Cassandra Willyard in Nature:
Peptides have become the latest cure-all trend on social media — a way to eliminate wrinkles, build lean muscle, boost metabolism, clear brain fog, heal torn ligaments and more. Influencers rave about their peptide-fuelled glow-ups on TikTok. Bodybuilders exchange information about their favourite combinations at the gym. US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr is a proponent. “I’m a big fan of peptides,” he told US podcaster Joe Rogan in February. “I’ve used them myself, and used them with really good effect on a couple of injuries.”
Peptides are made of the same building blocks as proteins, but are shorter — typically less than 50 amino acids long. And they can be powerful medicines. The hugely successful GLP-1 diabetes and weight-loss drugs, for example, are peptides; as is the hormone insulin.
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