E018: The Power of Peptides for Health & Longevity - The Optimised Health Show

In this episode of the Optimised Health Show, we dive deep into the fascinating world of peptides—nature’s biological messengers with incredible therapeutic potential. From muscle repair and immune modulation to skin health and anti-aging, peptides offer a cutting-edge approach to optimising health.

We explore popular peptides like BPC-157, thymosin alpha-1, and copper peptides, discussing their benefits, dosing considerations, and best application methods—whether injectable, oral, or topical. We also break down the truth behind GLP-1 agonists (like Ozempic and Mounjaro) and why they can be game-changers for weight management and metabolic health when used correctly.

But let’s be real—there are no magic pills. We emphasise the importance of fundamentals—proper diet, exercise, and lifestyle—before turning to advanced tools like peptides. Plus, we share expert insights from thought leaders in the space, including Dr. William Seeds and Jay Campbell, and discuss the future of peptide therapy.

Topics covered in this episode:
✔️ What are peptides and how do they work?
✔️ BPC-157 for healing, inflammation, and gut health
✔️ Thymosin alpha-1 for immune support and longevity
✔️ Copper peptides for skin, hair, and collagen production
✔️ The rise (and misuse) of GLP-1 agonists for fat loss
✔️ The challenges of peptide sourcing and regulation
✔️ Why lifestyle is STILL king

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Transcript

Transcription

Speaker 1

[00.00.08]

 Hello? Hello. We're back. We've stopped for word episode number two since we relaunched. 

Speaker 2

[00.00.15]

 Yeah. The next week is. Here. 

Speaker 1

[00.00.17]

 It is again. Yeah. And we've got some exciting. Wow. I don't know if it's exciting. Is it exciting news? I don't know, have we? Yeah. Had plans of life adapted only to tell the world we do. Let's just move on. No. So. So the plan was that we were going to be going to Florida for six months, potentially, if we could get our visa in February. However, we went to view a house yesterday, didn't we? That put a little bit of a spanner in the works is yes, 

Speaker 2

[00.00.44]

 yes, 

Speaker 1

[00.00.45]

 yes. Amelia is an epic house, which is very good for 

Speaker 2

[00.00.48]

 us. Uh, I looked at it for a while online. I just thought we'd just go and have a look at 

Speaker 1

[00.00.52]

 it. Just go and see on the 

Speaker 2

[00.00.54]

 off chance. And we really liked it. 

Speaker 1

[00.00.56]

 I mean, it had Millie appliances and Gaggenau fridge, 

Speaker 2

[00.01.00]

 which is a really good area, isn't it? What we really like. Yeah, 

Speaker 1

[00.01.04]

 yeah. And it's a beautiful house and we just thought it's probably not. You're not going to like something like that. It's not going to come up again. 

Speaker 2

[00.01.10]

 No. And obviously America wasn't a full time thing anyway. We'd have to come back at some point. And then when 

Speaker 1

[00.01.16]

 we come back to our home, we'd have to sleep in a tent in the garden trying 

Speaker 2

[00.01.18]

 to find a home like that. It's not easy. So, I 

Speaker 1

[00.01.20]

 mean, law doesn't like tents, so you wouldn't. We 

Speaker 2

[00.01.22]

 just went for it, I 

Speaker 1

[00.01.23]

 guess. Yeah. Now another plan is going to get a little doggy. 

Speaker 2

[00.01.26]

 No it's not. No. And then we're not there. My friend Sarah's gonna look after it. No. No dogs. 

Speaker 1

[00.01.32]

 Yes, you you. I know what you'd be like. 

Speaker 2

[00.01.34]

 You know, dogs allowed. 

Speaker 1

[00.01.36]

 Probably not like girls allowed, but dog. No, I think I think it doesn't say no dogs allowed. So therefore that means dogs are allowed. And I think now there's a new rule, isn't there. With tenants and landlords. Like they're like non discriminative that you are allowed pets and everything. We're 

Speaker 2

[00.01.51]

 not allowed dogs anyway because we can't look after ourselves or a dog 

Speaker 1

[00.01.54]

 I could look after a dog would be disastrous. Why I like walking 

Speaker 2

[00.01.58]

 you just not feed it or 

Speaker 1

[00.02.00]

 I would have gone off course I would leave it. I'd probably overfeed it the wrong things. Maybe. 

Speaker 2

[00.02.06]

 Anyway, my dog's name given through 

Speaker 1

[00.02.09]

 this because I wanted to talk about the exciting news first. Supposed to say welcome to the podcast. Welcome to the what we called optimised and welcome to the show. But it's not upset. Well, it is, but it's not. You actually didn't know episode it. I can't say episode. 

Speaker 2

[00.02.23]

 It's episode two. The new format, that's for sure. Okay. What are we talking about 

Speaker 1

[00.02.28]

 today? We're talking about peptides today, which are a lot of fun. The Optimized Health Show is brought to you by Love Life Supplements. If you're looking for clean, effective, high quality supplements that are thoroughly tested and GMP certified, head over to love light supplements. Co.Uk and use the code Benton for 10% off your entire order. 

Speaker 2

[00.02.47]

 Peptides. The future. The future 

Speaker 1

[00.02.49]

 of medicine. They are the future of health, longevity, medicine, everything. 

Speaker 2

[00.02.54]

 I mean, they've been around for years, 

Speaker 1

[00.02.55]

 but they haven't. You probably. You probably actually do know about peptides. You just don't realize that you know about peptides because things like insulin is a peptide. Creatine is also a peptide. 

