named product)
• USADA (US athletes)
• Operation Supplement Safety (US service members)

The rules you compete or serve under decide this, not this page.