How Peptides Enhance Healing and Longevity with Dr. Edwin Lee - Transcript
Dr. Mark Hyman: Edwin, it's great to be here at the integrated health care symposium live, and we're recording this podcast about a topic that I think has sort of captured a lot of people's imagination, particularly in longevity by packing space, which is peptides.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And and I don't know if the average person even knows what a peptide is, but we're gonna get into what they are but they're highly prevalent in the body. They're things your body makes to regulate almost everything that's going on. There are little mini mini proteins, essentially, that, are the communication network of your body, and they regulate every single function from your hormones, to your brain function, to your immune system, your sexual function to tissue repair. I mean, it it it's quite amazing that that we've kind of, you know, gone long in medicine without really taking a hard look at peptides in a in in a conventional way. Now there are things that people know of as peptides that you don't even know are peptides, right, like insulin as a peptide.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Exactly.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Ozempic is now the sort of block or drug of the day.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Blood type. Yes.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And that's a peptide. That's a peptide.
Dr. Edwin Lee: So the glutathione is a peptide. Glutathione is
Dr. Mark Hyman: a peptide. Glutathione's a peptide. Yeah. So there's a lot of compounds that we use in medicine than our peptides, is probably worth 7000 trees by the body. Right?
Dr. Edwin Lee: Actually, technically, 300,000. 300,000. Okay. I was up by a few, though.
Dr. Mark Hyman: But we only understand a fraction of it. And, outside in nature, there's, I think a I estimate about 6,000,000 peptides out there.
Dr. Edwin Lee: That's incredible. 6,000,000.
Dr. Mark Hyman: I mean, a lot from venoms, some from animals, and
Dr. Edwin Lee: it might not in human pet but other other other other pet peeve.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Oh, yeah. Dairy and Yeah. The there's really amazing, spiders and just interesting features. No. When atria has a lot of welfare.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Now as as a functional medicine doctor, and a regenerative medicine, you know, I I really love the idea of using bio identical molecules to support the body to do what it's supposed to do with it.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Definitely. Yeah. There's a the drug is essentially a new to nature molecule that interferes in which erupts or blocks some pathway in the body. And there's usually a downstream side effects.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Correct. Peptides also can have side effects when using pharmacological doses like we're seeing with those emping. But these are biomolecules that have we've evolved over, you know, millennia that regulate everything that's happening in our body. So, they're they're getting a lot of on a plane that it's a longevity space to optimize cognitive health or rejuvenate your skin to help a tissue repair to improve sexuality, vitality, longevity, so kinda take us from the top down. What are peptides?
How do they work in the body? And how can they be used to treat disease optimite this health and rejuvenate our biology.
Dr. Edwin Lee: You did a great, explanation of peptides, but, the way I explained to my patients, Mark, is that Peptides are signaling molecules. They're miniature proteins. Small little proteins. They're made of amino acids. And, Unfortunately, the FDA has this arbitrary just made a clarification that under 40 amino acids, is considered a peptide.
Over 40 is a biologic. And then over a 100 amino acids traditionally has been considered approaching.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Yeah.
Dr. Edwin Lee: So it's the length of, basically, how many amino acids put together. And, like I said, there's, the body makes 300,000 peptides. We only understand a fraction of it. And, anyway, it's, it's really fun to to read the research that's out there. And And, I I just I explained that, peptides to my patient is a signaling molecule.
It's short act ring, and it's like a doorbell ringing. Someone ringing your doorbell. That's a peptide. And some reaction's gonna happen. Either your dog's gonna bark someone's gonna answer the door.
So if you give a peptide to basically help your immune system, like, thimersen alpha 1, that's gonna stimulate your immune system work better. So that's a natural peptide produced by your thymus gland. And as you know, Mark, you know, it's it's fibroid and thi this. It's always patients always got confused, but it sits, like, in your chest. And, between between your lungs or for your heart.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And I have some Sweet breads. If you like VL sweet breads, it's it's when you go in a restaurant and you transfer your restaurant, they bring sweet breads. That's what it is. It's your Thiola's clean.
Dr. Edwin Lee: I didn't know that.
Dr. Mark Hyman: You didn't know that. Because I'm not interested. I should order some sleep. Right? So,
Dr. Edwin Lee: I wonder if eating it is actually good. I mean, if you get any TA1 or peptides from eating that after his cook. I don't know.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Well, they did a study. You probably read, that basically they gave human growth hormone that form in d h e a. And it it it proves that time is, the time has improved.
Dr. Edwin Lee: And
Dr. Edwin Lee: Yeah.
Dr. Mark Hyman: It was only in men, so they were gonna do another trial. Curious if it's women. But, anyway, if the time is, it's healthier, your immune system gets healthier. So that's one key component. Yeah.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Have a healthy immune system.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So how do they actually work? Are they, like, binding to receptors and activating gene expression and regulating various kind of protein networks in the body
Dr. Edwin Lee: Some peptides are so small, like, epithermaline. It can actually slip through and go through the nucleus and interact with the DNA through the histone off binding sites. And it's some of these peptides were discovered by Doctor Kamason, who, is from St. Petersburg, Russia. He is as probably, like, 40 years of research of these wonderful peptides.
And unfortunately, it just passed away, couple, weeks ago. So really sad about that. I had so many questions to ask.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And you didn't get to ask me.
Dr. Edwin Lee: And I did have a privilege to to talk to him once, but, anyway, to me, he's, like, one of the top scientists. And, he should have got the Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Yeah, it's quite amazing.
Dr. Edwin Lee: I it also acts in certain receptors. So, there there's a group of receptor called the g protein coupled receptor. And most peptides interact with that receptor, and basically cause a cascade event, and then basically, it's, like, doorbell ringing, and then you get a casket event.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Once I get insulin, insulin binds to receptors. Yeah. So and then it kinda opens gate for the glucose to go in the cell and GLP 1 agonist do a similar thing like Ozempic.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Yeah. There's a receptor. Yes. So, exactly. So a it's a general class called the g protein coupled receptors.
There's one of the Nobel Prize in in in in medicine, the g protein couples.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Yeah. Yeah. Incredible. Yep. So so they they're, about a 150 peptides now out of a 300,000 acreage set, that are are being researched for applications.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Right?