Speaker 2

[00.03.07]

 Yeah. I mean, 

Speaker 1

[00.03.08]

 there are many forms. So let's discuss what they are. 

Speaker 2

[00.03.11]

 So what is a peptide. 

Speaker 1

[00.03.13]

 It is a short chain. It sounds like this is a quiz. It's a short chain of amino acids ranging from like two amino acids up to like 50 amino acids in a chain. So think of it like the little things that make up the little things that make up a protein in this. In the simplest form, protein is amino acids, isn't it? Yes. And these are chains of amino acids, but not enough to make a protein. That's right, that's 

Speaker 2

[00.03.40]

 right. Yes. So shorter chains of amino acids 

Speaker 1

[00.03.44]

 have lots of different therapeutic effects in the body in terms of how they help the body function. They kind of are like messengers in a way, aren't they? They act 

Speaker 2

[00.03.52]

 as biological messengers, influencing various processes such as hormone regulation, immune responses, and solid cellular communication. I can't even say communication 

Speaker 1

[00.04.02]

 because you drank too much red wine. No cellular communication. Antioxidants that what? That? Yes. So they help the body create the response. I guess you could say they can create responses in the body in different ways. So they're a bit like little messengers in a way that go around and do 

Speaker 2

[00.04.21]

 job. Pretty incredible really. Like they 

Speaker 1

[00.04.23]

 they are very incredible. 

Speaker 2

[00.04.25]

 And yeah, the beauty of them that they're naturally occurring. Well the natural ones, 

Speaker 1

[00.04.29]

 there's some synthetic ones as well. But yes, they are naturally occurring. So it's like your body actually makes a lot of them itself doesn't it. Yeah. So they are natural and that doesn't mean that they're not potent. They need to be handled with 

Speaker 2

[00.04.42]

 care. Yeah. But they don't have like really bad side effects. 

Speaker 1

[00.04.46]

 Well some could if you. Oh, did I mean Malala. Malala sounds awesome. Just so you know, I'm not actually going to talk much about Malaysian, but it was nicknamed the Barbie drug because it would make you go, like, fantastic, but also could increase things with like if you, you know, go wild with it. Cancer risks. Yeah. Yeah. Wild. But in other respects it can protect your son, your son from the skin, your skin from the sun, because it stops you burning, because it brings the melanin closer to the surface. Yes. 

Speaker 2

[00.05.13]

 If you can't get a tan, it's like take manana tan because you go 

Speaker 1

[00.05.17]

 really dark. Yeah, but also be mindful if you've got, you know, any family histories of carcinomas or if you've got lots of moles and things, then I'd be very, very mindful about doing that because it probably wouldn't end well anyway. 

Speaker 2

[00.05.29]

 Yeah. So we touched on it. So types of peptides as natural peptides that were already found in the body, such as insulin regulates blood sugar and oxytocin influences social bonding. 

Speaker 1

[00.05.39]

 It does. Oxytocin is great. It's what you'd you. That's why mothers bond to their babies. They have a lot of oxytocin because they're happy hormone right. Well it's not happy. It's the. Level nine, which I guess could happen. But it is, yes, the hormone of love. So yeah, it actually has incredible benefits when it comes to like regulation of things like cortisol and stress management. Yeah. So that's why it can have such an impact on your health. But that's what mothers release a lot of oxytocin when they give birth when you miss out on that unfortunately. But also that's another reason we need a dog. I need the oxytocin. Giving a pet some love releases a lot of oxytocin, so I need it for my health. So you agree with me, put it in the 

Speaker 2

[00.06.15]

 nice. So yeah, your body releases it naturally, but you can literally inject 

Speaker 1

[00.06.21]

 it. Yes. Or smelt it. Snatch it, snort it up your nose. 

Speaker 2

[00.06.25]

 Yeah. There's a lot of nasal sprays. So the delivery systems are injectable subcutaneous. So not in the vein just in the fat. 

Speaker 1

[00.06.33]

 Yeah. Like I'd love 

Speaker 2

[00.06.34]

 to do it the. But don't me. Yeah. Or the 

Speaker 1

[00.06.37]

 abdomen. If our neighbors could actually see into our kitchen in the morning, I think they'd call the police to be honest. Because we've got needles. We're injecting our buns. That is looks a bit dodgy. That is 

Speaker 2

[00.06.48]

 a the big barrier to entry, isn't it, with peptides, because a lot of people wouldn't do that. Find it weird? Or it was pretty simple. If you get tiny, tiniest needle 

Speaker 1

[00.06.58]

 syringes, you can't even feel them. I find that, yeah, 

Speaker 2

[00.07.01]

 like the thinnest needle ever. Yeah. And it hardly you can hardly feel it. But I guess that's a bit weird for people, isn't 

Speaker 1

[00.07.07]

 it? It's just not normal, isn't it? That's why Stan is a bit of a 

Speaker 2

[00.07.11]

 pain. Not literally, but you have to like reconstituting the peptides. They come in. They're very, very delicate. Are they? They 

Speaker 1

[00.07.18]

 are when they've been reconstituted. Yes. 

Speaker 2

[00.07.20]

 Yeah, I went to you can't 

Speaker 1

[00.07.22]

 shake them around because. 

Speaker 2

[00.07.23]

 Yeah, they'll just I guess just breaks and breaks them. Breaks the bonds I think just making that up 

Speaker 1

[00.07.30]

 I mean Google it. But yeah they, they are very, very fragile. So super careful with them. Yeah. Like store them in in the cool thing to shake them around. And you 

Speaker 2

[00.07.40]

 have to get by this cooled bacteria static water to reconstitute them in here. It's a bit of a pain to put the water into the vial is enough. 

