What Is Peptide Therapy and the Benefits of Peptides for Health
By Dr. Benjamin Busch, DO, MBA
December 19, 2022
The beauty of the human body is wrapped in inherent intelligence, managing thousands of intricate processes that help us function daily without our awareness. These biological processes build our muscles and bones, help us to manage internal and external threats to our health and give us breath and life. Very small strings of organic molecules, known as peptides, are the key to the cellular communication necessary for everything to run smoothly. Peptides have been the subject of research for several decades and have been used in medicine for at least a century. They’re safe when used correctly, and our bodies have the innate ability to synthesize and regulate them.
What is a peptide?
Peptides are vital components of cellular communication that ensure key health functions take place smoothly.
Peptides promote health and vitality quickly, while also influencing our long-term wellness. These small strings of organic molecules gently shift our metabolism and epigenome to build resilience within the body. Peptide therapies help to withstand and recover from illness quickly and create lasting improvements to general health and well-being.
Peptides are found in all the body’s cells. Peptides are part of the actual building blocks of cell walls and other internal structures, like cell tissues and essential proteins. Different types of peptides perform unique functions in the body tissues and cells, hormones, or enzymes. A peptide is like a protein because they’re both made of amino acids — organic chemicals that are the building blocks of life. What sets a peptide apart from a protein is its smaller size. While proteins can be composed of hundreds of amino acids, peptides are often only made up of a few.
Why peptides help heal
Being much smaller than proteins, peptides penetrate your body’s internal membranes easily. They’re also less complex than proteins and quickly synthesize into the body’s systems. Because peptides work at a cellular level, they have the innate ability to affect how our bodies respond to disease and aging processes.
Peptides have been shown to healthfully impact the progression of several diseases and chronic conditions, including:
- Arthritis
- Autoimmune disorders
- Diabetes
- Neurodegenerative disease
Moreover, they’re instrumental to proper signaling within our body during regenerative and anti-aging therapies.
A closer look at peptides’ role in sustainable wellness
There are a vast number of peptides in the human body with an equal number of distinct and important functions across every system of the body — brain, heart, immune, gut, reproduction and more.
Deficiency in some critical peptides has been connected to the development of severe neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Other hormones and neurochemical messengers, called neuropeptides, play a pivotal role in the smooth functioning of neurological and hormonal processes in the body. For example, oxytocin is a hormone and neuropeptide that surges during reproduction, childbirth, breastfeeding, social bonding after birth, and “falling in love.”
Peptide hormones, like insulin and glucagon, regulate essential metabolic processes by normalizing blood glucose levels. Still another peptide, calcitonin, regulates levels of phosphate and calcium in the blood, and a deficiency can cause problems with heart rhythm and loss of bone density.
Some other well-known peptides include creatinine, collagen, and glutathione — all of which perform truly essential jobs for our healing and wellness.
What is Peptide Therapy?
Peptide therapies are the targeted use of certain peptides to stimulate a specific response in your body. The nature of the response depends on the kind and dose of peptide used.
For example, some peptides may trigger the production of human growth hormone, which helps increase muscle mass and improve aging symptoms. Other peptides can trigger:
- The breakdown of visceral fat
- Weight loss
- Repair of genetic components in DNA
- Enhanced benefits from exercise
- Mental focus
- A sense of well-being or even a greater feeling of sexiness
Types of Peptide Therapy
Therapeutic peptides can be administered in many ways — externally as a cream, inhaled as a nasal spray or swallowed by mouth. However, some peptide therapies require a subcutaneous injection to ensure maximum absorption in the body.
How does Peptide Therapy benefit me?
Peptides are vital cellular components that build resilience, longevity and youthful energy. Due to their medicinal benefits, peptides have been synthesized in laboratories. They’re currently used as alternative treatments for patients who wish to feel better without using harmful pharmaceutical drugs or resorting to surgical procedures.
Among the numerous benefits of peptides, some include:
- Accelerated wound healing
- Enhanced immunity and resilience against viral and bacterial infections
- Promotion of collagen, cartilage and elastin production
- Activation of repair mechanisms
- Anti-inflammatory benefits
- Reversal of cellular and external aging
- Repair of nerve damage
- Reduction in blood pressure
- More restful and deeper sleep
- Increased bone density
- Sharpened mental acuity
Peptide therapies are safe and effective rejuvenation treatments for conditions that emerge as you age, like weight gain, decreased immune function, loss of muscle mass, and low libido. Different peptide treatments promote unique actions in the body — increased secretion of growth hormones, enhanced ability to repair damaged tissues caused by aging or injury, optimized body performance overall or natural management and prevention of chronic disease. ViveWell can help you find the optimal kind of peptide treatment for your health and wellness needs.
ViveWell’s medically managed peptide treatments
Our providers have extensive training to integrate Peptide Therapy into your personalized treatment plan, helping you regain balance in your body and boosting your vivacity for life. Our restorative approach to Peptide Therapy is designed to promote cellular growth and enhance intercellular communication while supporting greater harmony for bodily systems.
Peptide Therapy pricing
Peptides are naturally used in our body to improve cellular communication. There are many different kinds of peptides with numerous health-promoting functions. Overall, they are essential to normal bodily function, but can be used to target many health conditions, for example, recovery from injury and illness, brain/nerve health, improve strength, stimulate emotions, promote sleep, longevity and ensure a general state of well-being.
Because of the diversity of peptides and their uses, Peptide Therapy pricing is based on individualized treatment plans developed during your consultation.
We’re ready to get you on the path to sustainable wellness — to help you feel better. Contact our team today with questions or if you would like to begin the work toward a healthier, more vibrant you.
References
- Brothers, H. M., Gosztyla, M. L., & Robinson, S. R. (2018). The physiological roles of amyloid-β peptide hint at new ways to treat Alzheimer’s disease. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 118. Retrieved from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29922148/
- Gao, Y., Yuan, X., Zhu, Z., Wang, D., Liu, Q., & Gu, W. (2020). Research and prospect of peptides for use in obesity treatment. Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine, 20(6), 1-1. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7604735/
- Helmenstine, A. M. (2021, August 03). “What Is a peptide? Definition and examples.” Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-a-peptide-definition-examples-4177787
- Ruggere, C. (2019, October 13). What are peptides? Peptide benefits for skin and more. Retrieved from https://draxe.com/beauty/peptide/
- Zhang, L., & Falla, T. J. (2009). Cosmeceuticals and peptides. Clinics in Dermatology, 27(5), 485-494. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0738081X0900128X
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Disclaimer: All statements and opinions provided are for educational and informational purposes, not for medical diagnosis. As with all medical treatments and procedures, results may vary on an individual basis. ViveWell follows all FDA guidelines related to the treatments provided. You’re encouraged to consult with your primary care provider before undergoing any treatment programs offered by ViveWell. Some of our therapies are not FDA-approved. During your personal consultation, the benefits and risks of any recommended therapies will be reviewed with you.