11. Peptides Part 2: My 6 Favorite Kinds!

If you're already on HRT, lifting, eating protein, and sleeping — and still not getting the results you expect — this episode is your next layer. Part 2 of our three-part peptide series, Dr. Mary Pines walks through her six favorite peptides: what they do, who they're for, and how she actually uses them with clients.

In this episode:

• BPC-157: the gut and injury repair all-star — and why it's banned in professional sports
• TB-500: the antifibrotic partner that helps tissues heal without messy scar tissue
• Thymosin alpha-1: the immune peptide that helps your defense system act younger
• CJC-1295 + ipamorelin: the growth hormone duo that supports deep sleep, muscle, and bone without the bodybuilder risks
• GLP-1s (Ozempic, Mounjaro, and beyond): what the media got wrong, why microdosing changes everything, and what's coming in 2026
• Selank + Semax: the brain peptides for anxiety, fog, and post-viral recovery
• GHK-Cu: the copper peptide that reprograms 4,000 aging-related genes — and actually works topically

Part 3 next week: sourcing, safety, and a framework for whether peptides belong in your life.

Links & Resources

Better Beyond 40 Formula — Mary's signature program for peri/menopausal women (35–65)

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Full show notes, citations, and transcript: drmarypines.com/podcast

Peptides covered in this episode:

BPC-157

TB-500 / Thymosin beta-4 fragment 17-23

Thymosin alpha-1

CJC-1295 + ipamorelin

Semaglutide (Ozempic / Wegovy)

Tirzepatide (Mounjaro / Zepbound)

Retatrutide

Selank

Semax

GHK-Cu / "The Copper Peptide"

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This content is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Please work with a qualified provider before starting any new health protocol. This content does not establish a patient-provider relationship with Dr. Mary Pines.

