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50 Something podcast I'm your host, Dr. Nicole Norris. Whether you are in the midst of midlife or you want to prevent the physical and mental signs of aging that occur in midlife, this is the podcast for you. This is a show where I share my knowledge gleaned in family practice, preventative medicine, and aesthetic medicine to shed light on aging or better yet, how not to feel or look like you are aging when you we should be taking an active role in how we age from an early age. We should not settle with growing old gracefully or letting nature take its course. How we age directly affects our confidence, which impacts all of our relationships with those around us. The length of time in our lives that we feel really good in terms of energy, aches and pains and thought clarity has a definite impact on the mark we can leave on this world. My wish for my listeners is to always be mistaken for being 50 something or less in mind, action and appearance.
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Let's go. Welcome Back to the Dr. 50 Something Show. Now that you all have your longevity mindset established because you listened to my last episode, let's move on to something more tangible. My second and third go to Peptides to optimize your longevity. To start, does anyone remember what my first go to peptide was? Remember when I discussed our most important antioxidant in our body and the peptide we make naturally that detoxifies our body? If you're remembering glutathione, you get the gold star. That was season two, Episode five. Speaking of episodes, if you happen to skip my last episode because the title sounded a little too woo woo or you thought longevity mindset shift, I don't need that. You do. You need to go back and listen. Today's title is sexy because it has the word peptides in it. That's probably why you clicked on it. But without last week's mindset shift, peptides won't work for you. In fact, if you still think after listening to the last 16 episodes that bioidentical hormones and peptides are magic bullets, I have sadly failed in my endeavor to educate you on how to live your life fully for the longest period of time. So so I'm just going to get it over with early in this podcast. Hens Peptides will not push the needle of longevity or do a darn thing for you if you have not yet h optimized your hormones. E you are exercising regularly, including strength training. N you are focusing on nutrition that is whole food based with lots of protein and polyphenols. S you are sleeping like a really good baby. And the last s you are managing your stress and nourishing your longevity mindset with positive thinking. Okay, done. Did you guys know the way I came up with that mnemonic hens? I don't think I ever told you. I am a chicken mom. I have four hens in my life. They are the sweetest. And any of you thinking that is odd? This Dr. 50 something is an odd check. Chickens don't have a personality. You, my friend, have never met a chicken. My hens are each unique with beady little eyes that look deep in your soul. They have their own language of plucks and coos and they lay eggs for several years and then they go through henna paws. I really cracked myself up. Hens H e n s s truly came from my hens in the backyard. Today I am doing this podcast topic because a good friend I've had since high school asked me to. She is a friend, faithful podcast listener and follows all of the hen's rules. I asked her what she wanted to learn about next. She didn't even hesitate. Peptides like the ones I see on social media, BPC157 and GHK Copper. Should I be on them? And where do I get the ones that actually will work? And really the only way to get them is a shot in my belly. These are great questions, Amy. This episode is dedicated to you. But first a little background on peptides and where to safely source them. Most peptides are natural body substances or mimic natural body substances and act as messengers in the body. Peptides, as I've mentioned before, are composed of short strings of amino acids, specifically less than 40. In contrast, proteins are composed of large strings of amino acids. Amino acids are found in the foods we eat for the most part. Some peptides are regulated by the FDA and are prepared prescription and some are not and are classified as supplements. This gets confusing because it often depends on how you are going to take the peptide. So if a peptide is injected with a shot into, let's say the abdomen, it is regulated by the FDA and requires a medical licensed practitioner to prescribe it. So even if a peptide is regulated by the fda, very few of them are actually FDA approved for any specific medical indication. So when I talk to patients about peptides, I as a physician must make sure patients realize they are not FDA approved for what I am using them for in most cases. Another word for this is off label use. If a peptide is not injected into the body but it is taken by mouth or put on topically or Intranasally or via a liposomal route. They are not FDA approved or or FDA regulated. Let's talk about that a little more. So of course oral means a pill, topically means a cream, intranasal is a nasal spray, and liposomal