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All about Peptides

by | Aug 30, 2026 | What's happening

As those of you that know me may have realized, I like to keep track of what is
happening in the health space. Every now and then something comes along that I
think is quite important, that I think could help many people.
This newsletter is about one of those things.
A heads up, this is very long!
Enjoy 🙂

What I think about peptides

As an acupuncturist in California, I am not licensed to inject substances into you.
In talking about peptides I am sharing information, not prescribing a treatment or telling you that you should use peptides.
My professional opinion is that many peptides are very useful for health and healing, but that remains my opinion. Whether you purchase, prepare or inject a peptide is entirely your decision. You must decide whether you are comfortable using a product that has not gone through the conventional FDA approval process and whether you are willing to administer it yourself.

What are peptides?

A peptide is a relatively short chain of amino acids, commonly described as containing approximately 3 to 50 amino acids linked together in a particular sequence. Amino acids are the building blocks from which proteins are made.
Many peptides occur naturally in the human body, where they function as hormones, neurotransmitters, growth factors and signaling molecules.  There are at least 7000 peptides in the human body, and we probably really only understand the function of a few hundred of them.

Peptides versus Drugs

Herein lies the difference between peptides and most commonly prescribed drugs. Most drugs are composed of chemicals that are not actually naturally occurring in the biosphere – they are xenobiotic. This means that nature, the plants, the animals and us, do not have billions of years of biological experience in dealing with these compounds.  Peptides however are simply composed of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, which our biology naturally knows how to deal with – they are orthobiotic and constructed from materials and molecular patterns that are familiar to human biology. This biological familiarity may be one reason many peptides, when used in sensible quantities, appear from the available research and accumulated experience, to have relatively favorable tolerability.

A biological language

Peptides appear to be signaling molecules. In a sense peptides are one of the primary mechanisms by which the intelligence of the human body that carries the templates or blueprints of vital healthy functioning, can communicate to all of the target tissues and organs.
As we understand more and more about these peptides, it’s as if we are cracking a code, and are able to instruct the body in its own language.

Why do we age?

To understand the perhaps revolutionary impact of peptides in healthcare we might want to consider the following. The human body does not age the way your car ages. Your car, physically degrades overtime, because as we know from observation and physics, everything that exists is subject to entropy and decay. Now, of course, this is also true for living bodies, but living bodies actually have some potential for immortality. This is best expressed in a 25-year-old human for example. When we think about our health at a younger age we notice that our bodies are very self repairing and self maintaining. As we age these self repair processes become less and less efficient.
Why would that be? Why does every plant, insect, animal and human age and then die? From a species evolutionary point of view, the older generation has to go away so that the resources are available for the younger generation. For that reason, I suspect, the intelligence of nature builds our own decline and death into the instructions that our own body gives itself! How this seems to work on the level of peptides and hormones, is they just naturally start declining. Many of the peptides we are most interested in for healing, send multiple messages of organ and tissue repair, immune enhancement, cellular repair and genetic up regulation, and they help regulate an extraordinarily broad range of physiological activities. But as we age these peptide levels consistently decline – so that when we are in our 60s, we might only have 25% of that particular peptide or hormone circulating.

A brief history of Peptides

The modern investigation of peptides has accelerated considerably during the past several decades.
One important body of work came from Russian physician and gerontologist Professor Vladimir Khavinson who spent decades studying short peptide bioregulators, aging and gene expression. Khavinson and his colleagues published a substantial body of laboratory, animal and human research, much of which originally appeared in Russian and received relatively little attention in the English-speaking medical world until the advent of AI enabled people to easily translate the studies!  .
An English-language summary is available here
Khavinson’s work and research helped stimulate interest in the possibility that short amino-acid sequences can act as regulatory signals affecting particular tissues and biological processes.
During the past 20 to 30 years, interest in peptides has expanded rapidly. Researchers, healthcare practitioners, athletes, bodybuilders and members of the longevity community have all contributed to the accumulated knowledge surrounding these compounds.