Transcript

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This is part two of our three-part peptide series. If you haven't yet listened to number one, go back to episode 10, please. I'd recommend starting there as it covers what peptides actually are, how they differ from hormones, and the foundational framework I always build from when considering peptides. So today we're diving into the specific peptides I tend to use and recommend very regularly. This is not by any means an exhaustive list, but this is sort of a top few, top six. Welcome to the Better Beyond 40 Formula podcast, where smart driven women and those who support them dish the confusion and cut through the midlife wellness nonsense. I'm Dr. Mary Pines, award-winning PhD biomedical scientist of 25 years, with a decade in women's health and longevity consulting. I specialize in transforming the health and lives of midlife women around the world from their late 30s to early 60s by delivering clarity and practical real-life solutions with honesty, compassion, and a little humor. And in this podcast, I'm gonna share my top tips and tricks from within my one-on-one coaching program to help you redefine what's possible for yourself and feel unmistakably better beyond 40. Let's dive in and talk about some of the most popular peptides out there, some of which you've probably heard of, and there are many others. These are just my top picks based on my own clinical practice and what I've seen most in the data from peptide conferences over the years and in the advanced certification on peptides. I am currently doing with the A4M, which is the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, a really legit and wonderful source for peptide know-how and teachers. I really love the A4M. I've been to their peptide conferences, so if you want to take that on without spending thousands of dollars on a course like I did, that's a good way to sort of like get into the space, see who's talking about what. It's pretty fun and amazing little worlds. So for your average person, I think about peptides in a few buckets. And there are others that are more niche or disease focused, but I'll keep it broad today. The first zone, first bucket is the repair and recovery peptides. Let's start with the one you've probably heard about online. I've already mentioned it five times, BPC157. It's probably the most popular one after the GLP ones, especially in athletic and training circles. BPC stands for Body Protection Compound, and it's among the longest studied peptides and one of the earliest. So it was originally identified and developed by a Cold War scientist in Russia named Vladimir Kavansen. He is hailed somewhat as the godfather of peptides and a brilliant scientist. He actually just died recently, sad face. But at the time, he was trying to create super soldiers who would heal really quickly from their war winds. And in fact, he succeeded. So your gastric juice, the gunk your stomach produces when you're like digesting, it naturally makes a BPC-like peptide to protect and repair your gut lining, which takes constant mechanical and chemical stress and damage from food. This is kind of cool, fun fact, side thing. When you're young, you have tons of BPC-157 in your tum-tum. In fact, babies make a load of this stuff to heal their little guts as they transition from liquid food to solids. BPC-157 is there to support. So in plain language, what does BPC157 do? It seems to help repair the gut lining. So thinking ulcers, gastritis, and irritated gut from NSAIDs or stress or any of the inflammatory conditions that people tend to suffer. It supports tendon, ligament, and muscle healing and injury or wound healing models and in humans and calms inflammation and even shows some neuroprotective effects in animal studies. So in practice, people tend to use it orally when the main target is gut healing. BPC157 is unusual because it's made in the gut and can survive the gut, the acidity, the enzymes, so it can be taken orally. And this is particularly helpful for gut conditions. If the goal is more targeted to injury or wound repair, surgery or an athletic situation, it is taken by tiny subcutaneous injections, ideally close to the site of injury. Does work a little bit better when localized to the area. Injected, it has broader, more systemic effects on all your tissues, including those tendons, ligaments, and possibly the nervous system based on animal models. It's an absolute all-star in the world of athletics and recovery. And conjecture has that, this is clinical observation, things I've heard in conferences, that it speeds healing by roughly twofold. Wow, right? Amazing. It also helps the day-to-day athlete, myself included, to recover and build muscle more quickly. I observe this in myself and many of my clients. Holy moly, did my mountain biking and ski touring and running capacity take a huge leap when I started these peptides. And in fact, BBC 157 and its wonderful partner, TB500, which we'll talk about next, are so effective in giving an athletic edge that they're actually banned in professional sports. So just please be aware of that if you're a competitive athlete. BBC 157 is also a major fanfave in the longevity space. So many doctors I know, longevity experts, other providers take it regularly or do several cycles of it, among other peptides on a yearly basis. So this is