One major component of maintaining life is the production and function of peptides. Peptides are building blocks of proteins, cell transporters, hormone regulators, and overall systemic structure elements. These small biological compounds are essential in regulating homeostasis and overall health. Although you produce peptides, taking a peptide supplement may assist in functions such as:
Researchers have discovered many ways synthetic peptides assist the body. Through monitored delivery, a multitude of health applications once thought unable to be added from the outside are now coming to light through a peptide protocol.
These 4 benefits of peptide supplements show you might able to enhance your health beyond many other vitamin, mineral or herbal treatments. Do keep in mind that peptide supplements should be monitored by a medical professional as it is more involved than simply taking a water or fat soluble vitamin or mineral.
Peptide Functions
Peptides are short chain amino acids that work on a cellular level to assist in life giving activity. They occur naturally in every single cell of every living thing and are responsible for a multitude of systemic functions.
Some of these include:
These functions are a small example of why some scientists believe peptides are the missing link to forming the very basis for cellular life on earth. Researchers at Emory University published a 2010 article titled “Peptides May Hold ‘Missing Link’” showing how important peptides are to forming the “organizational scaffolding essential to life”.
Chemistry graduate student Seth Childers, lead author of the paper published by the German Chemical Society’s Angewandte Chemie commented,
“We’ve shown that peptides can form the kind of membranes needed to create long-range order,…What’s also interesting is that these peptide membranes may have the potential to function in a complex way, like a protein.”
These and many other research study results of peptides have created a kind of underground boon for people interested and able to access peptide supplementation through a medical professional. These supplements require the most effective access through injecting the peptides into muscle mass. However, as research continued to tackle oral supplementation able to surpass gastrointestinal degradation, it seems that peptides are becoming more available to the mass market.
Cellulite Reduction
Peptides may help women with unsightly cellulite development. Throughout life many men and women alike produce cellulite in one form or another, however some people, primarily women, can form large swaths of cellulite that no matter how much diet and exercise is applied, anatomically the cellulite remains.
Peptides may help reduce cellulite in moderate cases as well as enhance skin appearance at the same time. In a 2015 study titled ‘Dietary Supplementation with Specific Collagen Peptides Has a Body Mass Index-Dependent Beneficial Effect on Cellulite Morphology’ published in the Journal of Medicinal Food its was concluded that,
“The results obtained in this study demonstrated that an oral supplementation with specific BCP [bioactive collagen peptides] over a period of 6 months led to a clear improvement of the skin appearance in women suffering from moderate cellulite. In addition, the data showed the marked potential of BCP to improve the skin morphology of cellulite-affected areas, providing new evidence of BCP’s beneficial effects and postulating a new therapy strategy for cellulite treatment.”
Anti-Inflammatory and Wound Healing
Most injuries include inflammation. Whether topical or cellular, inflammation can impede healing and, in some cases, lead to a long list of health challenges. Prolonged wound healing is one result of inflammation causing continued discomfort as well as possible infection.
Synthetic peptides have shown significant promise in being used as an anti-inflammatory as well as rapid wound healer. In 2016 scientists at Freie Universität in Berlin published results of the anti-inflammatory and wound healing effects of peptides. It was shown that by adding peptides to animal models blood poisoning (sepsis) was significantly reduced and there was no presentation of resistance mechanisms against the peptides.
Prof. Dr. Günther Weindl at the Institute of Pharmacy, Pharmacology, and Toxicology, Freie Universität, who led the experiment commented,
“[peptides] have a very good anti-inflammatory effect in different cell types of human skin,”
A press release of the study stated that,
“the peptides have a pronounced migration-promoting, potentially wound-healing effect on keratinocytes. Numerically keratinocytes represent the most important cell population in the top layer of skin, and they are significantly involved in the immune response, inflammation processes, and wound healing. The findings were published in the open access journal Scientific Reports.”
Diagnostic Markers
Synthetic peptides may enhance future health by determining current threat status. A doctor can give peptides to you which when studied under a microscope changes color to reveal possible systemic markers such as brewing viruses and toxins. In addition, these diagnostic peptide tools are able to monitor the function of your natural peptides to make sure they are working correctly. The article, “Colorimetric Sensors for Drug Discovery and Biomedical Diagnostics,” published in Drug Development Research in July of 2000 was one of the first accounts of this synthetic peptide capability. Now, the medical community has been able to enhance these markers and help scores of people completely unaware of potential health threats.
These 4 benefits of peptide supplements are the tip of the iceberg in advancing health through nano-technology. Continued studies of synthetic peptides are showing significant promise in a whole host of other applications such as testosterone development and professional athletic performance. In the meantime, eat more seaweed. Yup, seaweed is actually a natural source of bioactive peptides that some tout as enhancing heart health.