Dr. Mark Hyman: And and there's over 80 peptides that are already approved by the FDA. Right. Right. For medical use. What the kinds of things that people should be aware of that peptides work well for, or maybe even better than traditional therapies?
Dr. Edwin Lee: Well, in my neighborhood, all my neighbors ring my doorbell and, they have some type of injury. So they they just point to where they need a peptide injected. So they point to their shoulder or to elbow, their foot, their ankles. So I I have every day someone's bringing my door felt to get a type shot. But I usually give BPC 157, which is one of my favorite peptides.
It comes from our stomach, stomach fluid. And, actually, the history is kinda interesting about that peptide. It's, I really I I can go into that, but it just recently discovered, like, in 19 nineties, in Croatia. Yeah. And anyway, I've I've actually published the 1st human clinical trial in peptides of a lot of research animals, but, I'm conducting 2 more human clinical trials in in which is really exciting
Dr. Mark Hyman: That's amazing. So bb157, for example, is a peptide that, the body produces, is it I'm assuming it's made synthetically in the lab. By putting together the sequence of, you
Dr. Edwin Lee: know, the sequence of it.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So The sequencing amino acids and and they put together that string every minute. So
it's it's it's a specific name, but it is. But it's a bio identical molecule.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Exactly. Right.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So it's like making testosterone in the lab or making various molecules.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Exactly. And and And and then BB 1 57, let's just sort of unpack that because that's a very popular one. I personally used it. I've had a bicep tendonitis. So it was doing some, restraining training and it kinda irritated. And I'm like, well, I'm just gonna shoot some BP 157 in there. I did a couple of shots and it went away.
Dr. Edwin Lee: That's awesome.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And it was it was impressive. And I've used it for other things as well and found them really very effective, for immune function, you know, for when I have I had COVID. I, for example, used TA 1 as a as a peptide using my patients. Maybe 157. Let's sort of just unpack that for a minute.
How that work in the body when you inject it, for example, systemically in your, I mean, the subcutaneous fat in your abdomen or if you have an issue in a particular muscle
Dr. Edwin Lee: attended tear.
Dr. Mark Hyman: When you attended tear, you injected into that. What's actually happening?
Dr. Edwin Lee: Well, for tendon tear or muscle tear or even, like, like I inject in a patient's joints, and they have a tear. What what it's interesting is that, the one classic study that was done is they had these rats, and they cut the Achilles.
Dr. Mark Hyman: That sounds fun. So poor rat.
Dr. Edwin Lee: And then and, basically, one group basically got PPC injecting in their stomach, and all the group does got to see group that got injected into their stomach, in a month later, they were walking again. And you don't see that in nature. You have an Achilles repaired.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Doesn't kill by itself. Get to sew it together.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Exactly. This was the first thing that was shown, and that was like, wow. Wow. So for my son, He had, basically, he was in high school. He was a cross country team.
He had, like, 6 pack. He was just, like, born to run. He's he's developed, basically, ITB injury. Iliatively, banned, and he couldn't even
Dr. Mark Hyman: cross it. Can't be caught. Right?
Dr. Edwin Lee: Yeah. So he just could not even get in and out of the car. And I told him that he was in 9th grade. I said, some I can inject DTC into your,
Speaker 3: you
Dr. Edwin Lee: know, into your lake. And he said, you aren't effing doing that. So I
Dr. Mark Hyman: had to show him some flights,
Dr. Edwin Lee: and I showed him the rat. I had a short data. Yeah. And he goes, okay. You can eject.
And then literally, you know, his it was, I don't know, 15 at that time. He quickly recovered, and, like,
Dr. Mark Hyman: a week later, he's running again. That's amazing.
Dr. Edwin Lee: It's amazing. And so it actually helps, their multiple, theories on how it how it could help. But then number 1, it reduces inflammation. It recruits your immune system to basically heal, but The one part is there's a receptor called the, fatclin c receptor that, activates your growth hormone receptor. So it's a pathway to help growth hormone receptors, to be activated so that whatever growth hormone you have, you can actually heal faster.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So growth hormone is really involving healing and repair.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Exactly. It's an an it's an antibiotic hormone, but you need the reception and that's what, BPC 157 does. And there was a study that once they stopped it 3 days later, they still had high expression of essentially. So if you use growth hormone peptides with basically, VPC and TB4, you will heal much after. So I have people all I've so many patients who've had all these massive injuries.
Dr. Mark Hyman: The test of oral and somorol and peptides, you mean, adding Yeah.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Yeah. Cjc 1295 Teslamoreland. Yes. They they can all help heal faster too.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Amazing. So so so we're by helping, for example, growth hormone, there may be mechanisms. Actually, we don't really understand yet. What you said in the route was interesting as they just injected into the abdominal fat.
Dr. Edwin Lee: It's a signaling molecule. So it basically tells about it. But but
Dr. Mark Hyman: you didn't have to inject into Achilles
Dr. Edwin Lee: They did not inject even near the
Dr. Mark Hyman: Does it work better if you inject it near the site of injury?
Dr. Edwin Lee: It always was better. But that study was, like, truly, like, mind blowing in the belly of the
Dr. Mark Hyman: rat.
Dr. Edwin Lee: And the killing field.
Dr. Mark Hyman: That's quite amazing.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Yeah.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And and, you know, In in in, you know, in some ways, peptides are used to treat, you know, injury or illness. Right? Like, for example, BP 157 or insulin, Ozempic, you could say, would be something that would be a semaglutide peptide that would be used to treat obesity or die BDs or to help with various things that it helped with. But but many of the peptides are are not really treating disease so much as as bioregulators that, regulate our bodily functions to optimize them. Right.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Right? And and my favorite one regards to bioregulators is Epi Tallan. Yeah. E p I t h a l o n. And that was discovered by Doctor Taronson.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And so what for for amino acids, it seems like what would
Dr. Edwin Lee: it do comes naturally from our pineal gland. Yeah. And as we get older, like, our thymus gland, it will calcify and will level up and you lose melatonin and you lose Epic Allen from the perennial 1. And when you lose Epic Allen, what happens is your cells that are supposed to self replicate gets stuck in g 2. So there's a self lubrication.