one of the all-time favorites among my heroes in the space. It's one I keep around all the time as well, just in case. Anyway, it is not FDA approved yet. We don't have giant clinical trials in humans yet, but it is widely used in the regenerative space and has been for decades and is considered very safe when sourced properly. It is one of the ones where you can take a thousand times the dose, and people have, and nothing bad will happen. So number two in this sort of tissue repair bucket is the immune modulating thymic peptide. So now there's two I'm gonna talk about. One is more about tissue repair, and one is about the immune system, actually. So when you are a child, you have this big thymus gland in your chest. It's the source of your immune system, it educates your immune system. Around puberty, it starts to shrivel, or what's technically called involute, so involution of the gland shrinkage. So by the time you're older, maybe by the time you're in your 60s, it's actually almost gone. It's mostly fat. And that's one of the reasons that autoimmunity and cancer risk rise with age. And so there's two key thymic peptides I want to talk about today, which are thymcin beta 4 and thymusin alpha-1. The beta 4 fragment I want to talk about is TB500, but there are a whole bunch of them. So TB500 is known as the antifibrotic or anti-like messy scar tissue, and repair helper. Helps tissues repair beautifully and with less disorganized collagen fragments, which is where you get those gnarly scars. Thymusyng beta 4 is a 43 amino acid peptide, a bit of a longer one that your body makes in many tissues, including the thymus. And then TV500 is a short 17 amino acid fragment of that peptide that seems to carry a lot of the tissue repair punch. And these peptides help cells to move, migrate around the body, lay down new blood vessels, so that's angiogenesis, and remodel tissue. They speed wound healing, reduce fibrosis and scarring after things like heart attacks or lung injuries. They support healing in tendons, ligaments, fascia, and other connective tissues, and so on. Clinically, it's often paired with BPC 157 when we're trying to heal an injury or even heal an old injury better. That's one of the cool things is that people who have, like, say, knee pain since 20 years and they had a surgery, we can come in and use these things to remodel that tissue to some degree. Sometimes it works well, sometimes it doesn't work as well. We can also use them to reduce the amount of stiff scar tissue that forms after surgery or significant inflammation, as I alluded to before. Again, not an FDA-improved drug in the US, but conceptually you can think of BPC157 and TB500 as a synergistic repair duo. Okay, let's now talk about the other thymus peptide, thymusin alpha-1, which is about the immune system. This is a 28 amino acid peptide that in many countries is an actual drug used widely and effectively called zidaxin. It's incredible and it's been used for over 20 years in people with chronic infections, cancer, and immune problems of all kinds. It's truly a remarkable multifunctional peptide that I dearly hope is next to hit the market here because it's so impactful for people who are really suffering. Thymself 1, what does it do? It helps your immune system sort of behave in a healthy way. It shifts your immune balance, actually, and this is important for older people, so I'm going to talk about this a bit first. It shifts your immune balance towards more useful, healthy, effective TH1, so-called, and T-reg activity. And that part fights viruses and cancer, for example, and shifts it away from TH2 activity. And this is important for us because as we move through perimenopause and menopause, or menopause, if you will, as a man, and our hormones like progesterone and estrogen start to fall, our immune system often becomes a little imbalanced, or maybe very imbalanced, shifting to be more what's called TH2 dominant. This means that the hormone signals that used to keep inflammation and antibody responses in balances are in decline. So we'll often see more background inflammation, slightly weaker infection defense, and higher risk of things like autoimmunity, flares, allergies, food sensitivities, joint, gut or skin symptoms, like these things come up all the time. So, in practical terms, many women notice that in midlife and beyond, they just don't bounce back from stress or poor sleep or a like unhealthy meal or infections as quickly. And they may develop new sensitivities or autoimmune issues because their immune system is going through this normal transition that we can support with targeted lifestyle, nutrients, hormones, and peptides where appropriate. They have a poor immune system. They have chronic viral loads, things like herpes, hepatitis, long COVID, Lyme mold, any of that kind of stuff. They have immune system dysregulation or autoimmunity, and they need better sort of immune intelligence rather than simple broadband drug-based suppression. To summarize so far, BPC-157 and TB500 are about physical repair. Thymus alpha 1 is a bore about immune repair and balance, helping your defense system act more like it did when your thymus was young and big and busy. And together, all three of these are super powerful. And so these three are very big in longevity. You actually don't really repair tissues very well using BPC 157 and TB500 if your