is a newer delivery method that means spray in your mouth and it gets quickly absorbed into the bloodstream through your mucosa in the mouth. There are now many peptides available online sold via these delivery systems that are classified as supplements. And as we have learned, supplements are not regulated by the FDA or in any way FDA approved. The companies that make these peptide supplements cannot claim they cure or treat any specific disease and I cannot either. So very few peptides are FDA approved for anything because the FDA says there are not enough good studies to show benefit. The only peptides FDA regulated are the injectable forms that come from compounding pharmacies and require a prescription from a licensed provider. The other routes of administration of the same exact peptides are classified as supplements and there is no FDA oversight. So bottom line, you or your provider, AKA me, have to do the research on the supplement company to make sure what they are selling as a supplement is good quality. So sourcing of injectable peptides safely and legally became even more confusing. Five years ago, very few people knew what a peptide was or or cared beyond. Five years ago, enter GLP1s, the most sought after peptide ever. When the Ozempic craze started, peptides became like cookies in front of a four year old. Insulin is the oldest peptide used in medicine, but it is not sexy because we just think about it treating a terrible disease. So after GLP1s made peptides seem like miracle drugs for weight loss, everyone was interested in them. We started paying attention to what other peptides were out there. The FDA and the big pharmaceutical companies noticed this consumer mindset shift. Prior to 2023, a licensed provider such as myself could send a script to a compounding pharmacy and get any injectable peptide they wanted for a patient. After 2023, many of the most popular injectable versions were put on a list blocking compounding pharmacies from legally dispensing them. This had two major impacts. One, many smart compounding pharmacists got creative and started researching other safe delivery methods for peptides so as to not go against the FDA but still be able to offer the peptide to patients. And two, for research use only websites started popping up that a person with no medical background or licensing authority could purchase peptides cheaply. From these websites, I need to make an important safety announcement right now. If you haven't noticed, there are tons of individuals slash companies on the Internet offering injectable forms of GLP1s, BPC157, Matsi, GHK, copper and even growth hormone analogs. No prescription needed, no medical license needed. This should make the hair on the back of your neck stand up and think that's strange. These individuals with for research use only websites are getting away with this because somewhere on their website they state what they are offering and is for research use only and not for human or animal use. This means they can make or sell whatever compounded drug they want with no FDA regulation of the facility where it is made. There is no FDA oversight over the process to make sure it is safe and there are no guarantees of purity or that there is any actual active peptide in what they are selling. There is no dosing, education or oversight for side effects. Essentially the peptide that is sold for research use only can be made in a garage and whoever is selling it can make a killing selling direct to the peptide craze public. Good luck getting a hold of anyone if you have an adverse health event on one of these peptides from one of these research use only websites. This is not a small problem. If you go right now and google peptides for sale there are no less than 56,000 results. As a longevity physician aware of what it takes for a compounding pharmacy to safely make a peptide, this is is very scary to me. I take the time to vet the compounding pharmacies and the supplement companies where I get peptides for my patients because making a peptide into an injectable especially is a very complex involved process. I'll just give you a few of the cliff notes so you can see what I mean. So first the raw peptide material must be purchased from an FDA approved manufacturing facility which means the compounding pharmacy must be able to show proof of of that called a C of A. Then the peptide is processed into a powder for injection by the compounding pharmacy. A toxic byproduct of this process is trifluoroacetic acid or tfa. The TFA level in the injectable must be below a certain level for it to be acceptable to the FDA for dispensing to humans. TFA is toxic to humans and animals. TFA ingestion causes abnormalities in the blood neurologic issues and can even lead to liver failure. The process of taking TFAs out of a peptide to a non detectable level is very expensive, requires a high level of education and specialized lab equipment. Are you starting to see why for research use only, websites charge so little for the peptide you are getting from them without a prescription from a licensed provider? Next, the compounding pharmacy has to make the product stable and bioavailable in the body by altering it in some way and the last step is filtering