In this week’s edition of The Morning Dose:

⚠️ The Dangers of Semaglutide

🤦🏻‍♂️ Avoid “Testosterone Boosters”

💪 Alan Ritchson aka “Jacked” Reacher on His TRT Usage

🧬 Research Spotlight: High-Protein Diet May Improve Mental Health

Let’s inject this.

☕️ First time reading? I’m Matt, and this is The Morning Dose. Every week, our team scours hundreds of sources to bring you need-to-know news and insights you won’t find elsewhere. All in 5 minutes.

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⚠️ The Dangers of Semaglutide

When it comes to supplements, drugs, and medications, there’s no shortage of stories about people who’ve tried to cheat the system and ended up paying with their health.

“If one serving is good, two must be better… right?”

You see this all the time when people want to speed up their results, or simply get more out of a given substance.

More caffeine. More testosterone. More fat-burners.

And now, more semaglutide.

Whenever you hear about negative side effects, or something getting banned because of health concerns, more often than not, someone was taking too much.

According to this story, poison control centers around the United States have witnessed an alarming increase in semaglutide overdose cases.

Symptoms include intense nausea, vomiting, and abdominal discomfort. I was speaking with someone recently who uses semaglutide, and they accidentally took their next dose a day early, leading to two days of constant vomiting after consuming any foods or liquids.

Semaglutide has a half-life of about a week, so if you take too much, it’s going to take an entire week before half the drug is gone from your body.

So if you’re using semaglutide, especially if you’re using research peptides and aren’t being monitored by a physician, be very careful and always start slow.

An overdose may not be fatal, but it’ll certainly leave you feeling miserable for a few days.

 🤦🏻‍♂️ Avoid “Testosterone Boosters”

We didn’t think this needed to be said, but apparently, the general population is still confused.

If you’re reading The Morning Dose, there’s a good chance you already know that over-the-counter testosterone boosters are all but useless, and are certainly not a fool-proof way to increase your testosterone.

As promising as something like “horny goat weed” sounds, it’s no substitute for proper lifestyle changes, or actual TRT when clinically indicated.

Testosterone levels in men continue to decline, and while more and more men are learning about proper hormone optimization, there are still plenty who don’t know any better.

According to Yahoo News, the testosterone booster market is projected to grow year after year, hitting a market value of US$ 5,188.1 million by 2024, and US$ 9,083.9 million by 2034.

YIKES.

We probably can’t do much about this, but consider this a warning to be very cautious if you start to see “new and improved” testosterone boosters hitting the market.

If you’re already sleeping well, exercising, minimizing stress and alcohol, and are generally healthy, supplements aren’t going to do a thing for you.

Check your bloodwork and consider TRT if needed, but please don’t spend your hard-earned money on a testosterone booster you found on Amazon.

💪 Alan Ritchson aka “Jacked” Reacher on His TRT Usage

Anyone who knows anything about muscle and anabolics can tell you that Hollywood is full of actors who are more than likely using a cocktail of substances to build their dream physiques.

However, many of them deny this, claiming to get jacked from things like intermittent fasting and chicken breast.

Sure…

Anyway, it’s always refreshing to see people honest about what they’re doing, or at least, as honest as they can legally be.

The latest celebrity currently making the rounds in fitness circles is Alan Ritchson, who stars in the Amazon Prime series, Reacher.

In a recent interview with Men’s Health UK, Richson claims that filming season one of Reacher left him with major injuries that crashed his testosterone, and using TRT helped him get back in shape for season 2.

“Getting on testosterone was huge for me. I had none by the time I was done with season one, due to the stress and the fatigue and what I had done to my body.

For me, it’s a long game. I want to do Reacher for 15 years… I don’t want to have to have surgery after every season, and testosterone helps.

With a clinical dose that’s very low, you won’t really notice much more than those systems working well. If you increase it a little bit, which I have, you can start to put on muscle mass.”

We’re not going to speculate on whether or not Alan is using other compounds, but regardless, it’s great to see someone admitting that they’ve relied on testosterone to build their physique.

🧬 Research Spotlight: High-Protein Diet May Improve Mental Health

A recent study found that a high-protein, calorie-restricted diet may improve mental health in people with obesity.

According to the study, which looked at 60 adults with an average body mass index (BMI) of 32, a calorie deficit that was high in protein resulted in reduced levels of depression, anxiety, and stress.

Now, this wasn’t the most comprehensive study, and it’s not entirely clear why this happened, but the results are interesting.

At first glance, it would make sense that when someone with obesity bumps up the protein and gets into a calorie deficit, they’re going to lose fat and preserve muscle, which would make nearly anyone feel better.

It may also be due to the fact that restricting calories can increase brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which can improve mental health.

Or maybe it’s because obesity has been linked to higher instances of depression, anxiety, and stress.

To be honest, it doesn’t really matter, as we know that a calorie deficit results in weight loss, high protein helps preserve muscle, and the two together will lead to the best possible changes in body composition.

While there may not be anything magical about eating more protein, cleaning up your diet, especially if you’re at an unhealthy weight, is almost certainly a good idea if you want to feel better.

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