immune system is compromised or not functioning well. So they all work together really well. The third bucket is all about growth hormones. The so-called growth hormone secretagogs. Secretagogs are a weird word. It just means that they modulate growth hormone expression without blasting the system. Pretty awesome. So let's look at the amazing duo called get these names, people. Oh my god. CJC1295 and epimorelin. Wow. Anyway, these are amazing, and there are others too, like Tesla Morelin, but I I tend to go with these two. I won't dive into that here because we're doing a survey, keeping it light. So, growth hormone. Let's start there. Growth hormone drives the production of a hormone called IgF1. If you are interested in longevity and you've been studying things like fasting and feasting and protein, you probably know about IGF-1. It's a hormone that helps maintain muscle, bone, tissue repair, and it's closely tied to deep sleep. You need deep sleep to have sufficient IGF-1. If your IgF-1 is low, it's very hard to build muscle or maintain bone, even if your testosterone and say your estrogen look fine. So growth hormone, like lots of things, peaks in your teens and 20s and then declines significantly over time. And that's sometimes called somatopause. By your 60s, it can be very low. And with that decline, you'll see like a harder time building or maintaining muscle, bone density drops, and slower recovery after workouts, and poorer deep sleep because growth hormone pulses are tightly linked to slow wave deep sleep. Instead of blasting the body with synthetic growth hormone, though, like you see bodybuilders doing, you don't want to look like all those guys, or be in their state of health, that's really tricky to manage and really risky. We can use peptides like CJC1295, which is a growth hormone-releasing hormone analog, plus epimurvolin, which is a growth hormone-releasing peptide that mimics ghrelin-like signaling. Sorry, that's for the nerds, to trigger growth hormone release in a more natural way. So what we're doing is gently nudging your pituitary in your brain to release more of your own growth hormone in a pulsatile, kind of nighttime-friendly way, instead of keeping growth hormone high all day, which is what happens when you would inject growth hormone directly like a bodybuilder, which is not good. So with these peptides, we're modestly raising IMGF-1 in a more physiological way for your body, which often improves deep sleep recovery, muscle and bone support. So who might we consider these peptides for? The woman or man who is already on solid HRT, who lifts, eats protein, sleeps well, and manages stress reasonably well, and still has low IGF-1, which we can test by blood, or it's losing bone, or cannot build muscle despite doing the work. For him or her, a carefully monitored CGC and infamoralin protocol can be a way of reminding the system how to behave more like a 30-year-old without the risks of blasting synthetic growth hormone and growing things we don't want grown, like organs or tumors. You see pictures of bodybuilders and they have those like big bellies. That's not fat. That is the fact that growth hormone actually keeps their inside organs growing. So they have these huge livers, and it's like really crazy. Anyway, none of that with these guys. Let's move on to bucket number four, and I'm excited to talk about this one. Because it is everywhere, and there's so much misunderstanding around them. These are the GLP1s, the metabolic peptide buckets. So these are a lot more than you have probably heard of, and all of the villainization in the media just makes me so mad. So let's talk about these guys. GLP1 receptor agonists, things like Ozempic and We Gobi, Monjaro, because these peptides are amazing. Back it up, Jargon Town. What is an agonist? For those who care, an agonist refers to their ability to stimulate the natural GLP1 receptor in your body on the surfaces of cells to trigger complex signaling cascades. These guys, of course, are the most widely discussed and controversial. So while I don't want to dwell on them here, I do think it's important to briefly clear up some misconceptions and real BS that's floating around. So I'll offer you a different perspective here than most people have heard, or then you will likely read in the media at the moment, unless you're really like following some of the deeper stuff, the science. And I'll probably make a whole episode dedicated to GLP1s soon because there's such a frenzy about it and everyone wants them. First, what is GLP1? It's a peptide hormone your gut naturally makes when you eat. And it had does tons of things, but let's boil it down to three broad things. Firstly, your insulin comes from your pancreas, and your pancreas releases insulin appropriately once you eat to lower and stabilize your blood sugar. This process gets wonky as we age, so GLP1s can really help. It also slows gastric emptying or the movement of food and digestive stuff through your system. And it talks to your brain about satiety, helping you feel full after meals. And that actually, for some people, is a real miracle. Some people never feel full, and it's like, oh my god, I can stop eating. Pretty wild. It does a lot of other things too, but for brevity and simplicity, we'll keep to those. Your GLP1 levels, like anything, drop with age. They can also be disrupted by certain