the peptide to make it safe. Sterile filters for this process cost about $300 and are not supposed to be reused from one batch to the next. Then the peptide needs to be kept cold and shipped cold, not frozen and will come with a date on it that it should be used by. Then the peptide needs to be kept cold and shipped cold but not frozen and will come with a date on it that it should be used by. All of that is quite a process for a guy in a garage. So my point is this. If you are willing to inject something in your body that you got online and did not get prescribed by your trusted longevity medic or functional medicine provider, you are essentially playing Russian roulette. The chances of that cheap peptide sold directly to you online being actually what they say it is, safe and sterile is extremely low given the facts of what goes into making it for human use. Please don't play Russian Roulette with your peptides. Let your longevity provider do the legwork for you and find reputable sources for your peptides. Okay, bottom line for research, use only Bad Prescribed by medical provider Good. Okay, let's learn about BPC157 and why there is all this hype. Truly, BPC157 is every man, woman and child's peptide and this one even breaks the hen's first rule. BPC stands for Body Protective Compound. In my opinion, this is also the only peptide that has a name that makes sense. This peptide is now available orally or in an injectable form from a compounding pharmacy. If you have a prescription from a licensed medical provider, it is not yet FDA approved and all of the reasons that I am going to suggest to you that patients use it are considered off label use. The FDA recommends that persons undergoing therapy with this peptide do so under the supervision of a licensed healthcare provider who can source it from a reputable inspected compounding pharmacy. Besides oral and injectable forms, in my office we also offer a liposomal form that you spray in your mouth, hold it there for 60 to 90 seconds and then swallow it. This form is considered a supplement, does require refrigeration, but is much easier to take than an injection. The liposomal form I like best comes From a reputable supplement company called Quicksilver. As with most peptides, BBC157 should not be taken every day forever, it should be cycled. If you take any peptide except glutathione, which we talked about in a previous podcast, day in and day out, it will eventually stop working because your peptide receptors in your body will become desensitized to it. So it is important with most peptides to use it two months and then take at least a month break. This is called cycling peptides and it is most important for all peptides except glutathione and some GLP1s. So what exactly can BPC157 potentially do? So it can affect many systems of the body. Think gut, brain, musculoskeletal system and skin. It is most often used to treat stomach and intestinal conditions such as inflamed lining of the gut, also known as leaky gut. When patients have a GI map that shows overgrowth of bad bacteria and not enough good bacteria, this can be part of their healing process. If I am using BPC157 for the gut, I like to use pills or the liposomal spray and mouth forms of BPC157. Did you know that there is a direct correlation of the health of your GI tract, which is mouth to rectum, to your skin health and your brain health? I think I mentioned that before. Your skin is a mirror to your GI tract health. I also like to use this peptide when I have a patient with skin inflammation like acne or dermatitis that just doesn't seem to respond to anything else. Also, patients with signs of brain inflammaging are great candidates for a little BPC157 support. So this could be a patient with early signs of dementia or patients with a history of concussion or traumatic brain injury. BPC157 may be neuroprotective by its effect on reducing lipopolysaccharides. The short form of that is LPS in the brain. Did you know that inflammation in the gut is often caused by certain gut bacteria that produce the endotoxin lps? LPS produced in the GI tract can cross into the brain and cause neurodegeneration, triggering chronic brain inflammation, which can lead to amyloid plaques and tau tangles. Does that sound familiar? Those are the things that we find on MRI in Alzheimer's patients. Crazy enough, we still do not know what exactly causes dementia and Alzheimer's, but one of the hypothesis that is circulating is that it could be coming from LPS toxins produced in the gut. Yet another reason a GI map should be paramount in your quest for a long healthy life. That was episode two of season two. If you missed it, BPC157 also has healing properties. It may promote wound healing, speed up tissue regeneration, increase blood flow by stimulating nitric oxide, it may promote wound healing, speed up tissue regeneration, increase blood flow by stimulating nitric oxide, and some patients even report improvement in joint pain. BPC157 has been shown to boost the immune system by improving the lining of the GI tract where many of our immune cells are made. I personally use the liposomal form of BPC157 from Quicksilver, two months on and one month off repeatedly to prevent breakouts from my