If peptides are so good, how come my doctor is not prescribing them to me?

This is an interesting question. About 13 years ago, the Supreme Court issued a ruling that you cannot patent “products of nature”. If it is naturally occurring in living bodies, you cannot patent it. The pharmaceutical industry was definitely starting to realize the potential, but when a pharmaceutical company cannot confidently protect and monopolize a product, it has no financial incentive to spend the hundreds of millions of dollars required to bring that product through conventional clinical trials and regulatory approval. That was the death knell for human trials!
This helps explain why the absence of a large pharmaceutical trials is not evidence that a compound has no value.

Different kinds of evidence

Conventional Western medicine places the greatest value on randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled human trials. For many of the peptides discussed in longevity and health-optimization communities, those large trials have not been performed.
The available information therefore comes from several different sources:
  • Laboratory and animal research
  • Small human studies
  • Published clinical observations
  • Practitioner experience
  • Individual self-experimentation
  • Accumulated anecdotal reports from large user communities
Anecdotal evidence is not the same thing as a controlled clinical trial, but it is still information. And thanks to the advent of AI and LLM’s we can now aggregate a lot of of the antidotal evidence, and examine the signal, both in terms of benefits and adverse effects in a way that was not possible until even a few years ago.

The Benefits of Peptides

The benefits described below come from the combined body of human trials, animal research, cellular studies, practitioner experience and accumulated anecdotal reports. Animal research is especially valuable in peptide science because mammals share many of the same mitochondrial, metabolic, vascular, neurological and tissue-repair pathways. A strong and repeatedly reproduced animal signal therefore provides meaningful information about what a peptide may accomplish biologically. This evidence qualification applies to the following entire section and will not be repeated after every benefit.

1. Tissue repair, regeneration and inflammation: the KLOW blend

KLOW combines GHK-Cu, BPC-157, TB-500 and KPV. Each peptide addresses a different part of the repair process.
  1. GHK-Cu—connective-tissue and skin regeneration. GHK-Cu, or glycyl-L-histidyl-L-lysine copper, stimulates collagen, elastin and glycosaminoglycan production; activates fibroblasts; supports new blood-vessel formation; accelerates wound closure; improves skin firmness and elasticity; and supports hair-follicle activity. Research also shows repair signals involving nerves, bone, lung connective tissue, liver tissue and the stomach lining.
  2. BPC-157—musculoskeletal and whole-body repair. Body Protection Compound 157 promotes the healing of tendons, ligaments, muscles, bone and tendon-to-bone attachments. It increases tendocyte and fibroblast migration, supports angiogenesis and helps restore damaged tissue organization. It has produced particularly strong signals in Achilles-tendon, ligament, muscle and nerve-injury models.
  3. BPC-157—gastrointestinal, vascular and nerve protection. BPC-157 protects and repairs the stomach and intestinal lining, supports gut-barrier integrity, assists ulcer healing and regulates nitric-oxide signaling. It also promotes collateral blood-vessel development and produced faster axonal regeneration and functional recovery in rat sciatic-nerve injuries.
  4. TB-500 and thymosin beta-4—cell migration and regenerative organization. Thymosin beta-4-related peptides regulate actin, allowing repair cells to move into injured tissue. They promote angiogenesis, stem- and progenitor-cell migration, wound repair and regeneration involving the skin, cornea, heart, brain, muscle and tendons. They also reduce excessive inflammation, apoptosis, fibrosis and scar formation.
  5. KPV—powerful inflammation control. KPV, the tripeptide lysine-proline-valine, is the anti-inflammatory end portion of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone. It suppresses nuclear factor kappa B and mitogen-activated protein kinase inflammatory signaling, reduces inflammatory cytokines and produced strong benefits in mouse models of colitis. Its anti-inflammatory activity is relevant to the intestinal lining, skin and inflammatory tissue injury.
  6. The combined KLOW effect. Together, these four peptides address inflammation, blood-vessel formation, collagen remodeling, cell migration, gut-barrier repair, connective-tissue healing and nerve recovery. This makes KLOW a particularly broad regenerative blend for people interested in musculoskeletal repair, intestinal health, skin integrity and systemic recovery.

