Posted on 06/05/2025 7:46:18 AM PDT by Red Badger
The internet is abuzz with tributes to a liquid chemical called methylene blue that is being sold as a health supplement.
Over the past five or 10 years, methylene blue has come to be touted online as a so-called nootropic agent – a substance that enhances cognitive function. Vendors claim that it amps up brain energy, improves memory, boosts focus and dispels brain fog, among other supposed benefits.
Health influencers, such as podcaster Joe Rogan, have sung its praises. In February 2025, shortly before he was confirmed as health and human services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared in a video squirting a blue liquid widely presumed to be methylene blue into a glass – though he never verbally endorsed the substance.
As a researcher studying inflammation and cancer, I investigate how dyes affect human health. Claims about methylene blue are alluring, and it’s easy to buy into its promise. But so far, evidence supporting its health benefits is scant, and there are some serious risks to using the substance outside of medical practice.
What Is Methylene Blue?
Methylene blue was first synthesized in the 19th century by scientists at the German chemical company BASF. Museo di Chimica dell’Università di Genova via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA
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Methylene blue is a synthetic dye that exists as a dark green powder and takes on a deep blue color when dissolved in water. My work and that of others suggest that many synthetic dyes widely used in foods and medicines can trigger potentially harmful immune system reactions in the body. But unlike commonly used food dyes – one of which was recently banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration – methylene blue is not derived from petroleum, also known as crude oil. Instead, it comes from a different family of dyes, which isn’t thought to have these health concerns.
Methylene blue was first synthesized in 1876 as a dye for textiles and was valued for its intense color and ability to bind well to fabrics. Soon after, German physician Paul Ehrlich discovered its ability to stain biological tissues and to kill the parasite that causes malaria — making it one of the first synthetic drugs used in medicine.
The chemical didn’t gain widespread use as a malaria treatment because it was no more effective than quinine, the standard therapy at the time. But in the 1930s, the dye found a new use in testing the safety of raw or unpasteurized milk. If its blue color faded quickly, the milk was contaminated with bacteria, but if it remained blue, the milk was considered relatively clean.
This safety test now is largely obsolete. But it works thanks to methylene blue’s chemical superpower, which is that its molecules can swap electrons with other molecules, like a tiny battery charger.
How Do Doctors Use It Today?
That same chemical superpower enables some of methylene blue’s medical uses. Most significantly, doctors use it to treat a rare blood disorder called methemoglobinemia, in which hemoglobin, an iron-rich protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen, takes on a different form that can’t do the job. Methylene blue restores hemoglobin’s function by transferring an electron.
Doctors also sometimes use methylene blue to treat the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning, septic shock or toxicities from drugs such as chemotherapy. It is also used as a surgical dye to highlight specific tissues such as lymph nodes, or to identify where tissue is leaky and therefore may be damaged.
How Does Methylene Blue Affect The Brain?
Methylene blue can enter the brain by crossing the protective tissue barrier that surrounds it. Researchers have also found that the chemical can protect and support mitochondria, cell structures that are often described as the powerhouses of the cell. Methylene blue may help mitochondria generate energy for cells to use. For these reasons, researchers are studying methylene blue’s effect on the brain.
So far, most of what’s known about the substance’s effects on the brain comes from studies in rats and in cells grown in a lab dish – not in people. For example, researchers have found that methylene blue may improve learning, boost memory and protect brain cells in rats with a condition that mimics Alzheimer’s disease.
Methylene blue is actually dark green in powdered form. Adam Rędzikowski via Wikimedia Commons
Studies in rodents have also found that methylene blue can protect the brain from damage from brain injury. Other studies showed that methylene blue is useful in treating ischemic stroke in rats. However, no research to date has examined whether it protects peoples’ brains from traumatic brain injury or stroke.
A handful of clinical trials have investigated the effects of methylene blue in treating aspects of Alzheimer’s disease in people, but a 2023 review of these trials notes that their results have been mixed and not conclusive. A small study of 26 people found that a single low dose of the chemical boosted memory by about 7% and increased brain activity during thinking tasks. Another study by the same researchers found that methylene blue changed how different parts of the brain connected, though it didn’t improve thinking skills.
Although some studies in people have shown hints that methylene blue may be beneficial for some brain-related issues, such as pain management and neuropsychiatric disorders, such studies to date have been small. This suggests that while there may be patient circumstances where methylene blue is beneficial, researchers have not yet pinned down what those are.
Is Methylene Blue Safe?
Methylene blue is generally safe when used under medical supervision. However, the chemical has some serious risks.
