Peptide mania has struck. With so much public skepticism about overmedication and vaccines, this category of cutting-edge and in many cases untested drugs has been enthusiastically embraced by the people most mistrustful of mainstream medicine. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. the secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) who has spent decades denouncing vaccines, and has been involved in lawsuits against their manufacturers, says he’s “a fan” of peptides, which supporters say can do everything from rejuvenating skin and hair to accelerating the healing of injuries to reversing the aging process. Kennedy wants to make unapproved and mostly untested “wellness” peptides more available to the public.
The term “peptide” picks out a broad category. Peptides are small versions of proteins, or segments of proteins. Our bodies make a variety of peptides to send signals between cells, regulating everything from blood pressure to wound healing, and from sleep cycles to fat storage. Peptide drugs can interact directly with these signaling pathways. GLP-1s, the weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic, are peptides that alter hunger signaling. Insulin is a peptide drug that duplicates a natural peptide needed to extract energy from food. Both, of course, are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Other promising drugs are slowly making their way through the pipeline.
These are not controversial, nor are the powdered collagen peptides sold in Whole Foods and other health food stores. The latter are regulated by the FDA as supplements—a category they fall into because they are derived from cattle and fish and are considered a component of food. They may not necessarily do anything, but they’re considered safe enough, as are peptides sold in skin creams and approved as cosmetics.