So if you want a new skin cell, body basically can get rid of the solstice skin cell and then you generate new skin cells. Inside our body, we can generate new heart cells, new myos new liver cells, new characters. But our
Dr. Mark Hyman: ability gets less sick at all.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Exactly. Because we're losing epithelone. Mhmm. And epithelone basically turns on cell cycle it's the peptide to make you younger. And I have patients who have, prediabetes or a type 2 diabetes.
Some of them have reduction of their location or even get off their insulin. I have patients who, basically, their macular degeneration is improving. Their vision is going better. So it's actually making you younger, but you can't self replicate forever because then you have discovered immortality, which I haven't of any for forming, I don't think I'll ever do it, but I'll ever find it. But, anyway, I have patience hurry up, Doctor Lee, how much time.
But Epic talent is just amazing. Just I just love it.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And do you take every day? Is this something you take a cycle?
Dr. Edwin Lee: No. Like, Travison wants you to cycle it. And so I have made my patients, which is sad because the FDA has this on the chopping blocks there too. In terms of banning peptides, but you can get epi pound spray, which is actually nasal spray? No.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Under the tongue.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Under the tongue? Normally, you have to inject.
Dr. Mark Hyman: The problem is that there's many on the on the internet, but if you can get from Russia, original one, Kapsen. There's not
Dr. Edwin Lee: a lot of commerce going back and forth with Russia to China. Through China. Time. Yeah. Yeah.
Dr. Mark Hyman: The black market for BEMTEX.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Well, that this one's a spray, and this one, I trust, Doctor Robinson. Yeah.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So that, you know, these are
Speaker 3: I
Dr. Edwin Lee: don't trust the other ones. I it's Cappasone's brand.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So so you mentioned, for example, it's sort of a bathealen as a bi regular that controls are really good. Self fluff self replication, healing, repair. And so they're they're not, like, treating a disease.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Right? Exactly. So you get it. So What happens is that insulin
Dr. Mark Hyman: could treat type 1 diabetes, and that's great. But not all peptides are doing that. In fact, most of them are not. They're they're actually simply just enhancing function. Like,
Dr. Edwin Lee: Yeah. Like, yeah,
Dr. Mark Hyman: there's Like PT141, for example.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Yeah. We I mean, it's both both of us at the same peptide same time.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Yeah. That's a Yeah.
Dr. Edwin Lee: For better libido, better sex drive.
Dr. Mark Hyman: It's actually for women. Yes.
Dr. Edwin Lee: For less than this. Yes. Has been FDA approved
for that.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And and it also works for men. Yes.
Dr. Edwin Lee: I have a lot of men and women on it.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So it increases desire or arousal.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Oxytocin. Oxytocin is actually a FTE approved. Is it peptide? It's a peptide. Yeah.
Dr. Mark Hyman: It's up to you.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Yeah. So oxytocin is the blood molecule. When you get expressed when you're after sex or when new, you know, our best team.
Dr. Mark Hyman: There's a lot there's a lot of, other benefits. And my nurse practitioner, Becky Murray, is gonna do a webinar I host a monthly webinar. That is popular as yours. I you probably have thousands. I have only 30 people from on anything.
Dr. Edwin Lee: One day, I'll be at Papa's zoo, Mark.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Oh, let's see. That's good.
Dr. Edwin Lee: I no. I've done no way. I mean, you're, like, you're trying to sell alright. Well, well, let's Someone bought my books.
Dr. Mark Hyman: I bought your book. Actually, I went I went on Kindle, and it was free
Dr. Edwin Lee: because I think it's part of
Dr. Mark Hyman: Kindle Unlimited. So, really?
Dr. Edwin Lee: Yeah.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Oh, I'm gonna take it off.
Dr. Edwin Lee: I was I was gonna buy it. I was like, wow. Kidding, look at
Dr. Mark Hyman: this screen. This is this is this crazy.
Dr. Edwin Lee: I don't have time.
Dr. Mark Hyman: I got no joy. Maybe 10¢ a year from Amazon.
Dr. Edwin Lee: So so let's kinda dive in a little deeper around around some of the
Dr. Mark Hyman: use cases. And and where are you
Dr. Edwin Lee: finding, you know, that that the top of value for peptides in clinical practice and for patients. What what are the what are the ones you like to use? What are the use 4.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Well, no. No. Okay. Number 1 that I just truly love is, if he wants skin, GHK copper, Doctor Pickard discovered GHK, and it's a natural by product. So when you have collagen and basically breaks down, part of it is GHK.
Dr. Edwin Lee: So GHK can turn on your fibroblasts to make more, basically, collagen and how around gas and if
Dr. Mark Hyman: you make
Dr. Edwin Lee: your skin look better.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Yeah.
Dr. Edwin Lee: And
Dr. Mark Hyman: Do you want to inject in your face? You can put in your abdomen?
Dr. Edwin Lee: Well, we have GHK copper topical. Topical. Yeah. So I'm not that smart, not that good looking. I'm not not a great athlete, but I have good skin, even though I don't I live in Florida, and I don't even use any sunscreen, but, I use tons GHK conference.
Dr. Mark Hyman: On your face?
Dr. Edwin Lee: Oh, yeah. Tahoe. I'd love it. Yeah. And I tell all my questions.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Things like hell when you checked it.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Well, no. No. I'm talking about topical, but you can inject. And for my father who has, who passed away recently with a very aggressive cancer, T cell lymphoma I'm sorry. Small bowel.
He had a great life, and he he basically, was told you really have, like, 30 days to live. What work. And I said, alright, dad. You're, like, basically, in a walker, let me give you some peptides. And so I for cancer, I mean, there's several different types of that has vital, clerical studies.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So it's time to sign up for 1. Could help.
Dr. Edwin Lee: To help your immune system fight cancer.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. As an adjuvant. So but here's It's
Dr. Edwin Lee: not like, we're not saying it's a cure, what you're saying.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Okay. Yeah. People all all of the studies seem stage 4, most of them shows basically improvement of, more, basically longevity, the digestion of mortality. So if I miss out for one has been used, you can use, basically, MET and Kefalin, which I was using, GHK copper turns off Also, cancer genes, Epid Allen can also do that. So, I told my dad, you're gonna get some peptides, and I already drew it up.