health conditions, as well as unhealthy lifestyle, a poor diet, metabolic and environmental factors, trauma. And some people are also just genetically low. And that's part of why those people truly cannot lose weight no matter what they do, until the GLP WAN agonists came along. It's pretty remarkable. And actually, there's a beautiful podcast on this from the wonderful Dr. Mary Claire Haver. She interviews a wonderful expert in the space who I've been following for years, Dr. Silas Whalen. They did a recent podcast that's actually been nominated for a Webby Award. And when I listened to this podcast, I actually started to cry. It's a great listen. So I'll link it for you in the show notes. Okay, so let's talk about the synthetic and drug versions of GLP1s, which are very close to what your body naturally produces. They differ in that clever scientists have been able to figure out how to modify them so they are much longer acting but have the same functions in the body. By comparison with natural GLP1s that you produce, which only hang around the body for a few minutes once released into the bloodstream, the modified versions have a half-life of about seven days. This means that only half of it is cleared from the body after seven days. Pretty amazing. When used well and with the right supports in the right person, GLP1s can dramatically improve blood sugar and weight in people with diabetes or obesity. That's what they're indicated for, but really they can improve those things in all people, it seems, most people, anyway. Lower inflammatory markers and improve remarkably some heart, kidney, liver, and immune issues with others on the way under testing. And they also show promising effects for brain health, reducing neuroinflammation and supporting mitochondrial function in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's models to date. So beyond diabetes and obesity and the things I've just mentioned, they're also now indicated and approved for a wide array of other issues from cardiovascular and kidney disease to autoimmune and inflammatory conditions to sleep apnea. And emerging data are coming out to support use for osteoarthritis, brain and mental health, specifically dementia and other neurodegenerative conditions, as well as certain psychiatric disorders, like substance abuse, an addiction, and mood disorders. It's wild. We would be here all day if I were to talk about all the ways DLP1s are being tested and showing promise, so I'll leave it there for now with the overarching message. Please don't believe the old media hype. These powerful tools are so much more than weight loss drugs, one would take. For vanity's sake. And so on that note, like, what the hell was all of that media hype? The brouha and the shit talk that we were hearing from all directions, so much hate on. And that was like sort of classic media backlash and BS frenzy. And like, of course, it's a little even more testy when weight loss is involved. Because this isn't really all it's a tricky topic for a lot of people. It's very triggering. The fact that GLP1s have been administered poorly, I will say, in conventional medicine, is a big issue. And by that I mean that standard protocols start at doses that are way too high for a lot of people. And so this is why we saw so many people experiencing the symptoms we all heard so much about the nausea, stomach cramping, vomiting, dizziness, and so on. Starting in fractional doses, though, maybe microdosing, you've heard about these sign effects really shouldn't happen for the vast majority of people. And if they do, they generally fade very quickly. According to Dr. Tina Moore, who has really taken it upon herself to be a champion of why GLP1s are amazing and that they should be started far, far, far, far lower doses. Like there shouldn't be really any symptoms associated with this thing for the vast majority of people. We also heard about muscle wasting and bone loss. Well, yes, anyone who loses weight rapidly, if they're not caring for their bodies appropriately, that's gonna happen. That's not a GLP1 thing. And that was clearly shown to happen now, we know, only with inadequate protein, lack of weight training, and that sort of thing. So doesn't hold up. And this is like a prime example of why I would never offer someone peptides of any kind without a proper consultation and guidance. These things can actually do harm if not done properly. The peptides themselves are not dangerous, as we said, but like anything, there are caveats around their use in order to get the most of them and make sure you're not harming your body. So in the longevity space, GLP1s are another big fan favorite. Many of my favorite functional medicine experts microdose GLP1s, not at a dose that causes weight loss, but for the broad spectrum benefits to metabolic health, heart, brain, organ function, anti-inflammatory effects, and so on, myself included. Just awesome. So they have massively, for me, I have noted, they have improved my blood work and the high cholesterol that tends to run in my family. And I just feel so much better. Clarity, mental clarity, better sleep, better energy, that kind of stuff. In terms of their efficacy, their risk, their safety profile, these are not new tools. They just got really popular recently with advancements in technology and formulation and efficacy towards diabetes and obesity. They