Speaker 1

[00.07.48]

 I mean, it doesn't really take that long, but something and 

Speaker 2

[00.07.50]

 I know your ratios as well. But in water and the peptides you. 

Speaker 1

[00.07.54]

 This is where you get an app called Peptide Calc. And it saves your life because it creates it for you, which is very nice because I only just discovered that and I was my maths is not the best, is it? I'm not the strongest when it 

Speaker 2

[00.08.07]

 comes to you have to know how am I done what you say again? How much power is in the bottle and then extract the right amount. Otherwise you can easily massively overdose 

Speaker 1

[00.08.15]

 on to this. Yeah, yeah. And 

Speaker 2

[00.08.17]

 also on doses, this dosing recommendations are all over the board because there's so I guess kind of new and not regulated. So there's all. Yeah. Not clear on the dosing is 

Speaker 1

[00.08.28]

 it. No it's not not super clear. There's a couple of people that we follow. So Doctor William Seeds I love like he does a peptide conference every year. And he's got some books. So he's great. And then Jay Campbell's another one who has a lot of good advice. Yeah when it comes to peptides. And there was another was that Jay Campbell's book I can't remember. There was another one by Corin but it is. Yeah. If you go if you talk to William Seeds or Jay Campbell. Yeah. They're both great. And there 

Speaker 2

[00.08.52]

 are there's literally like peptide conferences now. And that's what Doctor William saves is he does a peptide conference every year in Vegas. Yeah. Which I would really like to go to. So if you're listening, Doctor Williams, because I'm sure you want to give us a free ticket, we'll plug you even more. He's definitely listen. He's deaf. 

Speaker 1

[00.09.08]

 Listening to this. Um, 

Speaker 2

[00.09.09]

 but there are some that you can take already, like 

Speaker 1

[00.09.12]

 BPC. Yeah. So BPC 157, which we're going to talk about in a little bit more depth in a second when we go into a few of the kind of ones that we love, and you can take it orally or you can do injectable and it kind of works differently. And like the oral version is great for anything digestive, which I'm going to talk a bit more about in a second. And then the injectable is great for like and be really good for things like tendons, injuries, tendinopathy. Yeah, arthritis. 

Speaker 2

[00.09.38]

 You can literally inject it at the site 

Speaker 1

[00.09.41]

 can't you? Yes, you can 

Speaker 2

[00.09.43]

 have the injury and it helps regenerate or you can just do it anywhere. So it's Systematically. 

Speaker 1

[00.09.48]

 Yeah, but a lot of peptides are not good in oral form, are they? 

Speaker 2

[00.09.53]

 I guess they break down the stomach, breaks it 

Speaker 1

[00.09.55]

 down. Yeah. And the stomach acid. Get them into the system now. So most of them are at the moment needed to be injected or some of them are in. Is that a word intranasal? If I made that up I think it might be a word intranasal 

Speaker 2

[00.10.08]

 or just nasal, 

Speaker 1

[00.10.10]

 but basically just snorted. Right. You know, but we have tried both, haven't we. So with certain ones we got some oxytocin and we got some slack, didn't we, with the saline called Cmax. Both which kind of nootropic. So help with brain function and focusing, anti-anxiety mental clarity, etc.. And I didn't really notice much of a difference with the nasal sprays, did you. And I actually got on the lander and as a nasal spray and it did nothing. But the injectable really works for me. No, 

Speaker 2

[00.10.33]

 I don't really feel any nasal sprays, but 

Speaker 1

[00.10.35]

 why? Maybe it's just our noses. I don't know why that would be, but yeah, we can say I've got a big nose. 

Speaker 2

[00.10.41]

 No, I've got a little name, you got a big nose. And also now they're bringing out a lot more Animal pens, aren't 

Speaker 1

[00.10.48]

 they? They are. So there are pre-made pens which already have the bacteria static water in them. The only thing I don't really like about those with certain ones is you can't. For example, you couldn't microdose and some of them you might want to just microdose. So for example, like GLP one, so many people now know about life as MPC or Manjari, which are Klosters and they are actually peptides. They are baptized. They have some incredible benefits when they are used in the right way. I'm actually a massive fan and will probably do a whole podcast. Yeah, we need to do a whole podcast on them because there are so many benefits to them. But the problem is they are absolutely being abused and people are just going on to them as a quick weight loss tool, flaking off loads of muscle, not eating properly and basically screwing themselves up. No weight lifting? No. And that is not how you are supposed to use them. And so we will do a podcast on that. But the problem with the pre-made pens, with something like that, for example, is that they come like as a standard dose. So the. Smallest size, I think is 2.5. And with something like that, actually it would be more beneficial in lots of ways to microdose it and start slow and low. And so you can't really do that when it's pretty done. And 

Speaker 2

[00.12.00]

 some of them you can, I think is a number of clicks on there and each click it a certain amount. It's like how many clicks you do I think. Yeah. But that obviously makes it a lot easier than having to. I guess they're a lot less stable because they come in the water, right? I would imagine so. And again, I was thinking about like when they get delivered, surely, like, you know, Royal Mail are not really that delicate with packages where they're not chucking them around in a van. And I just think if they're delicate, which we know they are, you're not even supposed to put them in the fridge door, because when you shut the fridge all the time, whatever you said, they have to be 

Speaker 1

[00.12.31]

 stored. I think they need to be. But yeah, if you put them in the fridge door and then they're, you know, you're slamming the fridge door shut all the time, that's shaking them around. Yeah. Want to be doing that. So I'm surely in the back of a Royal Mail van. They're going to. What are they, 

Speaker 2

[00.12.43]

 Swiss spitting on Royal Mail. I'm 

Speaker 1

[00.12.45]

 I'm just stating fact. Royal mail probably aren't that delicate. 