Dr. Edwin Lee: And my dad, he goes, I don't want him. He's not gonna start. Because I don't wanna And he goes, I said, it's too late to add mom. He's gonna inject you anyway. So you
Dr. Mark Hyman: can say whatever you want, and we got 8 great months
Dr. Edwin Lee: with myself.
Dr. Mark Hyman: That's amazing. That's amazing.
Dr. Edwin Lee: So he went from, like, literally from a walker to walking two miles a day, regain his weight, and, it's incredible. Yeah. All through pet fights. Yeah. Yeah.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And nutrition
Dr. Edwin Lee: too. Yeah. Amazing. Yeah. So, you know, so kinda going down and getting into this, sort of, the rabbit hole of, like, what are the best use cases?
What are the top ties in your in your toolkit. Right? For example, I know, like, my best supplements are magnesium, vitamin d, fish oil. Like, those are my go to. Right?
Probotic. What what what are the in your
Dr. Edwin Lee: I would say, number 1 is, I I love BPC 157. You can take it orally. People with reflux. It tightens the l a s junction. I have some people get off their reflux medicine.
Dr. Mark Hyman: That's the bottom esophagus where where the kind of reflux happens Yeah.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Where has
Dr. Mark Hyman: come back up from the stomach.
Dr. Edwin Lee: And there's so many things that tighten LES junction.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Yeah. That's a lower esophageal sphincter. So like a sphincter automate or esophagus. And that that's loose in the you get rest
Speaker 3: of it.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Comes up, you get reflux GERD and all that.
Dr. Mark Hyman: That's impressive.
Dr. Edwin Lee: But BPC has FYI. I just I have people taking it and, you know, I inject peptides in their elbow. And a month later, they re injured their elbow, but they go since I've been taking that BPC, my my shoulder, I can sleep much better. So it's it's, it can improve your entire body. So I call it the wolverine peptide, so you'll get number.
Dr. Mark Hyman: They won't. So you can grow back stuff.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Yeah. So you can save Wolverine peptide. That's great.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Some people People want to buy 7. That's the top of your list. So we talked a bit about that. And it's great for injuries, for trauma, for tissue repair. Exactly.
Dr. Edwin Lee: And and I I think It's, I think it's it's one of the ones that I tend to rely on because I think it it really, personally, it's helped me, and I think it helps a lot of patients. What what other, and they're other appetizer?
Dr. Mark Hyman: I love thymus and alpha 1 because as we get older, our thymus gland shrivels up, and we're trying to basically help the thymus gland. I mean, your immune system get healthier. And as you know, more you know, you gotta have a health care immune system because once it goes down, it goes to two ways. It goes to cancer
Speaker 3: Right.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Or to infection. So Yeah.
Dr. Edwin Lee: We had immunosenescence. Gotcha. Which would be the aging of our immune system, which is why when you're older, you get more infections. You can't fight them as well. You die of pneumonia.
Don't respond as well to vaccines. And, you get, you know, looking at COVID, people who are elderly had the higher risk of death. And So I think you're you're talking about a very important phenomena that we don't really have a good treatment for with traditional medicine.
Dr. Edwin Lee: So generally, I tell them I pay to use, like, 250 micrograms, of, find this out for 1, like, once
Speaker 3: or twice a week just
Dr. Edwin Lee: as as just
Dr. Mark Hyman: Not daily.
Dr. Edwin Lee: You can use daily if you're sick, like, higher doses. Like, you have,
Dr. Mark Hyman: if I can or
Dr. Edwin Lee: flip Yeah. My wife, one day, she goes, She once she gets sick, it's like, it's a nightmare because I don't know if one one to drop the kids off. Do I give lunch money? Do I where
Dr. Mark Hyman: do from what? You own the playbook for
Dr. Edwin Lee: I just this is the only driver. So, yeah, I don't I I mean, so when my kids were younger, my wife is closed. I took everything, the c, the d, the zinc, you know, slivered, coming down with something. And I said,
she goes, you have something and I go, yeah. Yeah.
In the fridge, I have the time to set up for 1. So I gave her remember this clearly way before COVID, probably, I mean, 2000 staying or something like that. So I gave her about 1:1 milligram of time is not for 1. Next morning, she was perfect.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Yeah.
Dr. Edwin Lee: I said, thank god. Because if she was sick, I wouldn't know how to handle We
Dr. Mark Hyman: don't we don't have the cure for the common cold, but but if you take this, if you start
Dr. Edwin Lee: to feel
Dr. Mark Hyman: sick, you know, when you get that feeling, I think I'm getting sick and you take it. Mhmm. It can be for value effective. Oh. So that's exactly exactly.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Yeah. What what else besides the T1 and BP157?
Dr. Mark Hyman: I love Eputallent. Then generally, we do 5 milligrams, sub q daily for, like, 10 days. If you skip a day or, like, the weekend, you forget, that's okay. Just just make sure you finish the vial. So one vial will have 50, 50 milligrams of, at the island twice a year.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So you said it twice a year. Yeah. Of course. So, like, 10 days, twice a year. It's kind of a reset for your longevity.
Dr. Edwin Lee: And I had people, like, for me, when I was doing it, It's amazing. My sleep, I was on melatonin every year, higher and higher, higher doses. And do you know Epi Fallon turns on 3 genes? Your pineal gland to make, and my wife goes, how come you're not taking me to tell anyone? It's like, I don't need it.
I could sleep without it. So it can reset your pineal gland. Help you sleep better. So I love that be found because as we get older, I don't know. And you mentioned the
Dr. Mark Hyman: the Russian version by the nasal script, but you also take
Dr. Edwin Lee: Not nasal. Under the tongue. Under the tongue.
