From powders to pills to potions — and increasingly, injectables — peptides are everywhere these days. Unfortunately, many are also unproven; they have not undergone rigorous testing in humans to prove that they’re safe and that they work. Many of these products are sold on the gray market, labeled as “not for human use” or “for research purposes only”, but that hasn’t deterred the diehards. Fortunately for the biohacker set, the current leadership at the United States Department of Health and Human Services and Food and Drug Administration appears ready to lower regulatory barriers. Jamie Ducharme brings a dose of reality for Science News.
🧪 Science without the lab coat
What are peptides? They’re short stretches of amino acids. While a protein is a complex, sprawling architectural marvel of amino acids, a peptide is a much shorter chain — essentially a building block in the biological structure. Natural peptides in the body act as hormones and play roles in tissue healing and metabolism: a biohacker’s paradise. Some peptides, like the blockbuster pharma cash cow Ozempic (a GLP-1, which stands for glucagon-like peptide-1) have proven their clinical worth, while other, unproven variants have only been tested in rats, leaving human safety and efficacy data in a precarious “wait and see” mode.
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