Speaker 2

[00.12.49]

 But there are companies where they called. This company in America. Give me a clue. Level up. 

Speaker 1

[00.12.54]

 Health care came true, and it took a while. Yeah. 

Speaker 2

[00.12.56]

 They're finding ways of encapsulating them. Or more. 

Speaker 1

[00.12.59]

 Oh, yeah. They're not in America. They're in Australia. An Australian brand 

Speaker 2

[00.13.02]

 to make more still as capsule form. So they're more stable. So if they really nail that, which I think they have done a lot, then it's going to be a game changer. So you can just take the as a capsule obviously way easier. Yeah. 

Speaker 1

[00.13.15]

 Yeah. But not all peptides are injectable. So for example like we said creatine is actually a peptide. So you may already be taking peptides without even knowing you're taking peptide collagen peptides collagen peptides as well. But again that's the important thing. That's actually something that we should mention with collagen is that you want to make sure it is peptides that you're taking. Not like collagen protein supplements of course standard because it's peptides that you can explain this because you're pretty well I can't. 

Speaker 2

[00.13.43]

 Oh well they are the the 

Speaker 1

[00.13.45]

 smallest the smallest form and most easily digestible. Some companies to sell collagen powder so it hasn't been broken down into like tiny little 

Speaker 2

[00.13.55]

 bits, tiny little bits and times. Yeah. So the 

Speaker 1

[00.13.58]

 less you can't get transported to go basically and do their job because that's what collagen peptides basically can just be transported around the body and kind of do their magic where they need. They kind of know where to go and 

Speaker 2

[00.14.08]

 do. So it was called your peptides 

Speaker 1

[00.14.10]

 once. Yeah. Plug use of L 15 for 15% off an old cracked. I've got discount code for my husband like you get commission from your husband yes I do yes. So like to make money off it. To what 

Speaker 2

[00.14.22]

 types then. Do you want to speak about any specific 

Speaker 1

[00.14.25]

 ones? Yes there are. So 

Speaker 2

[00.14.27]

 go to BPC. 

Speaker 1

[00.14.28]

 We could talk about BPC first if you'd like to. So there's a few key ones that I really wanted to touch on that I think are quite incredible. So BPC 157 is definitely one of those. It's such a good all rounder. They've all got 

Speaker 2

[00.14.38]

 weird scientific names 

Speaker 1

[00.14.40]

 by the way. They have. Yeah. So it's actually isolated from human gastric juice. 

Speaker 2

[00.14.45]

 Body and body protecting. 

Speaker 1

[00.14.47]

 Body protective. Compound compound. And so for all body protection. Body protective. One of those two. Anyway. Yeah. So it's actually from human gastric juice. So what we create when we. Digest food, that's where it's actually isolated from. And like we mentioned it can be injectable or it can be oral to actually use it orally for quite a few of my clients. Oh Cheryl's and I use it for quite a lot of my clients who have like any kind of IBD, social bowel disease like ulcerative colitis, Crohn's, any kind of inflammatory disorders in the gut and the gut lining, it can be incredibly full. And it can also help to prevent ulcers. It can help with gut tissue repair. So that's really good for like leaky gut repairing the gut lining like I mentioned IBD type stuff. And then it accelerates wound healing. So if you were injecting it's you know, post surgery is an incredible one to help that with TB, TB, TB 

Speaker 2

[00.15.40]

 500 as well I take. Yeah can be as a combo. Yeah. Amazing post-surgery in any way to help with wound healing can help with tendon to bone damage and ligament damage as well. So again, any kind of injuries can be absolutely incredible for. And also I was doing some research into it in terms of arthritis. So people often think like osteoarthritis. Oh that's just because I injured my knee. So for example like I've got osteoarthritis in my knee because I had a cruciate ligament reconstruction when I was a dancer, snapped all the ligaments in my knee, had my cartilage removed. So it's like, well, you're bound to get arthritis when you're old if you've got no cartilage, is bone on bone and you've got a fake ligament and pins basically in your knee. So it's kind of a given that I would have had arthritis. However, people just think that it's always from like, you know, wear and tear. But actually a lot of arthritis is because of inflammation. So when you start to reduce inflammation, you actually can really help things like arthritis. So I would say if you have arthritis in any way, shape or form, don't just be like, oh, that's it, I've got arthritis. It's like actually it's inflammation. And if I can reduce inflammation in my body and also help with clearing out senescent cells, which are like zombie cells that are kind of like cells that aren't really duplicating or replicating anymore as they should, but they're also not fully dead. So they just hang around in the body and they can hang around in the joints. And so that is what can create the kind of inflammation because they release inflammatory markers, and that creates the inflammation in the joint. So you want to work on autophagy basically, uh, clearing out senescent cells. And I noticed a dramatic difference in my knee when I reduced inflammation. So when I had the crazy overactive immune system shenanigans that I had after getting a little virus, my knee was terrible, wasn't it? I remember I went to have an MRI because I was like, I thought I'd snap to my cruciate ligament again because I was like, something is not right in there. And I couldn't. It felt like something was moving when I walked. It was not fun. And I went, and that's when I found out I had stage four arthritis in my knee. I was like, awesome on the back of my kneecap. Stage four, which is the worst it can be because they did an MRI and everything and they were like, yeah, that's not ideal. And then I'd got a tear in my meniscus. But what's really in? Interesting is after I did loads of autophagy work, cleared out loads of senescent cells. Doesn't hurt anymore. The only time I get issues is if I try and bend down fully. It's like there's something a little bit stuck in the way and running. I just don't run anymore. But other than that, no problems. Anyway, I went off on a random tangent there, but that's all I was talking about. Yeah, some research with regards to arthritis. So BPC can be super helpful in things like arthritis as well. Um, arthritis. 

