Disclaimer :
Always consult a doctor or a physician before taking supplements like this.
Tru Blue Caratine is a combination of several nootropics designed to boost cognition and creativity. This stack itself is a blend of Nicotine, Methylene Blue, and CBD. For the best possible impact, I’d stack this with EEG neurofeedback (an hour session) and 15 minutes of HEG for maximum performance.
What is Methylene Blue?
Methylene blue, also known as methylthioninium chloride, is a medication and dye. First used in the 1800s, it was originally used to stain jeans, blue but then there was a paradigm shift when it became used as an antifungal, antiviral and antiparasitic drug. Nowadays in the biohacking sphere, there is a push for Methylene Blue as a Nootropic with numerous other health benefits. Of course, it’s regularly found in industrial grade fish tank cleaner. However, they are known to carry heavy metals and other impurities as well, so please don’t start chugging down fish tank cleaner. One of the big companies to emerge from its popularity is TroScroptions, which released their Two Blue Cannatine TX stack and recently has been made available in the UK. This stack has proven to be very popular and endorsed by famous biohackers like Dave Asprey and Tim Gray. I chose to review Methylene Blue simply for it’s high reputation.
Where can I buy it?
Fortunately for us UK people, it’s now available to buy at xbrain.co.uk, which, although slightly more expensive than the US, comes in at around £35. At time of writing this, it was the only UK website selling this nootropic is xbrain.co.uk.
https://www.xbrain.co.uk/nootropicsbrain-enhancers/blue-me
https://www.xbrain.co.uk/nootropicsbrain-enhancers/troscriptions-blue-cannatine
How to take
- Place the Troche under the tongue for around 5 minutes. Do not chew. Your tongue will be stained for a period of 4-5 hours. Usually effects should be achieved in the space of 10-15 minutes.
- Dose according to how you feel. Methylene Blue can be toxic if over consumed, but the level supplied in this supplement is extremely low. Half milligram a kilogram of body to 4-5 mg per kilogram are the varying dosage of Methylene Blue according to Dr. Francisco Gonzalez-Lima in his interview on the decoding superhuman podcast.
Advantages:
- Finally for once, we are seeing in the UK the chance to get Nicotine in a non toxic format, which I absolutely love. As a writer personally, it’s been hard for me to find a nicotine supplement that isn’t chopped full of ridiculously toxic filler or crap that outlays its benefit. This nicotine itself is just straight nicotine.
- Methylene Blue provides a good cognitive boost that can last from 4-5 hours. I found myself focused for an extended period of time even during my writing sessions or difficult language learning. I’m currently at the time of writing this blog post learning Chinese, so stacking Methylene Blue has been extremely useful for me to stack the two together.
- Other additional benefits of Methylene Blue can be found here
- CBD has a host of additional benefits.
- I found that this stack worked a little bit more productively than just Methylene Blue on its own.
- Nicotine has been found to boost creativity as well as has numerous other benefits. Nicotinic channels mediate the majority of fast excitation in autonomic ganglia. Nicotine is made from aromatic amino acids that absorb UV light.
- It accelerates oxygen consumption, which will accelerate energy production and act as an antioxidant. It can donate electrons. Methylene Blue becomes an “artificial cycler”. It can donate but also take away if there are too many electrons but has to be taken in a low dose to allow it to continually provide its positive effects.
- Can help prevent cognitive decline. See the interview with Dr. Francisco Gonzalez- Lima below for more info. Even Jack Kruse who doesn’t often advocate the use of supplements praises Methylene Blue. He states in his blog:
“I briefly mentioned Methylene Blue as part of a biohack for people with neuro-degeneration and various types of traumatic brain injury like concussion, photosensitive seizures, autoimmune brain diseases, migraine headaches and exercise induces changes in neuro-cognition.”
- Can help decrease the load and side effects of Non-Native EMF. Again, another interesting point from Jack Kruse’s blog: “Methylene Blue (MB) is an inhibitor of nitric oxide. Synthase and guanylate cyclase have many uses in medicine. MB’s main effect is on proton spin in the TCA cycle. Few people realize the main defect of nnEMF is a loss of H+ recycling in TCA intermediates because of a change in proton spin fractionation.