2. Mitochondrial energy and cellular resilience

  1. SS-31, also called elamipretide—mitochondrial restoration. SS-31 binds to cardiolipin inside the mitochondrial membrane, stabilizes the electron-transport system, improves adenosine triphosphate production and reduces damaging reactive oxygen species. Research demonstrates protective and restorative effects in the heart, kidneys, skeletal muscle and nervous system, especially during aging, ischemia and metabolic stress.
  2. MOTS-c—metabolic flexibility and exercise signaling. MOTS-c is a mitochondrial-derived peptide that activates adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase, increases glucose uptake, improves insulin sensitivity and promotes the use of fat for energy. In mice it prevented age-related and high-fat-diet-induced insulin resistance, reduced diet-induced obesity, increased physical performance and reproduced several of the cellular benefits normally triggered by exercise.

3. Insulin regulation, appetite, body composition and liver health

The metabolic-peptide progression is sometimes informally called “GLP-1, GLP-2 and GLP-3.” More precisely, it consists of single-, dual- and triple-receptor agonists. Actual glucagon-like peptide 2 is a separate intestinal hormone with its own benefits.
  1. Single GLP-1 receptor agonists—appetite and glucose regulation. Peptides such as semaglutide increase glucose-dependent insulin release, reduce inappropriate glucagon secretion, slow gastric emptying, decrease hunger and improve satiety. Human trials demonstrate substantial weight reduction, improved blood-glucose control and reductions in cardiovascular events. Semaglutide has also produced measurable protection against declining kidney function in people with diabetes and chronic kidney disease.
  2. Dual GIP/GLP-1 agonists—stronger metabolic rebalancing. Tirzepatide activates both the glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide and glucagon-like peptide 1 receptors. It produces major reductions in appetite, body weight, waist circumference, blood glucose and glycated hemoglobin while improving insulin sensitivity and multiple cardiometabolic markers. Long-term trial data also show a dramatic reduction in progression from prediabetes to type 2 diabetes.
  3. Triple GIP/GLP-1/glucagon agonists—weight loss, energy expenditure and liver-fat reduction. Retatrutide combines appetite regulation and insulin control with glucagon-receptor activation, which increases energy expenditure and fat mobilization. Phase 2 human research produced average weight reductions reaching approximately 24% at 48 weeks, together with improvements in insulin sensitivity, blood lipids and liver fat.
  4. Actual GLP-2 and teduglutide—intestinal growth and absorption. Glucagon-like peptide 2 stimulates growth and repair of the intestinal lining, increases villus height, strengthens mucosal integrity and improves fluid and nutrient absorption. Its analogue teduglutide has enabled people with short-bowel syndrome to reduce their dependence on intravenous nutrition and hydration.

4. Growth-hormone signaling, recovery and body composition

  1. CJC-1295 and growth hormone-releasing hormone analogues—restoration of growth-hormone signaling. These peptides stimulate the pituitary gland to produce endogenous growth hormone and raise insulin-like growth factor 1. This axis supports protein synthesis, collagen production, bone remodeling, fat metabolism, exercise recovery, tissue repair and the deep-sleep-associated regenerative cycle.
  2. Ipamorelin—selective growth-hormone release. Ipamorelin activates the ghrelin receptor and amplifies growth-hormone pulses while producing much less stimulation of cortisol, prolactin and adrenocorticotropic hormone than earlier growth-hormone-releasing peptides. It is used to support recovery, sleep quality, lean-tissue maintenance and fat metabolism while preserving a more physiological pulsatile signal.
  3. Tesamorelin—visceral-fat and liver-fat reduction. Tesamorelin increases endogenous growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor 1 and has demonstrated substantial reductions in deep abdominal fat. Human research also shows reductions in liver fat, improvements in body composition and suppression of inflammatory and fibrotic signaling associated with fatty-liver disease.