Speaker 1

[00.18.15]

 Arthritis is a new kind of disease that no one's heard of. Yeah. Arthritis. Yeah. So that's BPC 157. That 

Speaker 2

[00.18.22]

 was there are dangers with it. If probably for cancer if you've got tumours accelerated there. 

Speaker 1

[00.18.29]

 What. Yeah. Really I didn't know that. Yeah I guess that would make sense because of the healing. But then it's 

Speaker 2

[00.18.35]

 a. Yeah. Yeah. That is a slight pretty major caveat there. I'm 

Speaker 1

[00.18.40]

 not sure I didn't tell me that in the research. Yeah. 

Speaker 2

[00.18.43]

 So it's good translation. It's not good. Yeah. It's I mean with something like cancer, it's always one of those things that you need to be really mindful about, obviously. And obviously sometimes you don't know if 

Speaker 1

[00.18.53]

 you know that's true. Yeah. Um, I was going to say, I don't know. So it says here about it being safe, smooth and safe. Anyway that's that. Next up, should we talk about another 1 or 2? If you've got something else you'd like to share. We 

Speaker 2

[00.19.06]

 can talk about another one. I think we should talk about copper peptide because we both love copper peptide. So copper peptide is one that you can actually have in creams. So you can have it in skincare. We didn't talk about creams. 

Speaker 1

[00.19.20]

 We didn't. You're right. Topical. 

Speaker 2

[00.19.22]

 Topical rub. Is that pretty much the only one you could have, 

Speaker 1

[00.19.25]

 Krystle. As well as topical. That's for skin. Well. But yeah, copper peptides you can inject. So we do inject, but you can also add to creams. So you could actually get the reconstituted copper peptide out of the vial and mix it in with your, your cream. No. Anyway I'm not going to bash companies but yeah. So it is amazing. Again for wound healing can stimulate collagen synthesis. So the problem is as we age from our mid-twenties onwards actually, which is really sad, we start to lose collagen production like collagen production goes down in our skin, which is why we get wrinkly. So we want to stimulate collagen production. So if you think of collagen like the temples to attain canvas. So obviously if you had a tent canvas with no poles, it would be a saggy canvas. And that's what your skin goes like. Basically, you need that structure, that firmness. And that's what collagen is there. It's like the structure that it helps to maintain through this. All right. Yeah. So it helps with the production of it basically keeps your collagen production up which is declining as you age. So you want to keep it up. But collagen is also important for ligaments joints, everything 

Speaker 2

[00.20.31]

 that is 30% of your bodily protein right. Yeah. It's yeah. Connective tissues ligaments, tendons. 

Speaker 1

[00.20.37]

 It's a good thing to fish. Fish connective tissue I don't know. Only so it can get tired. Yes. It can also be good for hyperpigmentation. So if you've got pigmentation in your skin from sun damage. It can help with that can stimulate hair growth as well. So I actually used to use a serum when I went through a lot of my autophagy work that I had to go through to get my immune system to calm down, I had a lot of hair loss in life. It was quite worrying at one point where I was like, I think I'm gonna have. Nonetheless, it was literally like handfuls, masses. And but that is sometimes part of the process. When you are clearing out unhealthy cells, you don't know where you're going to clear cells from. You might be clearing hair cells. So that's essentially what happened. I lost a lot of hair. So I was using a serum like a hair serum that had copper peptide caffeine. I think I had some melatonin in there as well, which is like a super powerful antioxidant and to help stimulate hair growth. And it can tighten that saggy skin up. So it's always good. The jowls I noticed the other day deniers on the podcast, 

Speaker 2

[00.21.33]

 there's no 

Speaker 1

[00.21.34]

 gels. And I was very sad. I basically told you, like, I have two hours, everyone. Yeah, but, um, it depends what angle you get me up. And 

Speaker 2

[00.21.41]

 so I use a lighter serum which 

Speaker 1

[00.21.45]

 has which has gotten copper peptides, whereas I just use Arbonne, I think. And then I put Biolab Titan copper in my. We can talk about people who sell peptides, but biolab have gone and I 

Speaker 2

[00.21.55]

 think they will have now. Yeah, I've got my peptide 

Speaker 1

[00.21.58]

 in. And this is the thing with, with peptides is a very unregulated industry. Yes. Again, very much like the sun supplement world, but probably even more so. So there are some peptides that FDA approved, but there are many that are not. I think one of the only ones there's like 13 I think was it I think 13 that are approved, if I can remember correctly. Oh no, 26 peptides as drugs. So that's it is like, well that was between 2016 and 2022. The FDA approved 26 peptides as drugs, leading to over 3315 new peptide drugs approved in the same timeframe. It's actually a lot that have been approved, but there's also a lot that are not. So it's an interesting one. I'm not. Why are they not approved? I guess I don't really know. I think is when they're sold as drugs, they get approved. But because the FDA doesn't regulate supplements and cosmetics in the same way as it does medications. That's why there's a lot, but probably aren't FDA approved because they're classed as drugs. Not like yeah, supplements essentially. 

