What Are Peptides? The Building Blocks Behind Modern Therapeutic Compounds

Late night bites with friends, already hard to beat. That first two-hot bite of fries you couldn't wait for, followed by ice-cold Pepsi. Now, that hits different. Suddenly, the energy kicks back in. The night goes longer, and the laughs don't stop. Because Pepsi brings out more flavor, more fun, and more of the moment. Food deserves Pepsi. Grab a Pepsi Zero Sugar today. Remember, may I suggest your big wireless bill. It's got suspense, mystery, a slightly flat, emotional arc, and a shocking twist where you realize you've been overpaying the entire time. Fortunately, though, mint story is better. Every plan $15 a month. Even unlimited. That's it. Happy ending. Zero tears. Give it a try at MintMobile.com/switch. Hey there. This is John Garrett, and welcome to the Pep Tides Explained podcast. This is the first episode. What I want to do is really get into this thing that's very, very popular and that everybody has been talking about for the last several years. It's really exploded on the scene. You've really heard more about Pep Tides in the last two years, but really, without knowing most of you have heard about Pep Tides for the last four or five years. What we're going to do is, as we're getting into this, I want to start at the very basic level of what is a Pep Tide, and then we'll go into some of the actual Pep Tides that are being talked about today as we go along through these episodes. Just a little background about me. My name is John Garrett, and I am a registered nurse, been a nurse since 2002, and done emergency room, ICU, critical care, cardiac cath lab, and some vascular access. In the last 10 years or so, I got into a job where I worked for a biometrical or biotech company, a large biotech company, and I've been a medical scientist liaison to that, and now I've moved into the kind of the sales realm of that business as well. Going back through my nursing career, and my medical career, which actually goes back to 1998 when I was in the Coast Guard Reserves, I was a corpsman. One of the things that has really been a major part of what I've done as a healthcare provider is, I've had to teach a lot of people about different things, about their medications or about their injury or their disease that they've had. And then, as I move through that, and have learned more and more about these different disease states, and medications, and how they work, and all the things that go along with that, I got a job in this biotech company as a medical science liaison, and so for those of you that don't know what a medical science liaison is, what they do is, they take information from scientific research in the medical space. We read those, either journals or medical research papers, and for all intents and purposes and keeping it very simple, we learn about what it says in that particular article. We'll call them articles or data points or data sets or whatever you want to call it. And then, we understand that, we pull the things out of those journals that are relevant to what that journal is about, and we communicate that science to physicians, and sometimes nurses. And so, through my journey in healthcare, I've learned a lot about how to communicate information, two people, not only in a very simplistic way when you're talking to patients, but also getting into the weeds of, you know, all of the medical data, all of the biostatistics, all of the things that come out of these medical journals, journals. And so, I've become very interested in peptides over the last couple of years. I've seen it all over the place, I keep seeing it pop up in my Instagram feed, and on TikTok, and Facebook, and YouTube, and all those things. And so, I've been diving into it, so I've dove into it so much that I've actually started taking some of these peptides for myself, and we're going to talk about those later on. But as I've learned more and more about this, and I've talked to people about what I'm doing, I get more and more questions. And so, I want to communicate what I've learned, but I want to do it very simply. There's a lot of data out there, a lot of podcasts out there, a lot of YouTube channels out there. And you see it pop up on Instagram too, of these clips of people talking about this stuff. But it can be a little heady, and sometimes it can be, you know, what are these people talking about, right? You don't understand it. You keep hearing peptides, you hear all these things, you hear about these miracle drugs and cures for all these ailments and diseases and all this kind of stuff. So, a lot of it is hype. A lot of it is people telling you what their opinion is, who have no background and how to explain these things. And so, my background is really getting into it, knowing it intimately, and being able to communicate that in a way that most people can understand. And so, that's my hopes with this podcast. And so, as we're going through this podcast, I want you to keep one thing in mind. This is not medical advice. This is, I'm not trying to diagnose you or treat you or anything like that. I'm simply providing information. So, don't take anything that I say in these podcasts as gospel truth that you need to do this for yourself, continue to do your own research, talk to your doctor, talk to your healthcare provider, and you've got to make that decision for yourself. But as we're getting into this, I want you to understand at the very basic level, what is a peptide? Because we hear that word thrown around a lot. So, what is a peptide? And so, today's episode is, what is a peptide? Right? And