For one thing, it can interact with widely used medications. Methylene blue inhibits a molecule called monoamine oxidase, whose job is to break down an important brain chemical, serotonin. Many commonly used medications for treating anxiety and depression target serotonin. Taking the supplement along with these medicines can cause a condition called serotonin syndrome, which can lead to agitation, confusion, high fever, rapid heart rate, muscle stiffness and, in severe cases, seizures or even death.
In people with a rare genetic deficiency of an enzyme called G6PD, methylene blue can cause a dangerous condition in which red blood cells break down too quickly. At high doses, the chemical can also raise blood pressure or cause heart problems. Also, it’s considered unsafe for pregnant or breastfeeding women because it may harm the fetus or baby.
Overall, while scientists have found hints of some fascinating properties of methylene blue, much larger, longer trials are needed to know if it truly works, what the right dose is and how safe it is over time.
Lorne J. Hofseth, Professor and Associate Dean for Research, College of Pharmacy, University of South Carolina. He does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
“MRI Juice” as I call it is in My Allergy Medicine NO GO List per the Nephrologist from way back after I had surgery for a ruptured intestine and had many complications during and after the Emergency Surgery. Thank God I was already in the Hospital when that happened or I wouldn’t be here right now.
They were about to hook Me up to Dialysis and the last Labwork was showing Me improvement and I was OK enough to not have to do it.
🙏🙏God saved Me from many complications during and after the surgery.🙏🙏
I’m uncertain.
Safe for aquarium fish with “ICK”
Maybe some humans have ich..us brain infections and could use this treatment.
there is a new agent that requires less gadolinium and is suppose to be safer and I believe it metabolizes differently.
I urge you to thoroughly research methods and new products in case you are in a life and death situation where they think it is necessary.
MRI contrast is on my records as a do not use unless life or death. My reaction to it was a delayed reaction so there are some ways to try to mitigate but I am not willing to test them unless I really need that contrast.
If a person’s reaction is immediate like some kind of allergic shock similar to bee sting grab the epi pen it is a bigger danger.
Did you know that laboratory scientists have more & more been switching from using rats in their experiments, to using lawyers instead?
There are several reasons to prefer lawyers over rats:
Applause!
It works at the cellular level by helping your mitochondria make more energy, ATP; I take 4 mg before my two hard Cardio workouts per week, and I definitely have greater energy/ oxygen utilization during the workout.
Yeah, I can’t take it immediately before a cardio workout. I feel “Overampped” at anything above Zone 2 if I am dosed just prior to the workout.
This is how I have known methylene blue:
........In biology, methylene blue is used as a dye for a number of different staining procedures, such as Wright’s stain and Jenner’s stain. Since it is a temporary staining technique, methylene blue can also be used to examine RNA or DNA under the microscope or in a gel: as an example, a solution of methylene blue can be used to stain RNA on hybridization membranes in northern blotting to verify the amount of nucleic acid present. While methylene blue is not as sensitive as ethidium bromide, it is less toxic and it does not intercalate in nucleic acid chains, thus avoiding interference with nucleic acid retention on hybridization membranes or with the hybridization process itself.[citation needed]
It can also be used as an indicator to determine whether eukaryotic cells such as yeast [and mammalian cells in culture] are alive or dead. The methylene blue is reduced in viable cells, leaving them unstained. However dead cells are unable to reduce the oxidized methylene blue and the cells are stained blue. Methylene blue can interfere with the respiration of the yeast as it picks up hydrogen ions made during the process.[citation needed]......
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylene_blue
some MRIs are ordered to have an IV infusion of a contrast dye based on a rare-earth element, Gadolinium ...you’ll know if it’s been ordered if they hook you up to an IV before entering the MRI ... methylene blue isn’t used for MRIs ...
I was hoping to get some feedback on MB not MRI contrast media.
I am finding it weird that even though it has been around since the 1870’s suddenly it is every where on conservative media.
Bobby Kennedy Rosanne Bar, Alex Jones, Mel Gibson, Joe Rogan and others have all talked about it.
I find it hard to trust anything being pushed so hard after the vax but the results are hard to argue with.
But so far I haven’t found anyone whom tracks data with similar results.
“but the results are hard to argue with”
the only human “results” are anecdotal ...
Well I keep Strava records for local trails that go back over 10 years. I set PR’s I’ve been working on for years since I started MB 5 weeks ago.
I also track my weight workouts.
I went from 17 pullups to 25.
This is not me saying “I feel better”.
I methodically track this stuff and the results are hard to argue with.
On principle?
You are getting it confused with Prussian Blue. Methylene Blue and Prussian Blue are two different compounds.
Health
Biohacker-backed: The methylene blue supplement tied to RFK Jr. is on sale for Prime Day
By Miska Salemann
Published July 9, 2025, 7:00 p.m. ET
https://nypost.com/2025/07/09/health/biohacker-backed-methylene-blue-is-20-off-during-prime-day/
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