rosacea, treat my knee arthritis post injury, keep my GI tract healthy, and of course to prevent LPS buildup in my brain. Another reason I use a lot of BPC157 in patients and sometimes break my hen's rule of no peptides before the basics is hormone production. Some patients come to my office, start hormone optimization and we keep gradually bumping up the doses and their levels don't change. They seem to not respond. You must have a healthy lining of your GI tract for hormones to be absorbed and send messages throughout your body. So sometimes we do recommend starting BPC157 prior to hormone optimization because figuring out the issues with the gut microbiome imbalance can help these patients respond much better to hormone optimization. Side effects reported from BBC157 are typically injection site reactions. If you give yourself a shot and occasional nausea from the oral form, I would pretty much not suggest any peptide use in a pregnant or breastfeeding mother. Next up, GHK Copper. Your body produces GHK copper naturally when it attaches to a copper particle or ion in your body. It acts as a checkered flag for the body to upregulate genes for tissue repair and down regulate inflammatory pathways. By the time we are 60 years old our natural GHK copper levels are have declined by 50%. GHK Copper may be used topically injected or there is also a liposomal form that I have used from Quicksilver. I like to use GHK copper topically for skin regeneration because it stimulates fibroblast in the skin to produce new collagen and new elastin. It can also be used topical for hair growth when you use it as an injection or a liposomal form which is two sprays in the mouth. Hold it there for 60 to 90 seconds and then swallow. It may not only improve skin and hair appearance but it also has anti inflammatory properties like BPC 157. It can help with wound healing and it has been shown to be neuroprotective. It should also be cycled two months on and one month off if you choose to try it so it does not lose its effectiveness. You should not use it topically with retinoids or topical vitamin C as this will decrease the effectiveness and make the skin sensitive. Usually side effects are limited to injection site reactions and potential tingling of the skin. There is also a possibility of people getting too high of copper levels when on it. If you are cycling it intermittently this seems to be much less likely to happen, but I also like to counteract this possibility of too high of copper levels by taking a zinc supplement which will keep my copper levels in check in my office. The two most popular ways to use GHK copper are topically or liposomally. Remember, BPC157 and GHK Copper in their oral or liposomal forms are not FDA approved or FDA regulated. The injectable forms are FDA regulated if they come from a compounding pharmacy that your medical provider has vetted for authenticity. All of the reasons that I use these peptides for myself and for my patients have not been FDA approved. I have done my homework to find reputable, safe sources of these peptides so you don't have to go on the research, use only websites and take unnecessary risks. If I am not your longevity provider, please discuss these peptides with your personal medical provider before starting them. If you are looking for a longevity provider licensed in Illinois, look no further. Getting started in our office requires filling out an eligibility form on our website and either dropping it off or mailing it to us. Then we call you to discuss next steps, which is usually coming in for labs that are pretty comprehensive. They include what you would consider annual labs, common hormone levels appropriate for each sex, and a longevity panel. The longevity panel tests for biomarkers for heart and vascular health, brain health, growth hormone levels and signs of inflammation due to oxidative stress. We use these labs in combination with what your symptoms and medical issues are to recommend hormones, supplements and peptides to optimize your health. My team of providers sits down prior to your visit even to discuss your lab results and the info you give us on the eligibility form to put together our top recommendations in an easily digestible pathway to longevity. Other initial testing that new patients in our longevity practice often take advantage of are telomere length testing discussed in season two episode three so that we have a baseline biologic age for you, a GI map which I discussed in season two episode two and often a multi cancer early detection screening test known as Gallery. Next episode I am going to discuss Gallery testing and the world of growth hormone analogs, Sermorelin, cjc, ipamorelin and tessamorelin. Thanks Amy for the podcast inspiration.
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Thank you for joining this episode of the Dr. 50 Something Show. If you are intrigued by this show and never want to miss an episode, click follow. If you are a really great friend, share it. The content of this episode is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider to answer any questions you may have about your personal medical conditions. Until next time, get fit, get fabulous, get firm and take care of yourself.