so, we're going to get into that in just a second, but I want you to, first of all, listen to this, try to understand it at the most basic way that you can so you can communicate that to others. Because you're going to get questions, too, if you decide to go down this rabbit hole with me. So, as we're going into this, just keep an open mind and try to even take notes if you need to. But, so, we're going to get into what is a peptide now. So, first of all, I'm going to try to paint a picture of what a peptide is by telling a little bit of anecdotes through this or little stories through this to help you understand what that is. So, imagine that you step off a curve and you twist your ankle, okay? Within a few minutes, you're going to start seeing swelling, you're going to see blood flow increase, and then you're going to have immune cells that start migrating or going to that area. This means that repair mechanisms are active and they're activated in your body. You didn't tell your body to do any of that, right? So, what coordinated that response? You have signals in your body, you have messages in your body that communicate from one cell to another. And that's exactly what's happening in this situation. You're getting those instructions moving from one cell to another cell. Many of those signals that are going between those cells are signals that are given to each cell by peptides. So, welcome to peptides explained. This is the podcast where I break down the most talked about peptides in health and wellness and I'm going to do this in plain English. So, there's going to be no bro science, no exaggerated claims, no overwhelming molecular deep dives, just foundational understanding. Today we will answer one simple question, what is a peptide? So, as I gave that introduction, that little story starts to paint a picture of what's going on. So, at its core, a peptide is a short chain of amino acids. That's all it is. Amino acids are the building box of proteins. If proteins are full length novels, think of a peptide, a peptide as a short sentence. If amino acids are Lego bricks, proteins are the entire castle. And peptides are smaller, precise pieces built for specific purposes. Typically, peptides contain between two and around 50 amino acids. Longer chains are generally classified as proteins and they're the same building blocks but they're different sizes and they have different roles. So, what does peptides or what do peptides do in the body? Peptides primarily act as a signaling molecule. Think of them as like a text message sent between cells. They tell your body to release growth hormone, lower your blood sugar, increase metabolism, start tissue repair, reduce inflammation and signal fullness. They don't force your body to do something unnatural. They instruct your body to do what it already knows how to do. They're messengers, not builders. They're supervisors, they're not construction workers. And that distinction matters. So, let's talk about a real life example, right? So, let's try to make this as practical as possible. So you lift weights after years of being sedentary. And that work at causes you to have these tiny micro tears in your muscle tissue. You probably heard of that back in grade school or high school or middle school. So what happens next? Peptides are released that signal the repair of the damaged fibers, the damaged muscle fibers. This is protein synthesis, it helps you adapt to this stress and it prepares you for the next exposure. Muscle growth is not magic, but it is a coordinated signaling and that signaling involves peptides. So, peptides. hormones and proteins. So we're going to get into this a little bit. This is the next segment here. So here's where the confusion starts. Some peptides are hormones. For example, everybody's heard of insulin, right? You know, people who have diabetes and they're taking insulin. So insulin is actually, if I remember correctly, the first peptide hormone that has come to market and your body already makes insulin, everybody knows this. It's made into pancreas. It helps you control your blood sugar. Glucagon is another peptide hormone, all right? And then growth hormone, right? We hear a lot of the bodybuilders talking about growth hormone. If you've ever had an injury and you've gone to the doctor, you may have heard about growth hormone. As teenagers are growing, you hear about growth hormone. And so growth hormone is also peptide based. These are not fringe substances. They're central regulators of metabolism and physiology. And the difference between a peptide and a protein usually comes down to the size. So remember earlier, I said peptides are usually between two and 50 amino acids. And so as you start getting out of side of that, range of amino acids, then you start looking at proteins. But functionally, these peptides often act as highly targeted communicators. So with that said, why are peptides so popular right now? So you hear, like I said in the intro, you're hearing more and more about peptides because modern medicine has learned how to harness these peptides in the last few years. So you hear about drugs like semagglutide, all right? So that's ozampic, wagovii, that type of thing, tersepatide, right? Monjourno. And then if you've been on, unless you've been under a rock, if you go on YouTube or Instagram or TikTok, you've been hearing about red or true tide, also known as redda. You've been hearing redda thrown around by a lot of people. And there's a reason for that. And we'll talk about that in the next episode. So our peptide-based medications that mimic, so all these