were actually developed over 20 years ago. The first kind of iteration was called Xenotide. It was approved for type 2 diabetes way back in 2005. And this class of drug has since undergone many improvements and iterations over time. In fact, we now have sort of three modern different versions of what are grouped in the GLP1 class of drugs or peptide medications available. So V1.0 is semaglutide. It is the active ingredient, that's the generic name, is the active ingredient in Ozampic and Wigovi and others. It's a single peptide in this version. It is the GLP1 or single hormone receptor agonist. V2.0 came out not that long ago. It's called terzeptide. The generic name that is part of the drugs called Munjaro, Zepp Bound, and others. It's two peptides, GLP1 and GIP. So it's a double agonist. These are both FDA approved. Each iteration comes with less side effects and actually stronger benefits, faster, more weight loss and reduction in blood sugars and so on. V3.0 is not FDA approved. It is very popular among biohackers as something that's even more effective than the other two. It's called retatrutide. Say that one three times fast. Retatrutide. And it is three peptides GLP1, GIP, and now glucagon. So it's a triple agonist. It's more physiological, so it comes with fewer side effects and it works more effectively. According to the retireums, the biohackers, the people in the peptide kind of world. Again, not FDA approved. So access to all of these, of course, has been difficult, is by prescription only. You can only get them by official channels if you qualify. So if you are diabetic, your A1C or your fastening glucose has to be above a certain level, for example. And I think you also have to have a certain BMI to get these kind of across the board. Regulatory varies, state to state, province to province, but that's the general thing. So people are getting research grade products off mostly dodgy websites. But the good news is that the patent on semaglutide runs out this year, 2026. It was actually in January. So the wheels turn very slowly on the machine, but we're going to see a surge of inexpensive GLP1 products comprising semaglutide flooding the market very soon. So that's kind of awesome. I see GLP1's overall really powerful tools for specific metabolic and inflammatory situations, as longevity tools when used as small little micro denises, not as casual vanity injectables. And if we're on them, of course, you really need to make sure you've dialed in your nutrition, you're eating enough, your protein intake is strong, and you are strength training. Like heavyweights, none of this eight to ten pound dumbbells stuff. So those things become more important, not less. Our fifth bucket is the brain and cognitive peptides, C-Lank and CMAX. So these are two brain-directed peptides that come up a lot. They were developed also in Russia a long time ago and are mostly used there in Eastern Europe and parts of Asia and in high-level functional medicine circles around the world, including in North America. And I'm gonna offer you some resources of amazing providers, experts, educators in the space. You can learn from more about all of these peptides later in this podcast. So C Lank and CMAX are usually given as nasal sprays, so they access the brain more directly, but they're also effective as subcutaneous injections. So those little diabetes needles. Just kind of depends on the application. C Lank, we'll start with it, it is derived from a fragment of an immune peptide called tumson. It acts primarily as an ansiolytic or anti-anxiety. So it calms anxiety without sedation. Very healthy, unlike some of the other anxiolytics out there. It seems to modulate GABA signaling serotonin and other neurotransmitters as well as reducing inflammation in the brain. CMAX is derived from a piece of a hormone called ACTH. It appears to increase neurotrophic, so brain cell growing factors like BDNF, which supports synaptic plasticity, and have been, it has been used post-stroke, post-TBI or concussion, and in some cognitive impairment contexts. In practical terms. We think about them as firstly like adjuncts for people who have long COVID or viral-induced brain fog, post-concussive issues, or high anxiety with cognitive fatigue. And they're also great tools layered on top of good sleep, metabolic health, exercise, and HRT. Not instead of those things. And the evidence base for these guys is strongest in Russian literature and in smaller studies. So I do use them thoughtfully and always in context. They're part of a growing brain support toolkit. The brain, really, like I'm gonna say, is the kind of the final frontier in health. It is one of the hardest things to support. There's a whole world of nootropics or brain feeding supplements and molecules and nutrients and so on. All these incredible tools that are really pushing the edge of what our understanding of the brain is, and at some point soon I'll do a podcast on those as well. But yeah, together these two amazing peptides can support attention, mood, and recoveries from brain injury by calming neuroinflammation, supporting neurotrophic pathways, and probably more we have yet to realize. So this is inciting space to watch and clinical experiences growing rapidly. The last peptide I want to talk about today is in its own little bucket. Last but certainly not least, I want to mention GHK copper