Peptides: Do you actually need them? A pharmacist's honest opinion on popular options

SALT LAKE CITY — It's the hushed conversation happening between sisters, neighbors and girlfriends. Suddenly, it feels like everybody's talking about peptides.

A year ago, most of us couldn't have defined the word. Today, they're being promoted for everything from weight loss and muscle building to anti-aging and recovery. But what exactly are peptides, who should be taking them and how do you know you're getting them from a safe source?

KSL Medical Contributor and pharmacist Phil Cowley shared what a peptide is and his honest take on some of the most popular ones he gets asked about.

"Because we're getting such good results with the GLP-1 medications, which are peptides," he said, "they became just this focal point."

Before jumping on the peptide bandwagon, Cowley said it's important to understand what they are, what they might do and where risks still exist.

What Is a Peptide?

"The very first peptide was insulin," he said. "So we've known about peptides for a long, long time."

Cowley explained that peptides are a bunch of amino acids clumped together. Add even more amino acids and you get a protein. Peptides work differently than most medications.

"It signals a cascade," he said. "It's a flood of stuff that all starts from the top."

That is one reason they've gotten so much attention lately. The popularity of peptides grew after the success of GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Mounjaro. Those medications are peptides, and the fact that they worked so well made people curious about what other peptide therapies could do.

The 'Wolverine' Peptide

"The Wolverine Peptide Stack" is one that is getting a lot of attention.

"That's gonna be a combination of the BPC-157 with the TB-500," Cowley explained. " Those two are supposed to help you wound heal really quickly.  They're super popular because people can recover from their workouts really fast."

He said this result is potentially possible, but the only studies that have been done on either one have had two people in them.

" We don't actually know what it does to humans," Cowley emphasized. "We do know in rats that they could lift all day long and then they'll be ready to go back to the gym the next day."

"The Skin Peptide"

GHK-Cu copper peptide has become especially popular among women

"We do know topically it does some wonderful things," Cowley said.

He explained that there are claims that the injectable versions work better, but studies don't actually back that up. The studies have been done more on topical use and less on injections.

"The Fractionated Growth Hormone"

"Growth hormone was all the rage back in the early 2000s," Cowley said.  "We found that growth hormone by itself isn't really safe. So what they did is they broke it into parts."

CJC-1295, tesamorelin and ipamorelin help with improved recovery, body composition and aging support.

"There's a little more testing in those ones," he noted.

Where Are These Products Coming From?

The biggest concern isn't the peptides themselves, it's where people are buying them.

"You just go online and you pick 'em up," Cowley said.

He emphasized that many of these products exist in a regulatory gray area. A major study found that out of 2,600 peptides purchased online, 61% of them weren't what they said they were.

" Whatever you're getting in the mail, it's most likely not that," Cowley said. " One of the owners, Paradigm Peptides, just went to jail for five years for putting wrong things in his products and faking all of the documents he was sending to all the people."

Cowley recommended waiting on peptides because science is still catching up.

"I think there's room for them, but don't jump the gun." he said. " We don't have human data ... So when we get something good like wound healing really quickly, you have to ask, what else is that cascade doing?"

He said people should be asking, "What will this do to me in five or 10 years?"

" Over time we see our bodies adjust to it," Cowley explained. "I'd hate to see some real negative side effects pop out five years, 10 years down the road."

Find more advice from Phil Cowley on Instagram, @philsmypharmacist.

This story originally aired on KSL Newsradio/KSL TV and has been reformatted for a digital audience using artificial intelligence.