5. Pineal, brain and thymic bioregulation

  1. Epitalon and Epithalamin—pineal regulation, circadian repair and longevity. These pineal bioregulators increase melatonin production, restore age-disrupted melatonin and cortisol rhythms, strengthen antioxidant defenses and support retinal and neuroendocrine function. Epitalon activated telomerase and lengthened telomeres in human somatic cells, while Epitalon or Epithalamin extended lifespan in multiple animal models. Khavinson’s human studies also reported improvements in cardiovascular, endocrine, neurological, immune and metabolic function among older adults.
  2. Pinealon—brain-cell protection and cognitive resilience. Pinealon is the glutamic acid–aspartic acid–arginine tripeptide associated with cerebral-cortex bioregulation. It reduces free-radical accumulation, supports neuronal survival, regulates gene expression and protects brain cells against hypoxia, excitotoxicity and oxidative injury. Animal studies demonstrate benefits involving learning, memory, motor coordination and resistance to prenatal and age-related neurological stress.
  3. Thymalin and thymosin alpha-1—thymic and immune restoration. Thymic peptides promote T-cell development, improve dendritic-cell and natural-killer-cell activity and help coordinate innate and adaptive immunity. They have been studied for age-related immune decline, recurrent infections, chronic viral illness, cancer-supportive immunology and severe systemic infection. Khavinson’s long-term human research reported improved immune function, fewer respiratory illnesses and substantial longevity signals when thymic and pineal bioregulators were used together.

6. Brain, nerve, kidney and whole-organ protection

  1. Semax and Selank—neuroplasticity, cognition and emotional regulation. Semax raises brain-derived neurotrophic factor, supports neuronal survival and plasticity, and has improved functional and motor recovery during stroke rehabilitation. It is also associated with greater focus, learning and mental endurance. Selank regulates gamma-aminobutyric-acid-related signaling and has produced anxiolytic, stress-buffering and cognitive benefits without the heavy sedation associated with many conventional anti-anxiety medications.
  2. ARA-290 and Klotho-directed peptides—nerve regeneration and multi-organ longevity signaling. ARA-290, also called cibinetide, activates the innate repair receptor, reduces inflammatory tissue injury and stimulates small-nerve-fiber regeneration; human research documented reduced neuropathic symptoms and increased corneal nerve-fiber density. Klotho is a kidney- and brain-associated longevity protein, while Klotho-like peptide 1, KLP 1 attempts to reproduce a bioactive portion of its signaling. The Klotho system regulates phosphate and vitamin D metabolism, suppresses fibrosis and inflammation, strengthens antioxidant defenses and produces powerful kidney, cardiovascular, metabolic and cognitive benefits in experimental research.

The research Gray market

These peptides are sold by independent laboratories as research materials rather than conventional medications. This is often described as a gray market.
Why is it a Gray market?
The pharmaceutical industry has used its enormous financial and political influence to pressure the FDA into imposing restrictions that have made almost all peptides unavailable for physicians to prescribe or use in ordinary clinical practice. And this has restricted both medical freedom and patient choice. Because naturally occurring peptides are impossible to patent and monetize, pharmaceutical companies have no incentive to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on clinical trials –  there is no multibillion-dollar pot of gold waiting at the end of that rainbow. The result is that potentially valuable peptides have been pushed out of conventional medicine and into a gray research market—not because they have been proven useless, but because our medical system is heavily shaped by patentability, profitability and pharmaceutical influence.

May the Free Market Win!

However, fortunately for the American public, there is a loophole in the law. Laboratories can sell these peptides for “research purposes”. You as a member of the American public can purchase these peptides for “research purposes”. It’s not illegal for you to inject yourself with a peptide. It is illegal for medical doctors to use them, and it is illegal for them to be sold for human use. Many people in the peptide community jokingly talk about treating their kangaroo, because it is legal for you to buy it for your research animal!

Yes China!