or GHKCU, the copper peptide. It goes by various aims, but it's one of my favorite sort of beauty from the inside out and longevity peptides. So GHK copper is what we call a bioregulator peptide. It's a different class. Being a bioregulator means it doesn't just do one thing in one tissue, it helps systematically improve the expression of a whole network of about 4,000 genes related to aging and connective tissue health, which extends to skin, hair, and nails. Those are connective tissues, oddly. Anyway, there's an actual research review paper called this gives you an idea. GHK and DNA. Resetting the human genome to health. Bam, there you go. Pretty cool. So in practical terms, here's what GHK is good for. Better collagen repair and remodeling. So that's the sort of structural scaffolding of your cells. Support for skin, hair, nails, tendons, and ligaments. In some contexts, we get improved nerve regrowth and more elegant scar tissue repair. Those two things are pretty awesome, and I like to use it as an adjunct when we're talking about wound healing and tissue repair. Improves new tissue formation at wound healing sites, along with supporting angiogenesis or new blood vessel growth and the production of collagen and extracellular matrix, which is the supporting sort of mesh between your cells that holds your cells together and helps them heal and communicate. You'll often see GHKCU talked about in skincare circles, and that's actually not hype, although the way that they formulate it is hype. So I'd be careful there. So topical GHKCU, what I mean by that is in meaningful concentrations, it can be genuinely effective for preventing and to some degree softening wrinkles, more data coming out around that, and improving skin texture and firmness. This doesn't happen overnight. So you're typically looking at at least three months, but probably more, of consistent use to see real change because you're asking your skin to remodel collagen. You're not just like lumping it up with filler or something that's instant. This is a longer-term tactic. Outside of the beauty space, from a broader health perspective, remember collagen isn't just in your face, it's in your blood vessels, your joints, your fascia, and many other structures of your body. It also helps with hair growth. So make topical hair serums now as well. So when a peptide like GHK copper upregulates thousands of collagen-related and repair genes and even stem-like cell genes, we think beyond cosmetics to overall tissue resilience and healthy aging. So overall, you can think of GHK copper as a gentle upstream sort of reprogrammer for connective tissue, one that can be topically used on the skin to help your body remember how to build and maintain better, more youthful, organized collagen to support that cellular matrix that holds everything together. And then so many more things about tissue repair. If you want a topical, it is a bit hard to find a good quality one. That said, I have searched high and low. I have found a couple of really good products. I have myself been toying with a couple lines of them. One is from Vice Halley, V I T L I, and Infinoel. I just got some discount codes for these products and I have put them on my website for you. They're great. What you want to look for is at least two or three percent concentration of GHK in your topical when we're talking about skin. So three is better than two, but two is sufficient. Most products are less than that. And it should be blue. The blue comes from the copper, by the way. Whether you got an injectable or topical, it's gonna be blue. Okay, so that was GHK copper, an absolute banger. We have lots left to cover, my friends. We covered a lot of ground today. We did repair immune growth hormone, GLP ones, brain peptides, a copper peptide. So many goodies I reach for most often in my practice and use myself at times. And I hope this gives you a much clearer picture of what's actually out there and a few of the applications for these amazing tools. Next week in part three, we're getting practical with real-world scenarios. The sourcing and safety conversation. It's super murky, no one really wants to have, but we're gonna do it because it's important. Everyone needs to hear it. And a simple framework that will help you figure out if peptides belong in your life. Alright, my friend, thank you so much for listening, and thanks to my wonderful producer, Kale Gosen. This episode is for education purposes only. It's not personal medical advice. Please work with a qualified provider before starting or injecting anything. If this episode helped you feel seen or supported and you want to go deeper, you're ready for clarity, support, and a roadmap to feel truly better beyond 40, visit my website, drmarypines.com, and explore my Better Beyond 40 program. Be sure to join my newsletter for weekly guidance, my free community group on school. That's SKO L dot com, also called the Better Beyond 40 formula, because in it I offer tips and tricks to keep you informed of the latest. You can also follow me on Instagram at Dr. MaryPines for day-to-day inspo, and I'm working real hard on getting my YouTube channel going as a prime source of awesome info on peptides and more for all y'all. You are not alone in this journey, we are in it together, and you deserve to feel incredible. We'll talk to you soon. Thanks for listening to the