As you’ve probably noticed, I really like to be thorough when I research a substance.

I’ve complied every human study on intranasal insulin here and I talk about how to make it here.

Since intranasal insulin is one of the best cognitive enhancers in existence, I thought it would be cool to create a post that goes through each study and looks at exactly what type of insulin was used in each one.

This will give us an idea of what has actually been tested in humans so we can determine what to use in our own self experiments.

I like Novolin R because it has been repeatedly tested in humans AND is very affordable ($25), but other types have been used in the studies as well.

Which ones, you ask?

Let’s have a gander.

Types of Intranasal Insulin Tested in Humans

“Patients received two puffs of liquid insulin per nostril (t2); one puff comprised 0.1 ml insulin, resulting in a total dose of 0.4 ml, equaling 40 IU (Actrapid; Novo Nordisk, Mainz, Germany).” R

“Sixty adults diagnosed with MCI or mild to moderate AD received placebo (n = 20), 20 IU of insulin detemir (n = 21), or 40 IU of insulin detemir (n = 19) for 21 days, administered with a nasal drug delivery device.” R

“In a randomized fashion, participants received on one day 160 units insulin (Actrapid; Novo Nordisk, Bagsværd, Denmark)…” R

“Participants received either 40 IU of insulin lispro (100 IU/mL Humalog; Eli Lilly Canada)…” R

“Each participant was treated with 40 IU insulin (Novolin; Novo Nordisk)…” R

“Each subject participated in two experimental sessions in a within-subject design during which they received either two puffs of intranasally applied insulin (40 I.U. equaling 0.4 mL Actrapid; Novo Nordisk) or 0.4 mL placebo solution…” R

“Additionally, participants received 40 units of intranasal insulin (Insulin Human Actrapid Penfill ®100 I.E./ml; Novo Nordisk, Mainz, Germany)…”R

“Both for intravenous and nasal administration, human insulin (Novo Nordisk, Bagsværd, Denmark) was used.” R

“Participants received 40 units of insulin intranasally (Insulin Human Actrapid Penfill® 100 I.E./ml; Novo Nordisk, Mainz, Germany)…” R

“At 9:45 am, subjects received 160 IU of insulin (1.6 mL Insulin Actrapid; Novo Nordisk)…” R

“Intranasal insulin (Novolin® Novo Nordisk) or sterile saline were administered in random order as determined by a random numbers generator on Day 2 or Day 3 with cross5over assignment. Insulin administration contained 40 IU of insulin mixed with 0.4 ml of saline and an additional residual volume of 0.66ml (30IU of insulin mixed with 0.33 ml of saline) required for ViaNase electronic atomizers (Kurve Technologies, Seattle, WA).” R

“Saline or insulin (Novolin R; Novo Nordisk, Princeton, New Jersey) was administered after breakfast and again after dinner with a ViaNase® nasal drug delivery device (Kurve Technology, Bothell, Washington).” R

“We would further like to express our gratitude towards Manfred Hallschmid for providing us with the placebo solution and Novo Nordisk for providing us with the nasal sprays for intranasal application.” R

“Each puff consisted of 0.1 ml solution containing 40 IU insulin (400 IU/ml; Insulin Actrapid; Novo Nordisk, Mainz, Germany) or 0.1 ml vehicle for placebo.” R

“Subjects were randomized to receive either regular insulin (Humulin® R, Eli Lilly, IN) or placebo…” R

“Each dose consisted of 0.4 mL insulin [containing 40 IU insulin (Novolin Toronto; Novo Nordisk, Mississauga, ON, Canada)]…” R

“Each puff consisted of 0.1 mL solution containing 10 IU of insulin (100 IU/mL; Insulin Actrapid; Novo Nordisk, Mainz, Germany)…” R

“Human insulin was Humulin-R (100 IU per ml, Eli Lilly, Indianapolis, IN).” R

“At 0900 h, subjects intranasally administered 16 0.1-ml puffs (eight per nostril) of insulin and placebo, respectively, at 30-sec intervals, amounting to a total dose of 1.6 ml insulin (160 IU; Insulin Actrapid; Novo Nordisk, Mainz, Germany) or vehicle.” R

“For intranasal administration, insulin (40 IU/ml; Actrapid, Novo Nordisk, Mainz, Germany)…” R

“One-hundred μL of insulin (Novolin R, Novo Nordisk, Princeton, NJ, USA) or saline were administered with a needle-less syringe into alternating nostrils for a total volume of 600 μL at each visit. One-hundred μL of insulin corresponded to 10 IU; saline was administered as needed at insulin visits to achieve the total study drug volume of 600 μL.” R

“Saline or insulin (Novolin R, Novo Nordisk) was administered under the supervision of the participants’ caregiver with a ViaNase Electronic Atomizer (Bothell, WA).” R

“Each dose consisted of 0.4 ml insulin (40 IU; Insulin Actrapid HM, Novo Nordisk, Mainz, Germany)…” R

“During the following 8-week treatment period, subjects were intranasally administered RH-I (Insulin Actrapid® HM, Novo Nordisk, Mainz, Germany), ASP-I (Insulin NovoLog® HM, Novo Nordisk, Mainz, Germany), or placebo (HOE 31 dilution buffer for H-Insulin, Aventis Pharma, Bad Soden, Germany) in the morning, around noon, in the evening, and before going to bed. Each dose consisted of either 0.4 ml ASP-I or RH-I (each containing 40 IU, respectively) or vehicle administered within four puffs of 0.1 ml (two per nostril), amounting to 1.6 ml (160 IU) insulin or vehicle per day.” R

“One-hundred microliters of insulin (Novolin R containing cresol, Novo Nordisk, Princeton, NJ, USA) or saline were administered with a needle-less syringe into alternating nostrils with a total administration volume of 400 μL. One-hundred microliters of insulin corresponded to 10 IU of insulin; a 20 IU dose of insulin was achieved with two administrations of 100 μL each of insulin and two administrations of 100 μL each of saline while a 40 IU dose of insulin was achieved with four administrations of 100μL each of insulin.” R

“Subjects received insulin (Insulin Actrapid HM, Novo Nordisk, Mainz, Germany).” R

“Each dose consisted of 0.4 ml insulin (containing 40 IU; Insulin Actrapid® HM, Novo Nordisk, Mainz, Germany)…” R

Voila!

We now have an idea of which i-insulins we should look into testing out.

Happy experimenting!