Scientists have assessed the role of peptides for the body
In recent years, peptides have become one of the most discussed topics in the world of health and biohacking. They are credited with the ability to accelerate recovery from injury, slow down aging, help in weight loss, and even prolong life. Against this background, the market for drugs is rapidly growing in the United States, many of which are distributed outside strict medical control and are advertised as a universal means to improve health. However, experts urge to treat such promises with caution: not all peptides popular today have passed the necessary clinical trials, and their effectiveness and safety often remain the subject of scientific debate. Why there is such a fuss about these substances and how the real achievements of medicine differ from marketing promises — in the material of Izvestia.
Why is everyone suddenly talking about peptides
Interest in peptides began to grow rapidly along with the popularity of biohacking, preventive medicine, and people's desire to stay healthy and young for as long as possible. If a few years ago such substances were discussed mainly among scientists, professional athletes and doctors, today they regularly become the topic of publications on social networks, podcasts and blogs about a healthy lifestyle. Many manufacturers promise that peptides can accelerate the body's recovery, improve skin condition, improve performance, and even slow down the aging process.
What is biohacking?
According to Live Science magazine, the market for so—called unregulated peptides, compounds that are actively promoted as means to restore, rejuvenate or improve physical fitness, is growing rapidly in the United States, despite the limited amount of clinical data on their effectiveness. The issue of their further regulation is currently being discussed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA): agency staff have already stated that for a number of popular compounds, the available scientific data is insufficient to consider their safety and benefits proven.
That is why experts urge not to mix all substances called peptides in one concept. Some of them have long become part of modern medicine and have passed a full cycle of clinical trials, while others continue to be studied only in laboratories or are in the early stages of development. According to experts, the problem lies not in the peptides themselves, but in the fact that the level of scientific evidence for different compounds can vary dramatically.
That is why doctors urge us to first understand what peptides are in general and why they themselves are neither a miracle cure nor a source of increased danger.
What are peptides and why have they been used in medicine for a long time?
From a scientific point of view, peptides are relatively short chains of amino acids interconnected by peptide bonds. In fact, they are small fragments of proteins. If a protein can be compared to a long book consisting of hundreds of pages, then a peptide is more like a separate chapter or even several paragraphs. Despite their small size, such molecules are able to perform a variety of functions, transmitting signals between cells, regulating the work of organs and participating in metabolism.
Peptides are not something foreign to the human body. On the contrary, they are constantly synthesized in our tissues and are involved in almost all physiological processes. Some regulate hunger and satiety, others help cells exchange information, and others control hormone production or the activity of the immune system. It is thanks to these properties that scientists have been considering peptides as a promising basis for creating new drugs for many decades.
Luke Turnock, a criminologist who studies human use of potency-enhancing drugs at the University of Lincoln in England
The word "medicine" has a certain stigma or negative connotation. The popularity of peptides originates in the bodybuilding and powerlifting communities, where the word "medicine" has historically been associated with steroids, which are generally prohibited for professional athletes.
The most famous example is insulin. Although today it is often obtained using genetic engineering methods, by its very nature it is a peptide hormone that regulates blood glucose levels. This group also includes some modern drugs used for diabetes and obesity, as well as a number of hormonal drugs that have long been used in clinical practice. The success of such drugs has largely shaped the idea that peptides can become one of the most promising areas of modern pharmacology.
In recent decades, interest in peptide drugs has increased markedly. According to the researchers, since the introduction of insulin, more than 80 peptide-based drugs have entered the market. Today, they are used in the treatment of diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, HIV infection, chronic pain and a number of other conditions, and the development of new compounds remains one of the fastest growing areas of modern pharmacology.
That is why experts emphasize that the problem is not peptides as a class of substances. Many of them have long proven their effectiveness and help millions of patients around the world every day. The main issues today are not the technology itself, but the rapid spread of experimental compounds that have not yet gone through the entire testing process necessary to be considered safe and effective medicines.
Why is there so much controversy around peptides
One of the main reasons for the popularity of peptides is that many of them look very promising already at the early stages of research. In laboratory experiments, scientists often observe that individual compounds affect inflammation, accelerate tissue healing, regulate metabolism, or affect the immune system. However, such results do not mean that the substance will be as effective and safe in humans. It is at this stage that there is a gap between scientific publications and high-profile promises that spread quickly on the Internet.
The development of any new drug is a long process that begins with laboratory tests and only then proceeds to human trials. After the preclinical stage, a potential drug goes through several phases of clinical trials, during which its safety, efficacy, optimal dosage and possible side effects are evaluated. Only after analyzing all these data can the drug be approved for medical use. That is why many years often pass between the appearance of a promising molecule and its use in clinical practice.
For this reason, scientists urge caution regarding the results of early studies. Experiments in the laboratory allow us to understand how a substance can work, but they do not always predict its effect in humans. It is clinical trials that are considered the main tool of evidence-based medicine, since they allow us to assess not only the potential benefits, but also the possible risks of using the drug.
An additional complication is created by the fact that the term "peptides" is widely used today. It can mean both registered medicinal products with a well-studied mechanism of action, and experimental substances that are still only in the early stages of research. For a person without medical training, this difference is often imperceptible, which gives the impression that all such compounds have the same properties and the same level of evidence. This, according to experts, is becoming one of the reasons for the numerous misconceptions surrounding the topic of peptides.
What really worries the experts
According to experts, the main problem today is not so much with the peptides themselves as with the market for their distribution. In recent years, more and more of these substances have been sold via the Internet, private clinics, or specialized services even before they undergo a full-fledged safety and efficacy test. As a result, consumers can use compounds whose long-term effects on the body are very little known.
A separate concern of experts is the market of unregulated products. Unlike registered medicines, such substances can be distributed without a full range of clinical trials and without the quality control system that is mandatory for officially approved medicines. That is why experts believe that it is often difficult for consumers to assess the actual composition of such products, their quality and possible risks of use.
At the same time, the researchers emphasize that the field of peptide drugs itself continues to develop actively. According to scientific literature reviews, dozens of peptide-based drugs have already been registered worldwide, and new compounds undergo preclinical and clinical trials every year. This means that the prospects for the direction remain very high, but it is necessary to evaluate each molecule separately, rather than drawing conclusions about the entire class of substances at once.
The history of modern medicine has repeatedly shown that promising molecules can change the approach to treating a wide variety of diseases. But she also taught another rule: between a successful experiment in the laboratory and a drug that doctors can safely prescribe to millions of patients, there are years of research, independent reviews and clinical trials. This is the path that many peptide compounds take today. Therefore, experts advise to treat them without extremes.: do not consider them either a universal remedy for all diseases, or obviously dangerous substances. The final answer to the question of their effectiveness can only be given by high-quality science, and not by the speed with which a new idea becomes popular.
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