Speaker 2

[00.22.56]

 Yeah, that's a bit of a grey area isn't it? Yeah. Tides and the. Yeah. All of them have to be classed as 

Speaker 1

[00.23.01]

 research for research purposes only. Yeah. But it is important like if you're buying to know where you're buying from because again like there is a lot of black market and you don't want to be injecting something into your body when you don't know where it's come from or what it is. So biolab who we use have cos again, they, they for all of their products. Well 

Speaker 2

[00.23.21]

 yeah. It's again it's a bit of the Wild West. Yes. Like supplements or even more so peptides. So you have to do your research. Yeah. And check the like I said before check the codes. Check the test documents. 

Speaker 1

[00.23.32]

 Yeah. And there are some compounding pharmacies that will I mean not many in the UK. That's the thing. There's more in America. The compounding pharmacies 

Speaker 2

[00.23.39]

 are are able to compound them. So they get them and they'll you know then you know if it's from a compounding pharmacy, it's. Should be legit. And unfortunately in the UK it's I don't think I know any compounding problems. I don't know any compounding farms in the UK that do that. So that was one of the reasons we went to America and now we're moving to round two instead. Well, we can get it from there. 

Speaker 1

[00.24.01]

 Yes, this is true. So yeah, be careful about where you're buying them from. That's what we are trying to say because there's many dodgy dodgy companies out. Yeah. Injecting biolab we developed. You can use my discount code or UK. Then the show notes for all the discounts. If you are fed up with going it alone on your health journey and you are struggling, you're generally not feeling your best self but are ready to get optimised. Why not book a free wellness discovery call with me and naturopathic nutritionist and Functional Health Coach, where I'll help you understand the root causes of your issues and guide you in the right direction. Of which of my programs would be best suited for you, whether that be a group programme or 1 to 1 coaching. The link to book your free call is in the show notes. The other one I wanted to talk about was fun. So now for one. Yeah. So thymus and Alpha one. So think of peptides as different kind of classes of peptides. You've got ones that help on the immune kind of front. You've got ones that help with skin, ones that help with muscle strength and body fat loss, etc. but some of them kind of cross over to each other. So for example, like melanin, even though it's one that is amazing for protecting your skin and giving you a lovely tan, and it actually has some real immune benefits as well. So yeah, modulate the immune system as well. So that's interesting to know. So thymus in alpha one is amazing for modulating the immune system. So it's 

Speaker 2

[00.25.16]

 literally from the thymus gland right. Yeah. Yeah. So your thymus gland is something that shrinks as you age isn't it. Yeah. And that helps regulate your immune system. So like I mentioned thymus in alpha one modulates the immune system. So we have kind of two parts of the immune system. We've got the innate immune system. And the acquired immune systems have got T H1 and H2. And so think of it a bit like you've got a branch of your immune system that up regulates inflammation, which is super important because we need that inflammatory response. We don't want to not have an inflammatory response because it means we wouldn't fight off pathogens and deadly things essentially. So we need that to kick in. But then we need the second part of the immune system to kick in, which is like the anti-inflammatory part. So you need the inflammation, and then you need the second branch of the immune system to come along and be like, right, I'm going to damp it down now, threat is over. And so we need those two to be balanced. Um, and that's what things in Alpha one can do. It can help that basically having, you know, modulate those two. It also helps with T cell differentiation. So T cells are a part of the immune system. So what we want is it basically helps T helper cells become regular T cells. We call them regulated. How can you say that with regular regulatory T cells. So T regs are white blood cells that play a key role in regulating the immune system. So they control the body's immune response to keep it from overreacting. So like I mentioned it kind of balances out that pro-inflammatory to the anti-inflammatory. It allows the pro-inflammatory to kick in. But then it brings the anti. Inflammatory component too, so you don't stay in that over reactive inflammatory state, which is what autoimmunity is, is your body is basically overreacting and creating an immune response constantly and causing a lot of damage. So it helps with that. And just a little sidelight on that, if you've been on the birth control, it's most likely that you've got suppressed Treg cells because that's what it does messes with your immune system. And that's why a lot of women have a lot of issues because of birth control. I am a fan of it. That'll never happen, never will be. But I mean, there are some certain scenarios where it might be beneficial, but very, very rarely. So yeah, just so you know, it can also protect against oxidative damage. So I can kind of say that word either oxidative oxidative damage is basically when we don't have enough antioxidants to fight free radical damage. So free radical damage is basically what ages the body and screws it up. Too much of that going on. So we need enough antioxidants to fight the free radical damage. I always think of it like you've got Pac-Man. This is a weird analogy. Probably it might not make sense, but it does in my head. So you've got that Pac-Man. And so the way that free radicals work is basically a free radical is an unstable molecule, and it has an electron. And this is the science here. It has an electron missing from its outer shell. So what it does to try and stabilize itself as it goes and tries to steal an electron from another healthy cell. And so then that causes that one to become a free radical because it has stolen the electron. And so it causes this chain reaction because then that one then goes wrong. Well, I need to go and find an electron. So it goes and steals one from another one. So you call you kind of create this free radical chain essentially, if that makes sense. So what antioxidants do is they come and lovingly donate their electron to the free radical. Yeah. So think of it like Pacman. You've got Pac-Man that is munching the game. Pac-Man is kind of like the antioxidant is the thing that comes and tapes the pac-man's mouth up so it can't go and munch onto another cell. That's how I think of it. Anyway. It probably doesn't make sense to many people, but it does to my little brain. And so we need free radical damage. What are you doing? Just check out 

Speaker 1

[00.28.50]

 the recording. We need free radical damage. That's actually what creates change in the body. It creates a holistic response. So we would die if we didn't have a free radical. Any free radical damage. We actually create free radical damage in our own bodies anyway when we eat food and break it down. Um, so we need free radical damage. We don't want to have no free radical damage. And that's why, like, actually, if you overdo antioxidants, you might actually be screwing yourself up a little bit because you're not allowing your body to have that free radical exposure. And actually, when you have that free radical exposure, it causes your body to create its own antioxidants. And so you kind of messing with that system, um, it's about balance. And a lot of people have too much oxidative damage from the way that they live, the lifestyle they leave, the foods they eat, etc. and genetically, some people are more prone to oxidative damage. Like myself, I am one of those people. 