Dr. Mark Hyman: But you can also do it through
Dr. Edwin Lee: injections through a 503a compound pharmacy of prescription.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Yeah. Amazing. And and the The,
Dr. Edwin Lee: the problem is that most people, when they hear this, they're gonna get addicted to Epi Palant. Do not use it every day for the rest of your life because you're gonna stop the magic in terms of self propagation. It will eventually, like, the hay flip, theory is just it's kinda stuff in terms of it's no longer just
Dr. Mark Hyman: because a little bit's good doesn't mean a lot's better.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Exactly. So, yeah, just be patient and don't don't take it every day of the of the year because it's gonna eventually not working. Now now, you know, anything that sort
Dr. Mark Hyman: of happens as we get older is, is, we end up with with, hormonal changes. You know, lower testosterone. We have, you know, lower growth hormone. We tend to lose muscle. We we sort of age as a result of changes in our hormonal environment.
And what was interesting a lot of these peptides can be involve in regulating hormone function. And
Dr. Edwin Lee: Well, yes. There there are, like, regards to women that they're done with the they're in postmenopause, they're finished with emergency cycle. Sometimes I tell them, like, you may start your period coming back. And if you get pregnant, please mention me because I wanna be famous, eventually, acquire, because I can't be famous like you. So I have goes to other reps.
So, anyway, yeah, it's amazing. They go, my period was gone 5 years ago, and I was coming back. So I don't know how long it's gonna keep on going. But they've in the animal studies
Dr. Mark Hyman: Using which peptide?
Dr. Edwin Lee: Epi thawin. Epi thawin. Yeah. Interesting. Function gets better.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So it works not just on the pineal gland, but also
Dr. Edwin Lee: Other other organs. Maybe the hypothalamus or Could help the hearts. Yeah. There's because it turns on gene expression. Which is interesting.
Research approaches that get kicked on and things work. So epithelens, like, to me.
Dr. Mark Hyman: That's a good one.
Dr. Edwin Lee: I Many
Dr. Mark Hyman: people are using other ones like, kisopeptan, which is for testosterone.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Yes. Kispeptan 10. It's, may work, like, can add a row and, to help with just not strong function. But, yeah, those are peptides, that may or may not work in men it's it's confusing because the data was IV, and they would do it, like, 24 hours per body weight. And it's hard to convert that to how much do you do it sub q.
So, anyway, I have some some guys, with some better testosterone level with using, expecting. Then there's
Dr. Mark Hyman: the whole growth hormone,
Speaker 3: category of
Dr. Mark Hyman: of supportive pet tides, like Desamorelin
Speaker 3: Right.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Semoranlin CGC. Right. Field 95. Can you talk about those and and what role they have in what they do.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Yeah. There's, really interesting in terms of growth hormone peptides. So I just wanna start off with, all the side effects of all the peptides that class has the most common might affect. Interesting. So it may affect about 20% of patients, and they can't take it anymore.
Dr. Edwin Lee: They really gets well in their injection sites. And then some people really get really bad rashes and it's it's the entire body. So, I I warn him that, you know, if you see your wealth disclosure, we're going to stop. You're you're you're developing antibodies to it, and you're you're not gonna be even if you stop and retake it, like, like, 6 months later, it's gonna happen Yeah. Again.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Yeah. Your body doesn't like it.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Now everyone, I had some pimples on for 5, 6 years, and nobody actually is doing well. So they're all very slightly they're very similar, but they there's 2 receptors on the pituitary gland. There's a ghrelin receptor.
Speaker 3: Mhmm.
Dr. Edwin Lee: And then there's basically the growth hormone receptor. So these peptides can interact to either one. And, like, you would do CJC with 1295, which which is part of the growth hormone. It's, like, part of the active part of the growth hormone. That activates, the pituitary, gland at the glaucoma receptor.
And then iframe, basically, inter with the grueling receptors. So in combination, you have a higher level of, basically, growth hormone beliefs.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And what are the consequences of having that higher level of growth hormone release?
Dr. Edwin Lee: Well, this is the controversy about growth hormone. Does growth hormone you younger or older. Yeah. It alerts all over the place.
Speaker 3: So I
Dr. Edwin Lee: am doing a study on that, which is
Speaker 3: because I could show
Dr. Edwin Lee: you literature on both sides of those.
Speaker 3: But generally, growth
Dr. Edwin Lee: hormones consider the fact that youth, But if you overuse it, I think it's bad.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Yeah. I
Dr. Edwin Lee: agree. Yeah.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So I think in lieu of use and not body building use, I think too far?
Dr. Edwin Lee: So so these these compounds, you know, sort of hinted at a little bit, but, you know, they they are powerful bio molecules, like Ozempic, for example, or semaglutide, we're finding that, you know, in the doses that it's being given for weight loss and for diabetes, at at at 2 years plus, we're seeing significant side effects, like increasing bowel wall thickness, small bowel obstruction, pancreatitis, and other things. And and so these are not completely risk free compounds. So how do you navigate the issue around safety?
Dr. Mark Hyman: We
Dr. Mark Hyman: think the older natural compound is safe I could take them, and people are playing with them.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Yeah. So with use to send a blue tide or, Ozempic or know, which was appetite, which is, and there are others, that's, this is a balance just they've got FDA approval for. It's just appetite from weight loss there. So just but the thing is that I'm with kind of the king of the GLP 1 way before the movie starts. I wish I got the hashtag skinny pen, but anyway, I don't even do social media.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So are you recommending semaglutide to your patients before Ozempic was sort of a big deal?
Dr. Edwin Lee: Refuse. I have patients, basically, you you're stuck. They go, I just need a little help. And then we work on lifestyle modification. I want you to basically, like, really work on activity, you know, get your steps in, try to get you a high intensive interval.
Let's clean up the diet and maybe use it sparingly
. I I'm okay with that. Like, maybe 3 months a year, like, during the holidays, they know that, you know, Thanksgiving Christmas, too much temptation. And then after that, you know, they go, okay. I'm fine.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So Yeah. I don't know. If you can taper off or maybe use it sparingly, I think it's perfectly fine. There is a product that's called a Callow Curve. It's a natural herb.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Actually activates, basically the biliary receptor in the, small intestine. It releases your natural GLP-one. Right. Yeah. CCT to inhibit appetite.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So I have some of my patients. I go, let's see if you can use this, and get off here.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Yeah.
