11/09/2026
QUICK CAST — PEPTIDES: HYPE, HOPE OR THE FUTURE?
Well, someone asked me about peptides after last week's Quick Cast…
And that sent me down one hell of a rabbit hole.
And I'll be the first to admit — I get why people are confused.
I actually tried BPC-157 myself a while back because of all the hype around its supposed healing benefits for joints and tendons.
I used it for around three months for my knee.
My result? Nothing.
No noticeable improvement whatsoever.
So I basically put it down to clever marketing and forgot about peptides.
But they're everywhere again.
We've got influencers, podcasts and even some medical practitioners talking about peptides for injury recovery, muscle growth, fat loss, anti-ageing and longevity.
And here's where I think we need to be careful.
Some of the science IS interesting.
BPC-157, for example, has shown some pretty impressive results around tissue healing in animal studies.
The problem?
Mice aren't humans.
When you look at the quality of human research, suddenly the evidence becomes very thin.
One of the studies you'll hear mentioned involved just 12 people with knee pain.
Some reported significant improvements in pain.
Sounds great.
But there was no proper control group, and importantly, improving pain doesn't necessarily prove that cartilage, tendon or other tissue has actually healed.
That's a very different claim.
So I'm not saying peptides will never have a place in medicine.
They might.
In another 5 or 10 years, with good-quality human trials, we may look back and find some of these compounds genuinely useful.
But right now, for compounds like BPC-157, the marketing is running well ahead of the human evidence.
And there's another part of this conversation that concerns me.
Where is your peptide actually coming from?
If you're buying an injectable product online:
Who manufactured it?
What's actually in the vial?
Is the dose accurate?
Has it been tested for sterility and contamination?
And who is overseeing its use?
Because once we're talking about injecting something into our body, quality control matters.
So before jumping on the latest peptide because someone on Instagram says it “healed their knee”, I'd ask a few questions:
👉 Is the evidence from mice or humans?
👉 Was it a case report, tiny pilot study or a proper randomised clinical trial?
👉 What did they actually measure — less pain, or genuine tissue healing?
👉 How many people were studied?
👉 Where is the product manufactured and how is its quality verified?
👉 Is it being prescribed and medically supervised?
👉 And if you compete in tested sport — is it prohibited?
BPC-157, for example, is currently prohibited under WADA rules.
And then I'd ask one more question:
Have I actually exhausted the basics first?
🏋️ Progressive resistance training
Mechanical loading is one of the most powerful signals we have for maintaining and adapting muscle, bone, tendon and connective tissue.
🥩 Nutrition
Enough protein, enough total nutrition and the micronutrients required to support recovery.
😴 Deep, consistent sleep
That's when a huge amount of your recovery work takes place.
🚶 Movement and appropriate loading
Not doing nothing — but giving the body the right amount of stimulus and progressively building capacity.
🧘 Recovery
Managing stress, training load and giving tissues enough time to adapt.
These things aren't sexy.
Nobody's going viral selling sleep and progressive overload in a little vial.
But after 40, they're still the foundation.
So my current position on peptides?
Interesting? Absolutely.
Potential for the future? Definitely.
Enough human evidence for me to tell my clients they should be using BPC-157? Not yet.
Don't confuse promising with proven.
And don't let marketing get ahead of the science.
Back to Basics.
