Demystifying Peptides

It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

Have a question or a request? We love to hear from you!

In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!

As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!

So, no question/request too big or small 😎

❝Would love some in depth look at peptides. Benefits, side effects of several of the popular ones❞

Great question! It’s a huge topic that can easily be confusing, but not if we break it down a bit.

Which, as you’ll see, is what peptides are all about:

Breaking it down

In a nutshell: peptides are short chains of amino acids—smaller than proteins—that do a variety of things for us, perhaps most noteably including:

1. act as chemical messengers within the body*
2. act as the building blocks of larger proteins (the general stuff that most of our body is made of)**

*If that first one sounds familiar and you’re thinking “you mean hormones?”, then you’re on the right track, and indeed there’s an overlap, because there are such things as peptide hormones, for example:

❝Peptide hormones play a prominent role in controlling energy homeostasis and metabolism. They have been implicated in controlling appetite, the function of the gastrointestinal and cardiovascular systems, energy expenditure, and reproduction. Furthermore, there is growing evidence indicating that peptide hormones and their receptors contribute to energy homeostasis regulation by interacting with white and brown adipose tissue.❞

Read in full: The Role of Peptide Hormones Discovered in the 21st Century in the Regulation of Adipose Tissue Functions

And about that brown adipose tissue (BAT), this is very important to understand: The BAT-pause! When Cold Weather & The Menopause Battle It Out

**As for these building blocks, then here there are two important things to know about:

• Why You Can’t Skimp On Amino Acids ← when it comes to essential amino acids, the ill effects of deficiency can range from “muscle atrophy” to “brain stops working” and “bones fall apart” and more. In short, any essential amino acid deficiency not remedied will ultimately result in death; we literally become non-viable as organisms without these 9 things.
• We Are Such Stuff As Fish Are Made Of ← this is about collagen, which brings us to collagen peptides next.

A common question about collagen is whether the molecules can actually be absorbed. And the answer is, broadly speaking “not without being broken down first”.

This is because collagen molecules are absolutely huge (as molecules go) and cannot be absorbed by the skin. Not only that, but the epidermis (the outer part of your skin) is not where collagen synthesis happens, so this is a bit like trying to fix a structural problem in your house by flinging mud at it from the outside. The mud may have the same minerals that are needed, but it’s just going to sit on the outside of your house until it gets washed off.

Collagen molecules are also too large to be absorbed by the gut, too. So, for both cases, collagen peptides are the answer. This is what is meant when a product says “hydrolysed collagen” or “collagen peptides” or perhaps “hydrolysed collagen peptides” to cover all bases, but really that is a redundant tautology repeated more than once unnecessarily—it refers to the same thing: collagen that has been broken down into bits (peptides) for ease of absorption.

You can read about this in full, here: Are Collagen Molecules Too Big To Be Absorbed?

You also asked for several of the popular ones, so in terms of benefits (and how backed those benefits are by scientific evidence), and side effects:

• Collagen peptides: support skin elasticity and joint health; evidence moderate but growing, and to our eyes, it looks promising.
  • See also: 16 Ways To Boost Collagen, for more ways than just supplementing
• Creatine or BPC-157: tissue repair and inflammation control; most data from non-human animals, limited clinical trials, astonishingly.
  • See also: Creatine: Very Different For Young & Old People ← younger people get more muscle benefits, older people get more brain benefits
• Melanotan II: stimulates tanning; can cause nausea, blood-pressure spikes, and pigment changes. Generally a terrible idea, and we certainly do not recommend it.
  • See also: No, you don’t need the “Barbie drug” to tan, whatever TikTok says. Here’s why melanotan-II is so risky
• GLP-1 mimetics (e.g., semaglutide): originally for diabetes, now known for weight loss; strong clinical evidence but really does need medical supervision, and has a long list of potential (and even, probable) side effects
  • See also: Most People Who Start GLP-1 RAs Quit Them Within A Year (Here’s Why)
• Thymosin beta-4 and GHK-Cu: wound healing and hair growth claims; evidence early-stage or cosmetic only.
  • We haven’t done a main feature yet, in part for that precise reason—the paucity of evidence. But, we’ll see what we can find, so watch this space for a main feature coming soon!

There are also other kinds of peptides relevant for health (and beauty, which is after all in large part a factor of health) too, including:

• Carrier peptides: deliver metals like copper or manganese to aid repair.
• Enzyme-inhibiting peptides: slow down collagen/elastin breakdown (e.g. tripeptide-1).
• Neurotransmitter-inhibiting peptides: reduce muscle activity to soften expression lines (e.g. argireline/acetyl hexapeptide-8).
• Specialty peptides: target brightening (e.g. hexapeptide-2) or barrier repair.

However, not all of them actually have a lot of evidence for helping. When it comes to skincare specifically, one of the dermatologists we feature sometimes recommends these ones as being “worth the hype”:

• Signal peptides like matrixyl: tried-and-true for firmness and plumpness.
• Copper peptides: aid repair and overall skin health.
• Argireline: softer alternative to Botox for fine lines.
• Hexapeptide-2: gentle brightening when paired with vitamin C.

You can learn about why, here: Not All Peptides Are Equal (So, Which Are Worth the Hype?)

Do be aware also that with almost any of these there are other potential (but much less common) risks, including allergic reactions, hormonal disruption, infection from injections, and unknown long-term effects for most things that haven’t been studied nearly enough yet.

If in doubt, speak with a dermatologist (or, if it’s not about skincare, speak with a relevant professional who can give you advice tailored to you), and know that it’s always better to err on the side of caution.

Want to learn more?

Check out:

What Really Works For Anti-Aging? Science-Backed Skincare Ingredients

Enjoy!