I’ve been taking rapa for around 3 years now / paired with metformin and the past year or two acarbose.
I’m would like to try some peptides and am curious what is the general consensus around it.
The term peptides is a non specific enough to be relatively meaningless except in a biochemical way.
There are about 500 FDA approved meds that are peptides. The GLP-1s are peptides and most people (except 1😉) are pretty bullish on them.
Otherwise, most here land on several concerns. Mostly. It seems like it is the wild West as far as what people are doing. They are becoming like a recreational drug - questionable sources, no real data beyond anecdotes etc.
Injection is the usual mode of entry and that does bring another layer of concern about source, purity etc. It is harder to get peptides to survive stomach acid. Doable but with some cost and real research.
100% there will be new peptides that are worthwhile. Many many of them. They truly may be the future of both recreation and longevity and healthspan. It is just unproven and coming too fast to sort out. Rapamycin has decades of research in comparison and we still aren’t sure how to take it and whether it is a good idea.
Acarbose also has decades and such a simple mechanism as to be unconcerning. And FDA approval and all that.
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To be honest, I think it outperforms small molecule drugs. It has strong target affinity, high specificity, low immunogenicity, and fewer side effects. The only downside is its poor oral bioavailability, which makes it injection-dependent.
Hi Ben,
We have been discussing them for a while, as @DavidCary mentioned, I wouldn’t really look at peptides as a general class because there is so much variation on the data behind them; some, like GLP1s have gone through the regular drug-testing and validation process and seem very helpful for people. And many people here are already trying GLP-1s for potential health and longevity benefits (micro-dosing, or just to lose a few stubborn pounds). See this thread: Experience with GLP-1s
And a second group of peptides that has gotten a lot of coverage in the press are all the FDA unapproved peptides … BPC157, etc… These have much less data behind them than the GLP1s. You may want to review the data and the top 20 peptides here: Comprehensive Expert Analysis of The Top 20 Peptide Therapeutics in Longevity and Regenerative Medicine
A big side issue related to all the peptides is one of sourcing. The GLP-1 peptides are available through all sorts of Telehealth platforms, with quick and easy prescriptions. And, oral GLP1 drugs / pills are now available from the Indian pharmacies now at low cost and also seem pretty effective (allowing you to avoid the injection route).
Many people see peptides (the grey market ones) advertised on TikTok and other social media platforms … but there is a wide variety of quality in these sources so you have to be very careful to get a quality provider. See these links for more information: ‘I wouldn’t dare take these drugs’: how China supplies untested peptides to the west (Financial Times)
The general consensus on peptides varies quite a bit; on the regular GLP-1s many people are trying them at microdosing levels or higher, depending on your goals. On other un-FDA-approved peptides there is a huge variation in opinions and experiences, and I’d encourage you to read up.
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