Episode 28: The Peptide Boom: What You Need to Know Before You Try Them

And to start with the basics, you know, that word peptide is thrown around a lot.

And all it means is a chain of amino acids, a short chain of amino acids.

And amino acids are the building blocks of protein, as we all learn in school when we're going through biology and physiology.

But these are shorter chains, typically 50 or less amino acids.

And they signal within the body, they signal or cause changes that are very important throughout the whole body with regard to immune function or inflammation, energy, gut health lots of different things

yeah i tell patients they're kind of like the lighthouse i call them the lighthouse of ourselves so they're kind of sending that signal from cell to cell that something is supposed to be happening yeah that's how i kind of like to think of them

yeah and they're very important i mean we all need them to function appropriately and then as we age too we can see diminishing function or diminishing levels to certain ones especially the hotter topic, more widespread ones like GLP-1, a naturally produced peptide in our stomach.

And we'll get into that.

Yeah.

So one of the things with peptides, and this is a conversation you and I have had many times, It is a tool that there's kind of two sides to this tool.

And from our perspective and, you know, running a medical clinic, how we approach that.

And one side is that it fits really well with who we are and how we practice in that our go-to is always looking at what was the body made with that we can enhance or supplement or improve or put back in because we believe that God created the body perfectly the way it was supposed to work and And so we want to use tools that the body already has or knows and it works with the body versus using prescriptions or things externally that the body wasn't made with and it blocks or changes something in the way that the body works.

And so peptides in that perspective are really great because we were made with them.

The body knows what to do with them.

They're great options.

The other side of that coin and where we've been very, I would say somewhat hesitant, but just careful is looking at what is the research around them and how much information do we have to know safety, use, protocols, like what is that side? And so that's been kind of this fine line that you and I have talked a lot about as far as what do we allow? What do we bring in? What do we practice and recommend for people? because it's not a perfect science at this point.

Absolutely.

Well, and when we look at the majority of peptides, there is more animal research than there is human research.

And so we need to be very careful with just extrapolating off all of this animal, mostly rodent data and saying, oh yeah, looks good in the rodent.

So we're just going to apply this to people.

Obviously it's a little bit of apples and oranges, but there's still a reason that we're doing those studies.

And we expect more and more human studies to come out, you know, high quality, double blind, placebo controlled studies.

And those are the things that then will really establish more firm safety data on peptides.

The other thing is.

The peptides in this country, access to peptides, it has become a little bit of the Wild West.

And to start with the basics, you know, that word peptide is thrown around a lot.

And all it means is a chain of amino acids, a short chain of amino acids.

And amino acids are the building blocks of protein, as we all learn in school when we're going through biology and physiology.

But these are shorter chains, typically 50 or less amino acids.

And they signal within the body, they signal or cause changes that are very important throughout the whole body with regard to immune function or inflammation, energy, gut health lots of different things

yeah i tell patients they're kind of like the lighthouse i call them the lighthouse of ourselves so they're kind of sending that signal from cell to cell that something is supposed to be happening yeah that's how i kind of like to think of them

yeah and they're very important i mean we all need them to function appropriately and then as we age too we can see diminishing function or diminishing levels to certain ones especially the hotter topic, more widespread ones like GLP-1, a naturally produced peptide in our stomach.

And we'll get into that.

Yeah.

So one of the things with peptides, and this is a conversation you and I have had many times, It is a tool that there's kind of two sides to this tool.

And from our perspective and, you know, running a medical clinic, how we approach that.

And one side is that it fits really well with who we are and how we practice in that our go-to is always looking at what was the body made with that we can enhance or supplement or improve or put back in because we believe that God created the body perfectly the way it was supposed to work and And so we want to use tools that the body already has or knows and it works with the body versus using prescriptions or things externally that the body wasn't made with and it blocks or changes something in the way that the body works.

And so peptides in that perspective are really great because we were made with them.

The body knows what to do with them.

They're great options.

The other side of that coin and where we've been very, I would say somewhat hesitant, but just careful is looking at what is the research around them and how much information do we have to know safety, use, protocols, like what is that side? And so that's been kind of this fine line that you and I have talked a lot about as far as what do we allow? What do we bring in? What do we practice and recommend for people? because it's not a perfect science at this point.

Absolutely.

Well, and when we look at the majority of peptides, there is more animal research than there is human research.

And so we need to be very careful with just extrapolating off all of this animal, mostly rodent data and saying, oh yeah, looks good in the rodent.

So we're just going to apply this to people.

Obviously it's a little bit of apples and oranges, but there's still a reason that we're doing those studies.

And we expect more and more human studies to come out, you know, high quality, double blind, placebo controlled studies.

And those are the things that then will really establish more firm safety data on peptides.

The other thing is.

The peptides in this country, access to peptides, it has become a little bit of the Wild West.