Peptides

For thousands of years, people have been searching for the mythical fountain of youth — a spring that purportedly adds years or even decades to the lives of anyone who drinks or bathes in its waters. Spanish conquistador Ponce de León has long been the poster child for allegedly stumbling across this mystical water feature in the 16th century. But even as early as the fourth century B.C., Alexander the Great is claimed to have found a healing “river of paradise.”

In many ways, we are still on a quest to discover the fountain of youth, though now the search has turned to science — medications, supplements, or therapies that hold some promise of turning back the hands of time and restoring our health and vigor. Today, more and more evidence points to peptides as the anti-aging solution we have long been seeking.

(Copyright: Dan Cojocari ✉·✍· / CC BY-SA via https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

Peptides are short chains of amino acids (between two and 50) that signal the release of other substances the body needs for healthy function. You may already know that amino acids are also the building blocks of proteins, but proteins contain far more amino acids and a more complex structure than peptides.

Your body contains a variety of peptides that work on different areas of the body, typically acting as highly specific messengers in many crucial functions, including the release of human growth hormone (HGH). By using different peptides, potentially we can restore healthy cell function and communication to treat a variety of illnesses and maybe even make you look and feel younger.

But restoring health is a more complicated process than simply supplementing with the right peptides in the right amounts. Here at BioDesign Wellness Center, a Tampa functional medicine practice, we follow a three-step approach tailored to each patient: continue reading