Cardarine: carcinogenic wonderdrug?
Cardarine (also known as GW-501516 and Endurobol) is a PPARδ receptor agonist that was developed by Ligand Pharmaceuticals and GSK for the treatment of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. Unfortunately, it was abandoned after a controversial study in which rats developed cancer came out.
Cardarine works by activating PPAR-Delta receptors, which in turn upregulate the expression of proteins involved in energy expenditure and fatty acid metabolism, as well as cardiovascular endurance.
As you are about to find out, Cardarine is a fascinating medication that has become incredibly popular among bodybuilders and endurance athletes despite the controversy surrounding it.
Benefits
Increased fat loss
In simple terms, we could say that Cardarine accelerates fat loss by prioritizing the use of stored fat as an energy source and modulating various genes that are involved in fat mobilization. Even though it can most definitely aid in losing fat, do not expect drastic results.
Increased endurance
Cardarine can dramatically improve endurance and stamina. Some users even claim that it can double their endurance, allowing them to run, swim or ride a bike at a higher intensity for longer periods of time. You will most definitely experience a 30%+ improvement if you are a good responder to it. Even though this benefit is more attractive to endurance athletes than to bodybuilders, the latter can still benefit from it not only when they do cardio, but also when doing weights, as the endurance increase can also be felt there. It is also obvious that the increase in endurance can indirectly increase fat loss by allowing one to exercise for longer periods of time.
Improved cholesterol
Cardarine will significantly improve your lipid panel by increasing HDL (good cholesterol) and lowering LDL (bad cholesterol) as well as Triglycerides. This benefit makes Cardarine a useful addition to any SARM or AAS cycle since it can offset the dyslipidemia caused by such compounds.
Decreased blood sugar levels
Cardarine has been shown to decrease blood sugar levels and increase insulin sensitivity. This can not only improve weight loss, but it can prevent health issues and mitigate the negatives of PEDs like HGH and its secretagogues.
Fights inflammation & cancer
Cardarine will decrease systemic inflammation and potentially fight certain types of cancer.
Does it cause cancer?
Cardarine is infamous for having caused the development of cancer in an animal study. The study in question involved the administration of Cardarine to Wistar Rats for 2 years.
Upon doing some research into this breed of rats, we find out that Wistar rats have a life expectancy of up to 3 years and that they are prone to developing cancer.
There is a lot of discussion online about the human equivalent of the dose that these rats were administered. Some people claim that the human equivalent would be 200mg/day, whereas some people say it is closer to 40mg/day. The latter is a more accurate assessment.
Regardless of what the real equivalent dose is, what is clear is that if one were to take Cardarine, they should not take more than 20mg/day, and they should take long breaks and limit its use as much as possible.
Fortunately, there has not been a single report of cancer being directly caused by Cardarine in humans yet, and there is a study indicating that Metformin could inhibit PPARδ agonist induced tumor growth.
Cardarine is a fascinating and almost miraculous drug that, despite being shrouded in controversy, remains one of the most popular fat-burners and endurance-boosters amongst bodybuilders and athletes of all disciplines.