Speaker 2

[00.29.40]

 So you take Thomasson out for one? 

Speaker 1

[00.29.43]

 Yeah. To help oxidize. It protects against. Protects, protect. Against oxidative damage. It also has anti-tumor effects as well, so could be highly beneficial. 

Speaker 2

[00.29.55]

 Yeah. It's like in the Premier League of Tides. Yeah. It is also great for any kind of illnesses that are associated with immune dysfunction. So chronic infections like I mentioned autoimmunity, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and all other things. Basically they come from a immune dysfunction because in all reality, so many chronic illnesses are actually because of a faulty immune system, immune system dysfunctions, everything. Yeah, it really does. And as we age, our immune system becomes less efficient. So that means it's not as good at clearing out old unhealthy cells. And that's what leads to a lot of inflammation and damaging issues. So we want a nice, healthy, happy immune system. So your other one is the dogs and you want those dogs. Be safe. And we've got to talk about muscle building peptides CJC IPA Maryland combo stack go. Yeah. So 

Speaker 1

[00.30.49]

 it's a good stack. We both obviously. I mean, yeah, 

Speaker 2

[00.30.52]

 peptides can be massively influential in building muscle and losing fat. 

Speaker 1

[00.30.55]

 Yes. Body composition. So the two that we love are CJC 1295 and Marilyn or Tomorrow or somewhere else. There's lots of different Marilyn's but yeah so they can help with growth hormone. And growth hormone declines as we age. So it can help with an increase in growth hormone which can result in better sleep, uh, increase in muscle mass, stronger immune system, better recovery, repair from injuries, better brain function again can help with the skin, hair, nails, all of that increases in your metabolic rate and increases in fat loss. So the way that excuse me if a Marilyn works is it basically sends select like a selective pulse of the pituitary gland, which then secretes. So the pituitary gland is what secretes growth hormone within the body. So it kind of is like ephemeral and sends pulse to the pituitary gland to make it secrete growth hormone. So when you stack the two together CJC 1295 and ephemeral, it kind of creates this spike of growth hormone, because that's what the ephemeral will do is it creates a spike of growth hormone. But then CJC 1295 extends the time that your body keeps pumping out that growth hormone. So you get like a bit of a spike, but then you get a continuous secretion of it. So CJC 1295 takes between like one two, four hours to reach its peak in blood serum. While ephemeral works a lot quicker. But it's it's cleared out the body quicker as well. So when you stack them two together it kind of extends the benefits. Yeah, you get better, more sustained growth while 

Speaker 2

[00.32.25]

 commonly paired, aren't they? They 

Speaker 1

[00.32.27]

 are CJC 125 a little slower than CJC one anyway, I don't know, I sound like a C, 

Speaker 2

[00.32.32]

 but then you get because you can manipulate I guess get CJC 1295 with 

Speaker 1

[00.32.37]

 back with DAC or without DAC. 

Speaker 2

[00.32.40]

 DAC extends the half life. 

Speaker 1

[00.32.42]

 What does that stand for? Can you remember I read it earlier? 

Speaker 2

[00.32.45]

 Drunk affinity. Complex drug. 

Speaker 1

[00.32.48]

 He goes somewhere. Wish we 

Speaker 2

[00.32.50]

 could only eat you. You can change it to once a week or once every five seven days. So it's like a more sustained release, but it doesn't mimic the natural release and grateful mood. Yeah. Which can then be like, is that beneficial? You want to mimic what your body wouldn't naturally? I don't, I just do without. And I actually use Marilyn rather at the moment. Rather. Yeah. If Marilyn. And that's very complex talk about the difference between Surma and they act on in different. What are Morrell and Marilyn so so Marilyn I think acts more on the pituitary, I can't remember. It's very complicated. I mean, there's how many cripples 

Speaker 1

[00.33.22]

 I think I like it, it's a laurel is better after like you're 35 and I think has more benefit. But we shall see. I play around with them sometimes, depending on what my coach tells me to do. Um, and there are hundreds of other ones, but they were the ones we wanted to focus on today. Just to give you a bit of a window into the wonderful I mean. Well, yeah. Peptides. 

