Is the peptide craze backed by science? The promise behind the hype - Nature

Cassandra Willyard is a science journalist in Madison, Wisconsin. Search author on: PubMed  Google Scholar Bluesky Facebook LinkedIn Reddit Whatsapp X Illustration: Fabio Buonocore Peptides have become the latest cure-all trend on social media — a way to eliminate wrinkles, build lean muscle, boost metabolism, clear brain fog, heal torn ligaments and more. Influencers rave about their peptide-fuelled glow-ups on TikTok. Bodybuilders exchange information about their favourite combinations at the gym. US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr is a proponent. “I’m a big fan of peptides,” he told US podcaster Joe Rogan in February. “I’ve used them myself, and used them with really good effect on a couple of injuries.” Peptides are made of the same building blocks as proteins, but are shorter — typically less than 50 amino acids long. And they can be powerful medicines. The hugely successful GLP-1 diabetes and weight-loss drugs, for example, are peptides; as is the hormone insulin. But when wellness gurus and fitness enthusiasts talk about peptides, they’re often referring to an alphabet soup of chemicals: BPC-157, MOTS-c and TB-500. These compounds come in vials labelled ‘for research use only’ because they are not approved for use in humans. It’s a “completely unregulated industry”, says Vikas Patel, an emergency-medicine physician at Elmhurst Hospital in Illinois. Will blockbuster obesity drugs revolutionize addiction treatment?