By Bill Rawls, MD

Lately, there has been growing buzz around peptide therapy. Many functional and alternative medicine practitioners use peptide blends to help with everything from tissue repair and hormone balance to immune support, fat loss, and brain function.

While some people report impressive results, others find that the benefits are unclear or experience unwanted side effects.

In this article, I will explain what peptides are, how peptide therapy works, and where its potential and limitations truly lie. I will also share a framework for evaluating peptide therapy based on current science and my clinical experience and take a closer look at some of the most commonly used peptides today.

What are peptides?

Peptides are short chains of amino acids that act as messengers between cells. Think of them as the body’s text messages. These messages are brief, targeted communications that tell other cells when to grow, repair, or perform specific functions.

These chemical signals are essential for coordinating healing, metabolism, and immune defense. Peptides are part of the body’s natural language of health.

How peptide therapy works

Peptide therapy involves administering specific peptides or combinations of them to influence cellular functions in a desired way.

Depending on the formula, the goals might include:

• Stimulating repair and recovery
• Regulating metabolism
• Balancing immune function
• Supporting brain chemistry or hormone activity

The idea is to fine-tune communication between cells. In practice, however, this process is not always precise or predictable.

The body’s language of cellular communication

For the body to function as a whole, cells must be in constant communication. Peptides, hormones, and neurotransmitters are the vocabulary of this internal language.

In a healthy body, these messages rise and fall naturally from moment to moment. When a peptide is introduced from the outside, it sends a static message into a system that normally operates with dynamic flow.

You can think about it this way. Imagine your cells as a group of people working together to solve a problem. The discussion between individuals is fluid and thoughtful. Suddenly someone bursts into the room with a bullhorn shouting a single command.

That’s essentially what’s happening with hormone or peptide therapy. We know a few words of the vocabulary, but we don’t truly understand the language.

While this can sometimes nudge repair, calm inflammation, or rebalance sluggish systems, it can be disruptive to normal cellular communication. It can also interrupt natural feedback loops, which can send ripples through other networks in unpredictable ways.

Peptides don’t affect the root causes of chronic illness

It’s important to appreciate that all chronic illnesses result from chronic cellular stress. When cells throughout the body are stressed, their ability to communicate is disrupted. While peptides have the potential to smooth out disrupted communications, they have zero capacity to directly reduce or eliminate the underlying causes of cellular stress.

The cellular stress and dysfunction associated with chronic illness typically result from combinations of five primary stress factors:

• Poor nutrition
• Chronic exposure to toxic substances
• Chronic mental stress and inadequate sleep
• Chronic physical stress, or oppositely, inactivity
• Reactivation of dormant intracellular microbes in tissues

Smoothing out dysfunction can support the healing process and allow the body to get back on its feet (literally). However, not being able to address the underlying causes of the dysfunction is a limitation that shouldn’t be overlooked.

The most reliable pathway to wellness is built around a comprehensive strategy to restore cellular health. Restoring cellular health reestablishes normal internal communication. When internal communication is restored, the need for external “messengers” typically fades.

Therapy rating system

Efficacy

• Evidence strength: Low to moderate, depending on the peptide.
  • Peptides like thymosin alpha-1 (used for immune support) and sermorelin (for growth hormone deficiency) have modest human data.
  • Others, such as BPC-157, TB-500, MOTS-c, or AOD-9604, are supported mainly by animal or lab studies.
• Reported benefits: Improved recovery after injury, better sleep, more energy, fat loss, sharper focus, faster wound healing, or fewer inflammatory symptoms.
• Reality check: Some people experience genuine improvement; others notice little change. Effects are inconsistent, and human trials confirming safety and benefit are still lacking.

Safety

• Short-term: Most peptides appear well tolerated, though mild side effects such as headache, flushing, fatigue, anxiety, or nausea can occur.
• Long-term: Unknown. Many peptides stimulate growth, angiogenesis (new blood vessel formation), or immune activity, which could potentially cause problems if over-activated—such as abnormal tissue growth, inflammation, or hormonal imbalance.
• Quality concerns: Because many peptide products are not FDA-approved, purity and dosing accuracy vary widely. Online “research” suppliers are unregulated, and testing has revealed mislabeled or contaminated products.
• Regulatory status: Most peptides are considered investigational drugs in the U.S. They are not approved for routine clinical use and are banned in competitive sports.

Cost

• Typical cost: $200–$600 per month, depending on the number of peptides used and route of administration.
• Coverage: Not covered by insurance; paid out of pocket through compounding pharmacies or “longevity clinics.”
• Value: Costly for therapies that remain experimental.

Logistics

• Access: Peptides can be obtained legally only through a licensed prescriber or compounding pharmacy. However, many are sold online without oversight, often labeled “for research use only.”
• Administration: Usually injected under the skin (similar to insulin), though some are taken orally, by nasal spray, or applied topically. Because peptides are broken down by stomach acid, oral administration is the least reliable way to take peptides.
• Supervision: Should always be used under the guidance of a qualified medical professional who understands peptide pharmacology and monitors lab markers, side effects, and interactions.

Commonly used peptides: what to know

Key takeaways for peptide use

Peptide therapy is an exciting and evolving area of medical therapy. These compounds can influence cellular communication and, in some cases, help reduce distress or promote healing.

Still, peptide therapy is not as precise as often advertised. There’s much to learn about how these messengers interact within the body’s complex signaling systems.

If you’re using or considering peptides, stay informed and cautious. Ask about the evidence, verify product quality, and track how you respond. Stop treatment if you notice new or unexpected symptoms.

Most importantly, peptide therapy should always be paired with a comprehensive approach to cellular recovery—nutritious food, restorative sleep, appropriate movement, stress reduction, and targeted antimicrobial herbal support.

Bill Rawls, MD, is a physician and author of Unlocking Lyme and The Cellular Wellness Solution. After restoring his own health from chronic Lyme disease, he dedicated his career to helping others achieve lasting wellness through holistic and herbal therapies. He is the co-founder and Medical Director of Vital Plan, a company specializing in physician-formulated herbal supplements that support cellular health and immune balance.