- Studies have shown it can potentially reduce skin damage. Also mentioned from Jack Kruse’s blog is the fact that Methylene Blue combined with sunlight has been used “to treat resistant plaque psoriasis, AIDS-related Kaposi’s sarcoma, West Nile virus, and to inactivate staphylococcus aureus,[used it in a biohack] HIV-1, Duck hepatitis B, adenovirus vectors, and hepatitis C. It is now being used in autoimmune conditions, neuro-degenertion, TBI, and diabetes.” Phenothiazine dyes and light have been known to have virucidal properties for over 70 years. This is why Methylene Blue works in combating many viral diseases.
- Methylene Blue is a monoamine oxidase inhibitor. MAOI’s act by inhibiting the activity of monoamine oxidase, thus preventing the breakdown of monoamine neurotransmitters and thereby increasing their availability. Thusly, Methylene Blue increases dopamine, melatonin, serotonin, and melanin levels on our surfaces to increase our ability to deal with sunlight properly, so stacking this in conjunction with sunlight is crucial if you want to get the best out of your Methylene Blue.
- From David Sinclair’s book Lifespan, it can also stimulates glucose metabolism in conditions without oxygen and increases the amount of NAD + produced by mitochondria
Disadvantages:
- Be careful if you have braces as it can permanently stain them. It can also stain your clothes, and just in general, you don’t want this getting anywhere near stuff you care about.
- The amount of CBD is minimal, at 5mg. Having worked in a CBD store for a long period of time, I find customers did best optimally on between 15mg-30mg. Of course CBD’s impact depends entirely on the person, but for the sheer amount of money paid for this product, 5mg is really not much at all in the grand scheme of things.
- Uses a lot of packaging. The new age biohacking minded individuals should to some extent be caring for the environment. We are seeing a lot of products in this sphere which have good packaging. Unfortunately, this small product contains enough plastic to choke a pigeon. For the small 8 servings, you’re getting a lot of packaging here and there. Granted it’s understandable as Methylene Blue is a product that can stain quickly and needs to be kept tightly sealed, and unfortunately that means a lot more plastic is going to be used .
- Expensive, outright it is coming in at £35 for around 8 servings. It’s pricey stuff. Of course it depends on the individual. The 4 troches can be divided into 16. Although, I felt it was most optimal for me at half a trio a dose. You’re, therefore, looking at around £2.50-7 a serving, which, for a nootropic, is definitely on the high end. I expect this price to come down in the future though as other brands get approved and competition in the free market expands, but right now, there are only a few companies that have been allowed in this space.
- Not practical for business situations. Ironically, the biggest issue with me is the issue that it makes your tongue visibly blue, which can be extremely annoying for real life situations like business meetings, sales meetings etc. You might get in trouble for being seen with a visibly blue tongue, so keep that in mind.
- Taking it at too high a dose can take away oxygen. It becomes an oxidation agent and can drain your electrons of oxygen. If you keep increasing the concentration of Methylene Blue, you can have a hormetic dose response, so make sure you keep at half a mg per kg of body weight to start off with.
- If you’re taking SSRIs, please don’t take Methylene Blue as the two can interact with one another.
Conclusions
The Nootropic scene is packed with hundreds of different stacks promising a lot and delivering a variety of effects depending on the person. For me, it really did help during long periods of language learning, but the fact that it stains your tongue for up to 4-5 hours can be problematic for people who work in corporate environments where this would be looked down upon or can get you into trouble. All in all, I found it a bit overpriced for what you’re getting, but this depends on how much you yourself need as a person and how your body reacts. Some can feel the effects with very little whilst others need a lot more, so whether it’s “good value for money” depends really on the quantity a person needs in order to feel the optimal effects. The addition of CBD and Nicotine was a nice touch, but the quantity of both were low and can be found at far better value elsewhere. I would like to see another company stack a bit more both. Overall, if you have a large wallet and don’t mind splurging out a fair bit for a cognitive boost, then it’s worth a try to see how you feel, especially seeing as it has a lot of other positive side effects beyond cognition, aiding skin health and boosting. NAD being two examples of many, but if you’re tight on a budget, this can be skipped. I’d recommend seeing other articles about HEG and EEG first before investing into this nootropic if you can.
For more detailed info on what Methylene Blue is, please check out these podcasts. Numerous Citations and pubmed articles linked at the bottom of those articles:
The Rational Biohacker 