Dr. Mark Hyman: I mean, there's a whole set of ways of naturally to raise GLP 1 Right. Whether it's certain compounds for simple hemolyint, hairy buckwheat works in the lower to test them with these case receptors to increase JPI 1, various kinds of of of polyphenols and other things that help. So it's it's definitely not just the drug that can do it. But you but there are, you know, concerns around side effects if you tend to use these things properly, if you don't have proper guidance, if you don't
Speaker 3: Right.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Understand the risks, you can, you know, get anybody as you mentioned, like you said, to the growth hormone you know, analogs, or you can end up with with maybe other untoward side effects that you're not even aware of. So what are the kinds of things that she people should be worried about concerned about what we what peptides?
Dr. Edwin Lee: Well, I think in general, peptides are generally very safe, and efficacious, the ones that are concerned with the growth hormone releasing peptides. Mhmm. And, MOTS C, I did see one person. That's where the might Hondra to Monica, for better energy. I've had one with anaphylactic, and I had another doctor friend.
Dr. Edwin Lee: He's a co founder of Coca by society. He also saw one antifragile reaction. So just gotta be careful. They're they're rare. Satisfied, but, you know, medications, like, you know, even taking, you know, aspirin, you can get anaphylactic.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Mhmm. Yeah. No. I agree. I was taking aspirin almost plead to death in his stomach.
Dr. Edwin Lee: So
Dr. Mark Hyman: Yeah. So the the, this field is is really just exploding, but at the same time, there's a lot of pushback from, you know, the government and the FDA to try to regulate these in ways. And and one of the things that I caught earlier that you said, which which, got my attention was that there's not a lot of human clinical trials. A lot of the data you're talking about is animal please?
Dr. Edwin Lee: Well, not all peptides. One of the peptide I just, published was on thymus and alpha 1, and it just it's open access. So you can find it. It's the comprehensive review of the safety and efficacy of time for 1 in human clinical trials. So there's 11,000 patients worldwide that have been in on human I mean, clinical trials on Pakistan for 1, And, basically, it's been safe.
Dr. Mark Hyman: I mean, those things efficacy based on this.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Right? Yeah. I mean, efficacy, most of them basically improved. I mean, they they were doing studies like hep b, hep see. Now there's newer drugs and all that.
Dr. Edwin Lee: But back then, they had nothing.
Speaker 3: Mhmm.
Dr. Edwin Lee: So they were using Pampers to find this out for 1 and for chronic hip and and this is, like, interesting. If you look, go back in history and you read it, and it's like, well, you know, there are better ones here or no. But
Dr. Mark Hyman: Yeah. Well, I remember you heard we're seeing China during COVID. Studies on tier 1 and co on COVID treatment.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Which in some studies shows the reduced mortality. Yeah. Unfortunately, the one compound pharmacy got this whole peptide upset with, FDA, and it was a compound pharmacy, advertised that there was a cure for COVID.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Oh, wow.
Dr. Edwin Lee: And then you say cure to the FDA with COVID.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Oh, you're gonna be shut down. That's why they were upset. So that that's was one of the reasons why it's on the banned list. But it has been approved as an orphan drug in the seventies.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And when
Dr. Edwin Lee: they did 1st clinical trial with children born without time friends. And they they even if Diego's, let's get this going. Let's see if we could help these children. And they all it was remarkable. It saved their lives.
Yeah. So this is before time itself on the precursor of it, but, anyway, it's like, hey, it's safe. It's around. It's it does so that's why I wrote the paper. So basically, show it to these attorneys who are gonna eventually, follow Lawson gets FDA about this.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Yeah. Well, that it's it's a whole it's a whole problem. Often, you know, we find it supplements or things that really work well. Tend to be regulated in ways that are confusing to me because they work. They're safe.
There's a long history of use. There's plenty of evidence, and their bioidentical compounds are things that the body makes for users. And and I just find it sort of striking that, you know, maybe I I I don't wanna be conspiracy theorists, but, you know, there's since pushback, maybe from pharma, to to kind of try to reduce access to certain compounds because they work too well.
Dr. Edwin Lee: That's more. Well, I you know, I I have series 2, but, anyway, I I just really want for people else there, especially your group, is to get on to safe peptides.org. And, hopefully, you'll have that on your podcast there. And just it's really quick to sign up tishing, send it to your friends and family. We need more signatures.
Dr. Edwin Lee: And, I just grassroots, and I go on every a lot of radio shows podcast, and we get a little blip after in the podcast.
Dr. Mark Hyman: That's great. Yeah. I know. I think it's important. Edwin says it's important.
You know, you know, we we wanna be able to have access to compounds that can support our health. And we have to be we have to be used judiciously. They have to be prescribed by a physician. You have to be under someone care. That's what they're doing.
But in that context, they should be available to be used. And what's happening now is the restriction on that use So if you go to save peptides.org .com.org. Save peptides.org, you can basically sign up efficient And and that will help to the FDA to perhaps reduce their their restrictions or potential banned. They're not banned yet. There's a pose ban.
Dr. Edwin Lee: So I think I think we're we're gonna still see it's being fought. There's a lot of legal cases going on about this. In in in terms of a few other use cases, you know, one of the one of the things that it happens as we get older and often the big problem for people is energy. We lose energy. And, one of the fundamental things that happens as we get older is our mitochondria don't work as well, you know, produce energy from food and oxygen as well.
So, basically, our our our engine starts to slow down. And I and then we see, you know, obviously, she had a two year old running around bouncing up the walls and, you know, full of energy and you see, like, a ninety two year old and they're moving super slow. And a lot of that has to do with mitochondria.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Oh, yeah. Might have had a function is huge.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So so talk about why the the importance of mitochondria and what, what the use of peptides are in helping to improve the function in helping the mitochondria and how they work?
Dr. Edwin Lee: So as you mentioned, mitochondrial functions critical for optimal And, I we checked in our office, NAD levels. So, I say Nancy Apple Dog because nicketindamy that, I mean, I do
Dr. Mark Hyman: And it's not something you can really check easily at a regular lab. So use a special lab.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Yeah. It's Genfiniti lab.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Genfiniti. Can you spell that?
Dr. Edwin Lee: It's a finger, finger stick and it's jinifit y.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Okay. We'll put that in the show notes, everybody. But Jinfiniti lab to check your NAD levels is
Dr. Edwin Lee: And
Dr. Mark Hyman: Can you get to order yourself? You have to go through your name?
