5 Health Benefits of Peptide Therapy
MARCH 2023 | Dr. Ashley Southern
Peptide therapy has gained a lot of attention in recent years as more and more research sheds light on just how effective and far-reaching its benefits are.
It’s safe to say that peptides control almost everything in the human body. Similar to protein, peptides are an essential energy source made up of small chains of amino acids. They are crucial to our everyday life because our bodies depend on them for cellular communicate and fuel. Our bodies naturally produce peptides through glands in our stomach, intestines, and brain. They can also be found in a variety of foods including animal proteins like meat, eggs, and poultry, as well as plant proteins rich in soy, including tofu and edamame. However, as we age and combat years of stress, our body’s peptide production decreases to a level below what we need to function properly. This can have a cascading affect on our health and lead to a number of conditions that impact our physical and mental well-being, including diabetes, arthritis, cardiovascular risks, and neurological dysfunction. Through mindful eating, exercise, and replenishing peptide levels with peptide therapy, you can ensure you are putting your best foot forward towards better health and an improved quality of life for many years to come.
To understand why peptides are so important to us and our health, let’s look at five key benefits of peptides.
Five Benefits of Peptide Therapy
1. Weight Loss and Weight Management
Peptide therapy has shown to have immense benefits in helping to support weight loss in a variety of ways. Peptides boost metabolism by increasing the efficiency that our bodies are able to break down and utilize nutrients from our food. For example, CJC 1295 is an analog to human growth hormone (HGH), a key component to efficient weight loss. HGH is responsible for building and maintaining healthy lean muscle tissue.
When you exercise, the body naturally produces HGH to help build lean muscles and strengthen the body. With age, the body’s ability to produce HGH decreases, which not only impacts our weight but our overall health. Since it replenishes HGH levels, peptide therapy can help improve both the quality and quantity of exercise and physical activity.
Peptides also work by increasing strength and endurance, increasing bone density and bone strength, reducing body fat, aiding in the development of lean muscle, and by encouraging lean body mass. Lean muscle helps to burn calories even when resting.
Further, peptides help with healing and speeding up recovery time from exercise and/or injuries, which can impact how and how often you’re able to be active. Combine it with a lifestyle including balanced dietary choices and exercise, and peptide therapy has proven to be highly effective at supporting and encouraging weight loss.
2. Build Lean Muscle
Research has shown that peptide therapy is an affective tool for building and maintaining lean muscle tissue. By replenishing and supporting the body’s natural GHRH (growth hormone releasing hormone) levels, peptides such as Sermorelin and Ipamorelin encourage cellular regeneration and cell reproduction, which helps to build strong lean muscle mass.
In addition to weight loss, the advantages of increasing lean muscle are paramount to overall good health. Benefits of lean muscle include:
- Protect against diabetes and insulin resistance
- Improve blood glucose control
- Improve insulin sensitivity
- Reduce risk of injury
- Increase endurance
- Improve bone density
- Increase strength
- Increase mobility
- Improve energy levels
- Improve sleep
- Combat obesity
- Improve recovery from illness and disease
3. Decrease Inflammation
Research has shown peptides to be highly effective at combating and preventing inflammation. Peptides are naturally designed to bind to cells and impact how those cells function. This makes them optimal for fighting inflammation – they bind to cells and interfere with its cellular metabolism by downregulating the inflammatory response, to alleviate neuropathic pain, for instance.
Peptides have also been seen to impact cytokine production. Cytokines are a type of immune response cell highly associated with causing inflammation. Peptides boost the production of anti-inflammatory cytokines while decreasing pro-inflammatory cytokines. This also works to downregulate autoimmune responses, making them effective at both decreasing and preventing inflammation throughout the body.
Studies show that peptide treatments offer effective support for autoimmune diseases linked to inflammation including Crohn’s disease and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Melanocortin-derived tripeptide KPV has shown to decrease inflammatory infiltrates in the colon in mice, reducing overall histological inflammatory changes (Kannengiesser, 2008). Another peptide, Nonathymulin (derived from thymic peptide hormone) improved T cell subset imbalance in patients with RA, decreasing the need for corticosteroid use (Amor, 1987).
4. Improve Mitochondrial Function and Anti-Aging
Research shows that peptides can boost mitochondrial count in cells. Commonly referred to as the “powerhouse of the cell,” mitochondria play a crucial role in not only fuelling our entire body, but are also the headquarters for antioxidation in the cell.
As is the natural way of things, our cells age, deteriorate, and die; however, the rate of this is exacerbated by many factors including age, stress, illness. If our cells die at a faster rate than new healthy cells are generated, this can have a significant impact on our health and lead to a number of illnesses, dysfunctions, and complications. Peptides can help combat and prevent this by increasing your body’s mitochondrial count, since they are known to stimulate cellular regeneration and cellular metabolic function.
Several peptides have been shown to reverse the signs of aging, on a cellular and physiological level, and actually delay its appearance (on the skin for example). It has been reported that one such peptide, Epitalon, that it lengthens telomeres (DNA fragments) in human cells by upregulating the enzyme Telomerase that repairs these fragments (Khavinson, 2003), slowing the process of DNA shortening and thus aging in our cells.
Another peptide, GHK-Cu, was shown to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer properties; in addition, one study shows it actually enhances tissue remodeling (by increasing collagen deposition) and regeneration in the skin, stomach, gut lining, boney tissue, liver, and lung connective tissue (Carraway 2004).
5. Improve Libido and Sexual Performance
There are many factors that can impact our sex lives, including age, stress, hormonal imbalances, lifestyle choices, physical dysfunctions including erectile dysfunction and vaginal atrophy, and many more. Research has shown peptide therapy can improve symptoms related to both sexual desire and sexual performance for men and women.
The peptide Kisspeptin, a neuropeptide associated with sexual maturation, has been seen to improve sexual arousal in both men and women. Studies show that when the brain releases Kisspeptin, it stimulates the production of gonadotropin-releasing hormone, or GnRH. In men, GnRH is known to increase testosterone. In women, GnRH stimulates and increases production of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH).
Research also shows that peptides can help regulate nitric oxide production, which helps to improve blood and oxygen flow. For both men and women, improved circulation can boost energy levels and libido, and has been seen to improve both sexual desire and performance. For men, this improved circulation can help combat erectile dysfunction. On a neurological level, one study showed the effects of intranasal peptide PT-141 in women with female sexual arousal disorder saw significant improvements in sexual desire and arousal (Lisa Diamond, 2006). After peptide therapy treatments, many women have also reported significant improvements in sexual pleasure.
Ready to Take Advantage of Peptide Therapy?
Whether your health goals relate to anti-aging, inflammation, or weight loss, peptide therapy could be a great adjunct therapy for you – book here today to make your first appointment with our doctors!