Speaker 2

[00.33.40]

 Yeah. There's this really like hundred and 70, hundred and 

Speaker 1

[00.33.42]

 83 million I don't know. Yeah, 

Speaker 2

[00.33.44]

 probably more than that. Yeah. Obviously the big one at the moment is GLP one which we touched on, you have the one agonists, which we probably talk about another podcast because that 

Speaker 1

[00.33.52]

 is yeah, it was just going to a lot of topic. It is a huge and they're very Marmite like some people love them, some people hate them. There's a lot of, you know, people in the fitness world or nutrition world who are like so anti them. And I'm like, no, they actually have some incredible benefits when you know how to utilize them properly and some people need them. That's the reality. But it's the way they're being dosed that's the problem for to higher doses, not eating in the right way alongside them people are people using them as a massive quick fix to just go, oh, brilliant, I'm going to take this and not eat winner because it suppresses appetite. And that's not a purpose of it. It's not what you're supposed to use them for. It's supposed to help with insulin release at the right time. And yeah, balancing out your insulin, glucagon and many of them for another day should be cycled as well. So a lot of them are like eight weeks on, eight weeks off. Yeah. They're not supposed to be taking we around or something. So you can be 

Speaker 2

[00.34.41]

 I know this week is 

Speaker 1

[00.34.42]

 confusing and grey. Some can, some can't. Some for like 

Speaker 2

[00.34.46]

 five days a week. Yeah it 

Speaker 1

[00.34.47]

 is awful. Yeah. So that's what I do with CJC. It's five days on, two days off. 

Speaker 2

[00.34.51]

 But again that's all over the place in terms of recommendations. 

Speaker 1

[00.34.54]

 Yeah. But definitely check out Doctor Williams seeds. Definitely check out Jay Campbell. And I think that's everything we wanted to share this week isn't it. Yeah I mean that was a long 

Speaker 2

[00.35.04]

 yes. It's a good man. It's like the future of peptides like this development of peptide drugs for conditions like Alzheimer's, obesity and antimicrobial 

Speaker 1

[00.35.12]

 resistance. It's so mainstream for 

Speaker 2

[00.35.14]

 target cancer therapies using tumour specific peptides, peptides and nanotechnology. Peptide based nanoparticles for drug delivery and diagnostics. Continued exploration of possibility bioavailability delivery methods to expand their applications. Because that's why we touched on just get them more stable, I guess. Easier to deliver. 

Speaker 1

[00.35.34]

 Yes. Delivery 

Speaker 2

[00.35.35]

 systems. Yeah, but they are they're fascinating like area health. 

Speaker 1

[00.35.39]

 They are fascinating. They can they can be so beneficial in so many ways which is really exciting, really exciting. Especially like. For some people who haven't explored those avenues and just feel lost, like they can't change their physique or they like struggle with immune system dysregulation, like me and, you know. Yeah, I 

Speaker 2

[00.35.58]

 think things need to change for the masses. That's the problem. Because like I said, sometimes you can have like eight different vials and that means like a different injection. Like people are just not going to do it. 

Speaker 1

[00.36.09]

 They know it's a lot and 

Speaker 2

[00.36.10]

 and they're super expensive. I've got to mention 

Speaker 1

[00.36.13]

 that. Yeah, they're not the cheapest. Not all of them are super expensive, but some are very expensive. Some of the I seem to have all the expensive ones. It's 

Speaker 2

[00.36.20]

 like, yes, very expensive. You could be spending hundreds of months but just on peptides. Yeah. 

Speaker 1

[00.36.26]

 Yeah. So? So they are a tool in the toolbox. Of course, nothing ever takes away from diet and lifestyle. And this is the thing with peptides again, people will sometimes be like brilliant. That's going to be the thing. And it's like, no, you can't just take a peptide and expect miracles. You still have to focus on your diet and your lifestyle. They're not going to do anything if you haven't nailed the fundamentals. It always comes back to the fundamentals. It really does. So if you're not looking after your diet, if you're not looking after your lifestyle and you just expect a peptide to be your miracle drug, I'm sorry, but you're going to waste your money essentially. And this is the problem that I see so much in society right now is human beings just want the quick route and instant gratification, and unfortunately it doesn't work like that. You can't take a supplement and expect a miracle. You can't, you know, go on to HRT and expect a miracle. If you haven't done the groundwork. You can't take a peptide and expect miracles to happen. You have to be prepared to work on your daily routines and habits. Yeah, to be a real healthy human. 

Speaker 2

[00.37.28]

 Yeah. Same principles applied only yes to everything. Get the fundamental 

Speaker 1

[00.37.33]

 fundamental 

Speaker 2

[00.37.36]

 fundamentals nailed in first starting. Um, and then you can add these. Yes, on the top. But yeah, 

Speaker 1

[00.37.43]

 I think the problem is some people don't even know what the fundamentals are now. They still want the fundamentals. Yeah. Basically if you don't know the fundamentals are coming forth, I will do my thrive program because it teaches the fundamentals. Little plug there, but it's the truth. Many people are missing the fundamentals. And we will do a podcast on the fundamentals for 

Speaker 2

[00.37.58]

 you. But I think yeah, as time goes on, these are going to become more and more widespread. And they could really massively change, you know, health outcomes. Yeah. Like job one. Love it or hate it. It's making a huge difference to people using it properly. Yes. Like people losing huge amounts of weight which 

Speaker 1

[00.38.15]

 reduces their risk of all cause, maybe morbidity. But not just that. It's there's so many other benefits in terms of inflammation, immune system dysfunction, all of these things that it can help with. And, you know, a lot of people's issues as they age, as poor insulin secretion, poor insulin function. And it can help with that. And that's not necessarily even necessarily how many times can I say necessarily in a sentence, it's not always just the lifestyle they're leading at that moment. It could have been like what they did in the past, or it could be genetics play a role as well. So there's multiple factors that do go into these issues that people need to consider. But the fundamentals are always the fundamentals. And on that note we're done. We're over and out. So thank you so much for listening. Again. If you love this episode, please leave us a review of five stars. Of course, and share this with anyone that you think could benefit from listening to it. And we will catch you in the next episode of the Optimist Health Show. To talk. 

Speaker 2

[00.39.12]

 Goodbye, everybody. Goodbye. Now.