Dr. Edwin Lee: I think you can order yourself. Okay. And, basically, you it's it measures your white blood cells, interest cellular NAD levels. So, it's a fingerprint test. There's, like, 5 holes circles.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And if we draw your blood, little extra, we'll just put
Dr. Edwin Lee: it Yeah. Yeah. On this. And we let it dry. And there's the little droppers you have to do, but we
send it in involved rather than one at a time because things get lost in the mail.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So
Dr. Edwin Lee: Yeah. Anyway. But the thing is that my wife's NAD level was low. It I went 20, not optimal, and I was 30, a little better, but, I always had more energy than my wife. And, so I told her, let's try this product that has, n n n.
Dr. Edwin Lee: So I tell my patients like Nancy, Michael Nancy, And it's a it stands for a big cover holder, but it's a precursor of NAD. So a month later, we rechecked, and she went from 20 40. I went to 30 to 50.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Amazing.
Dr. Edwin Lee: And it's amazing because I like to ride, because I'm not a professional cyclist, but, anyway, I like to ride with younger, people that Keep up?
Dr. Mark Hyman: Yeah. Try to keep up then.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Oh, yeah. I mean, I mean, there was a group ride. They go, oh, you're young. I go, no.
Dr. Mark Hyman: I have higher NAD levels.
Dr. Edwin Lee: So this is like the enhanced Olympics then. Right?
Dr. Mark Hyman: Exactly.
Dr. Edwin Lee: So, you know what? All the athletes are taking an NMM to improve their energy, but you can measure it. And the second thing, I mean, from my cousin
Dr. Mark Hyman: not peptide.
Dr. Edwin Lee: No. It's a no. It's a supplement that the FDA has not banned, on since March of 2023 against Amazon. It was available for over 10, 15 years. Davis Sinclair.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Yeah. It's still available, but it's it's
Dr. Edwin Lee: It's through physician's office, but now on Amazon. So it's it's it's harder and harder, but I think Davis Sinclair is, making it a drug.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So Yeah. Yeah. Which is a shame.
Dr. Edwin Lee: It's it's natural.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Yeah. Exactly.
Dr. Edwin Lee: It's not right away.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So so your NAD, but you're talking about how to optimize even an AD with another peptide?
Dr. Edwin Lee: No. It's not a peptide. It's a it's a B vitamin But the other thing is what I'm trying to do is in conjunction with that, yeah, is that, you gotta optimize sleep too. So I think Epi Fallon could with better sleep, and, you'll get your rim up and, you know, a lot of people have adrenal fatigue. So you gotta you gotta get that, deep sleep, rim sleep up a good good good quality of sleep.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So it's not quantity. It's also quality. But, anyway, there is a peptide since we're talking about Peptide. It's MOTSC, Mont C. It's a mitochondrial peptide.
Dr. Edwin Lee: And it just basically turns on the mitochondria to work faster. And, for when I've tried it, the first dose is like, okay. Good. 2nd time I tried it, I was like, and the third time was, damn, this is great.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Is this something you use every day long term?
Dr. Edwin Lee: Or is it I I I do it intermittently. So, but I'm you know, there's so many different compound pharmacies that could, and the problem is I I'm a wiz when it comes to injection. And if it burns, I don't like the burn. Yeah. And the the ones that I were using never
Dr. Edwin Lee: And then we they don't really they gotta stop tailor made, you know, stop making it.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Yep.
Dr. Edwin Lee: And we had to go elsewhere. And I just so I prefer IV pushes if I get an IV of nutrition, I also do my Moxie push. It doesn't burn at all. I feel great. But I do it individually because must not see burns, and I'm a wind was
Dr. Mark Hyman: I mean, I can
Dr. Edwin Lee: I can go in cold water? They must cold plunge. I don't like to break.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Could you use it every day? The issue?
Dr. Edwin Lee: Well, you're supposed to see, you can do the protocol is 10 milligrams once a week or 5 milligrams sub q twice a week. You could go a little further if you have an event, like, you're you're you're trying to, like
Dr. Mark Hyman: Yeah.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Run faster. Like, you know, you have a marathon coming up with some of that. In general, just, wants to keep constantly.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And and are are there any risks to it?
Dr. Edwin Lee: Well, when, like I said before, I did have one patient developed an ecological reaction. And, she was she thanked that she was by she looked by herself, but she had a wherewithal to basically knew something was wrong
Dr. Edwin Lee: So she was in Arizona. She ran outside. Thank god. Her neighbor was there. She said call 911, and she collapsed outside.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Wow.
Dr. Edwin Lee: And then she basically, like, a month later goes, can I try it again? No.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Right.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Never. But she goes, I lost so much weight.
Speaker 3: It's so
Dr. Edwin Lee: good. So that's another benefit with Moxie.
Dr. Mark Hyman: It helps with weight loss.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Yes. Speed some metabolism.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Yeah. From to your
Dr. Edwin Lee: white fat to brown
Speaker 3: fat too.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So it increases energy production and burning. Right? So it increases your metabolism
Dr. Edwin Lee: Right.
Dr. Mark Hyman: The other a few other mitochondrial peptides like SS31 and human. And can you talk a little bit about how those work, what they do, how they're used
Dr. Edwin Lee: Yeah. SS yeah. So SS31 is another interesting, mitochondrial uptied that can help. I I I kinda explained to my patients that, you know, as you get older, it's like your underwear you wear that same underwear over time. You lose that elastic.
Dr. Edwin Lee: So your mitochondria gets weak in in SS31 kind of snaps it back in place. So then the basically, the, you know, the electron chain, where you produce all the ATP and energy, basically, it's better form. So if the confirmation of the mitochondria doesn't work, it it's gets weak, that's why your production gets weak. So it doesn't speed up the mitochondrith, but it helps.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Basically, their structure.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Exactly.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And what about human in?
Dr. Edwin Lee: I haven't used that yet.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Oh, have you?
Dr. Edwin Lee: A little. Yeah. A little.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Okay. So I think I think there's a I mean, there's, like you said, there's 300,000
Dr. Edwin Lee: I don't know how many I know.