Another of the arguments against using peptides is that they are manufactured in China. That’s actually not a bad thing! China manufactures almost 90% of the foundational materials of all generic prescription drugs. But a product labeled “for research use only” is not being supplied as an FDA-approved medication. That label does not itself tell you whether the product is pure, accurately measured, or sterile.

Yes you can test them!

Fortunately there are very good peptide testing laboratories.
The more reputable “Gray market” laboratories are vetted by these testing labs and presented with a certificate of analysis for every batch, which is available to view from the labs themselves. Because people have been using peptides for quite a few years now, there are numerous individuals and buyers groups who regularly test all of their peptides. Because there are numerous online communities discussing peptides you can aggregate the collective “signal” for which peptide laboratories seem to always test the best.

How to Buy, Prepare and Use Peptides

Another piece of good news about peptides is that they are biologically active in very low concentrations. And when they are injected, they are injected subcutaneously using a tiny little needle. So this is not a needle that penetrate into a blood vessel, or even into the muscles. Actually most people use insulin needles, which is itself a peptide. So the injection is very easy. This very thin needle slides under the skin, normally with little to no pain, and a very small amount of a substance mixed with bacteriostatic water is injected in, normally from once a day to once a week, depending on the peptide.
If you decide to purchase or use one of these products, that decision—and the responsibility for that decision—belongs to you. The information below is intended to help you understand the practical process and locate products and supplies. It is not a prescription, guarantee or instruction that you must use peptides.
Below are peptide and supply links. I don’t have any connection to any of the companies that I might suggest you use. I don’t get any financial remuneration by giving you these suggestions. These links were checked on August 5, 2026, although availability may change. Here are some companies that seem to test well in independent testing:

Products That  many peptide users start with:

  • KLOW — Skye Peptides KLOW
    Skye requires an account. If the link opens the login page, sign in or register and then reopen it.
  • TRI-BLEND — Solution Peptides official catalog
    After signing in, search for: “TRI-BLEND (BPC-157/TB-500/KPV) (10mg/10mg/10mg).”

Supplies you will need to prepare and administer peptides

Bacteriostatic water

Using the 3 mL transfer syringe, measure 2.0 mL of bacteriostatic water and transfer it into the peptide vial. Here is an educational video to help you understand how to do this process:
Follow the physical technique shown in the video. Generally, peptide users use 2.0 mL of bacteriostatic water.

3 mL transfer syringe

50-unit syringes

0.5 mL/50-unit, U-100 syringes with a 31-gauge needle.
These are what peptide users inject themselves with.
Here is a video showing you how to inject with reconstituted peptides:
As you are educating yourself about peptides, it’s very important to understand how to get the dosage correct. There are many good online tools called peptide calculators to help you figure out how much you should inject. Here is a good one from, of all places, Rite Aid:
There are three factors to consider when figuring out your peptide dosage. Firstly, how many milligrams of the peptide are in the vial?
Most peptides will come in 10 mg quantities inside a vial, but some might be 12 mg, 24 mg 70 mg etc..
The second fact to consider is how much bacteriostatic water you are using to reconstitute the powdered peptides in the vial?
A standard amount is often 2 mL of bacteriostatic water
The third factor to consider is your recommended dosage.
The fourth factor to consider is the calibration of your injecting syringe
Let’s take a simple example. Let’s say that you have determined, through your own research that you are going to take 500 µg of BP 157 per day. (that Greek squiggle means micrograms, 500 of which = half a milligram).
Let’s say that your BPC 157 vial contains 10 mg of PPC 157.
Let’s say that you reconstitute your BPC 157 vile with 2 mL of bacteriostatic water.
Let’s say that you have purchased the syringe above listed, which in total is half a mL, half a milliliter of water. 0.5 mL of water is 50 units.
Let’s do the math….. But wait, you didn’t really sign up for doing more math once you got out of high school, so let’s just resort to using a peptide calculator like the one from Rite Aid listed above. Here is a screenshot:
If you feel like you need more assistance with this, I can direct you towards practitioners who can help you with this. Just reach out to me directly.