things are peptide-based medications that mimic naturally occurring signaling molecules involved in appetite and metabolic regulation. That's not an eternal alternative wellness cure. That's mainstream endocrinology. At the same time, you'll hear about research peptides such as, everybody's heard of this one, BPC157. So if you do any type of athletic training or you do any weight lifting, jujitsu, any of that stuff, you've been hearing that going around in the gyms or in the circles that you're in. BPC157, TB500, you've heard probably the wolverine stack or the wolverine protocol, things like that. Motsis, another one. So these are some peptides that are being studied. Some are experimental. And some are not FDA-proof for human use. And that's where this clarity becomes essential. This podcast exists to separate approved medicine, clinical research, experimental compounds, marketing claims, and from biological reality. So we're going to go into all of this as we go through each one of these peptides. So we're trying to separate these things from biological reality. So what's really going on? So what are what we talked about what peptides are? So what are peptides not? So let's remove some of these misconceptions. Peptides are not anabolic steroids. They're not synthetic shortcuts that override biology. They're not magic injections. You've heard that, oh, it's magic. You're going to lose so much weight or your muscles are going to heal so fast or your tissue injury is going to help be healed quicker because of these things. In some cases, yes. But there's also other things that you need to be doing outside of that. So it's not magic. It's what your body's already doing. So these peptides, as we said earlier, are signaling molecules. And the signaling only works in the system if the system is receiving the signal and the signal is functional. If the door is broken, ringing the doorbell louder won't fix it, right? That principle applies to many conversations we'll have in this series. So looking at the big picture, here's the most important takeaway from this episode today. A peptide is a short chain of amino acids that act as a signaling molecule in the body. All right, these peptides regulate hormone release, metabolism, appetite, tissue repair, inflammation, energy production. And they're not new. They are part of normal human physiology. So what's new is our ability to manufacture them and use them intentionally. And that's why we're being these are being discussed everywhere you look from endocrinology, endocrinology clinics, to wellness podcast, and to research labs are everywhere. Like just get on the internet for five minutes and you'll see something about peptides. And so why I want you to list this podcast and why this matters, right? We live in a time where people want faster recovery, better metabolic health, improve longevity, reduced inflammation, more energy, all the things, right? So peptides sin at the center of many of these conversations, but without understanding what they are, people fall into two extremes. All right, they either think they're a miracle drug or they're dangerous biohacks that you should be really scared of and be very wary of. And the truth is more nuanced, right? Peptides are biological tools. They're powerful in the right context, limited in the wrong one, right? And misunderstood when oversimplified. So with that said, as we close this episode out for today, super short episode, in the future, we're going to be breaking down individual peptides. What they're claimed to do, what the research actually says, what's approved, what's experimental, how to think critically in a space that's often driven by marketing, right? This is about understanding the language of your own biology. And so next episode, I'm going to put out is going to be on the three that we talked about at the very beginning. Sima Glutide, which is ozimpic in Wigovie, which we talked about all over the place. You hear it everywhere you go. If you've been to the doctor for your yearly checkup, you've probably been offered either ozimpic or wigovie. If you have type two-byte diabetes, you've probably been offered ozimpic or wigovie or maybe you're on it already. Another one is tersepotide. Tersepotide is mongerno. You've seen it all over the commercials during Super Bowl. I think I saw five or six, at least. And I probably miss some of them of these commercials that we're talking about ozimpic, wigovie, tersepotide or mongerno. And then, like I said earlier, everywhere you turn, you start hearing about this word reta, which is reta trutide. So we're going to talk about this in depth, but understandingly. And so just tune in for the next episode to hear about GLP ones and how they're used and what they do. And I want you to understand this, because if you're going to take these things, I think it's important to understand. And so having knowledge is power. And having the knowledge of medications that you're taking makes you more comfortable with what this is helps you understand what's going on in your body. And it helps you to live a life that is probably more free from anxiety and more free from all the trepidation that you may be hearing out there, because there's so many mixed signals out there. And I want to clear a lot of that stuff up. So with that said, this is peptides explained. I am John Garrett. And then, as I said, we're going to start exploring some of these individual peptides that are shaping our healthcare space today and the modern metabolic health conversation. So with that said, I'll see you next time. Tune in to hear about GLP ones.