"Peptides made me look 10 years younger!"
"Peptides transformed my face in just 60 days!"
Sound familiar? Influencers across TikTok and the internet have been touting peptides as a beauty and health cure-all, with some claiming they can de-age you or significantly transform your appearance. They're all the rage in "looksmaxxing," an online subculture dedicated to going to extreme lengths to change one's appearance.
But what can peptides really do - and what's a bunch of internet snake oil?
We caught up with an expert to learn about the real science: John Fetse, an assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences at Binghamton University's School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Fetse is focused on developing peptide therapeutics to overcome biological barriers in drug and gene delivery and treat conditions such as cancer, brain disorders, and inflammation. In this Q&A, he explains what peptides are, why they're suddenly so popular, and why you shouldn't blindly follow the advice of influencers.
What are peptides and what are they useful for?
I usually describe peptides as miniature proteins. They're made from amino acids and help regulate many processes in our bodies. Peptides are simply short chains of amino acids.
In my research, we try to design unique peptides for various therapeutic applications, and it's all based on the peptide's amino acid sequence. We customize them and arrange amino acids in specific ways to achieve specific structures or sizes for use in various therapeutic applications.
Why have peptides suddenly become so popular in recent years?
Peptides have been around for a long time. Insulin, for example, is a peptide. A few years ago, peptides did not receive much attention outside of research. What really blew everything up for peptides was Ozempic/GLP-1s, which are also peptides. Now, a lot of people are using all kinds of peptides for all kinds of reasons, including many that have never gone through the approval process, and influencers on social media are promoting them. That part concerns me. It is good that the public finally knows what a peptide is, but the attention has made it harder for people to tell the difference between an approved peptide drug and something sold online.
What makes the peptides that influencers are promoting online potentially dangerous?
We generally say that peptides are safe because they are made of amino acids, which our body can use. But every peptide is different. You could have a sequence that is safe, but with a different arrangement of amino acids in another peptide, you could have a potentially dangerous molecule on your hands. So it's not advisable to try a peptide advertised by influencers that isn't backed up by clinical data.
Can peptides transform your face?
Using peptides to change your face could have potentially dangerous or severe safety concerns. We haven't taken these peptides through a clinical or drug approval process; we do not know what safety concerns they may have. Most importantly, there is no evidence that these peptides can really change your face. So why take the risk and administer potentially dangerous substances for an unsubstantiated use
Many influencers talk about "stacking," or combining, multiple peptides at once. Is that safe?
It's potentially dangerous to combine multiple peptides at once. Each peptide has a unique sequence of amino acids. And that gives it specific properties. So if you combine multiple peptides, you are creating a complex cocktail that can have severe and unpredictable health consequences.
What precautions should people take before using peptides?
Before you use any drug, including peptides, talk to your physician. I would be very hesitant about injecting something into my body that I can't track the source of. Even if that peptide is what it claims to be, the manufacturing processes it has undergone and the potential impurities may be unknown. Remember: once it goes in your bloodstream, you can't pull it out. So you want to be very cautious and think hard about doing that.
We talked about the dangers of peptides. Why are they so promising?
Peptides have so much potential. We have the ability to tune peptides so that they are able to go exactly where we want them to, and that way, we are able to limit side effects in patients. They sit in the sweet spot between the traditional small molecule drugs like Tylenol and the large, complex biologics like antibody drugs, and so they draw from the best part of both worlds.