Dr. Mark Hyman: I I I I always
Dr. Edwin Lee: I get on podcast and always someone wants to stop me. It goes, what about blah blah blah blah blah. I never heard. Yeah. So then they'll go 1 hour, talk it, giving me an election.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Yeah. Yeah. So I don't know all of the peptides.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So so the quote you really is is, you know, when you're you're you're seeing a patient, And we talked a lot about, you know, peptides where everything's gonna be in the show notes here. So people can learn more about them. We're gonna put links to, the studies you mentioned. We're gonna be at links to save
Dr. Edwin Lee: same application. Yep. If you can donate too, that'd be great. It's time to get a phase 1 clinical trial for DPC 157.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Yeah.
Dr. Edwin Lee: So if you got a few $1,000,000 to do some research.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Trying to take
Dr. Edwin Lee: millions, but, too. So yeah.
Dr. Mark Hyman: No. It's important. And anything you know, even $20 will work. And the more research that we have, the better off we're gonna be to understand these. But but they are kind of excite exciting new therapeutic in medicine that I never really learned about, except being insulin. And and I think that, the help will across a range of of human, functions that tend to decline as we get older. So they seem to be sort of an adjunct in longevity and a lot longevity space for using this. You know, what are your sort of top longevity peptides?
Dr. Edwin Lee: Well, number one is Epic Island.
Dr. Mark Hyman: That one, you mentioned twice a year, 10 days, reset. Right. The pineal gland.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Exactly.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Okay. Got it. And and in terms of the you know, the the the kind of,
Dr. Edwin Lee: the second would be time itself, one for your immune system.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Yeah. Those 2.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Yeah.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So there's something like there's some heavy hitters or some powerhouse peptides that are kind of go to for you that are part of your standard practice. But when someone comes in to see you, as a patient,
you know, you know, not everybody's gonna be coming to see you because of peptide. How do you decide when to use peptides? How do you know which peptides to use? How do you know how long to use them for? How do you create the protocols that are specific for those patients?
Dr. Edwin Lee: Great. Great question, Mark. Because, when I see the patients, the first thing I do is I try to get their health history, and also what labs do they have. Yeah. I'm a lab nerd.
And, and I try to optimize the patient first. Yeah. And if they, you know, do a traditional approach first and then maybe take a dive into peptide. But I usually, like, say if they're a diabetic, optimize them first, and then see if they want to try it.
Dr. Mark Hyman: They often will because nothing else has worked, like,
Dr. Edwin Lee: Yeah. Exactly. And then, and, like, I had a patient who was, prediabetes. She she goes, this is amazing because her a1c was, like, 6.4. She didn't wanna go on metformin. And I said, let's do Epic talon. And, I said, let's do it, you know, 10 milligrams, sub q for 10 days, and we repeat that 6 months later. Mhmm.
And, and, basically, she is so happy because a1c has been normalized. Wow. And she lost weight. She's healthier. And she goes, well, the idea is to help your pancreas. Regenerate, and and make those new beta cells. And, this is, like, exciting. You know, you can't self replicate your entire life. And then you have things that basically your pancreas. You gotta, keep
Dr. Edwin Lee: and, what is it your alcohol intake, you gotta watch out for? And so I I I told her you can't self replicate forever, but at least you get new pancreas cells and try to keep your your nutrition good.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So you're you're using a full kind of functional medicine approach and addressing diet, lifestyle, sleep, exercise, stress reduction. Using peptides, they're using supplements, and it's a comprehensive approach. And so it's not just you need peptides and your god you need a comprehensive approach, and then you'll get the best results. You optimize things.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Right. I mean, because if you don't have everything else, you can just take pet tax and it's not gonna work.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So, so in terms of, the the the concerns I have about the FDA and these peptides, is that, you know, the people are gonna get them underground, they're gonna get them from sources that are reliable. There might be safety issues around them. How do people navigate that issue?
Dr. Edwin Lee: And you know, you can Google peptides, and you see tons and tons of
Dr. Mark Hyman: Well, if you go on YouTube, it's like, by peptides.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Yeah. Exactly.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And and I'm not sure these are safe peptides or effective peptides or even the peptides they say they are.
Dr. Edwin Lee: So the purity's huge. So that's why I'm really, into the the safe peptide, basically, I I tell my patients, like, I I tell my patients, like, I if if you don't, buy from a source, like, a compound pharmacy, that can be trusted, I I can't help you because some of my patients go, hey, can I take this? I go, I'm not gonna name the website, but, I have some people go they show me this, you know, bottle and it's you know, there's no company name. It's just, like, a white bottle. And it's like, what is it? Because I don't know.
Dr. Mark Hyman: You're injecting yourself with this?
Dr. Edwin Lee: Yeah.
Dr. Mark Hyman: It's like that
Dr. Edwin Lee: DIY medicine.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So
Dr. Edwin Lee: Yeah. I I just tell them, please don't do that. I mean, you know, it's so that that's the that's why I got into this whole peptide world to do my own clinical research and show the data and then, have a, basically, a compound pharmacy that I could trust.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Yep. So I'm in other words that are the other issues you should be aware of when people are thinking about peptides, should they be careful? You know, other than just getting them from reliable sources and
Dr. Edwin Lee: and knowing the
Dr. Mark Hyman: purity is is is good, you know, I think that's probably a big big chunk of it.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Yeah. Because I mean, people just have to be careful because, you know, you you don't know what you're gonna get if you just order from just and these websites look great. And some of them even had, like, ads on TV. Mhmm. I mean, I'm serious. It's like, wow. You know, the FDA is gonna ban them, but
Dr. Mark Hyman: Wow.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Anyway, I think the thing is, with you mentioning about, things to be careful is, is that, when you're taking these peptides, just you really need to be under a doctor's guidance, you know, with it because, you know, if you just take it on your own, you don't know, you know, what's your health history like? You don't know, you know, if you're allergic to it. Like, say, for instance, if you have someone with autoimmune disease, yeah, you can cause a flare up if you just take peptides by itself. Yeah. So Yeah. So you gotta be really careful with that. So you just I I just say you really need a, trusted health care practitioner and and, someone to watch over you.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So you
Dr. Edwin Lee: I I I don't know if it's, you know, like, other people doing peptides, but I like to see, like, sometimes like, if if I can help with all the labs, and I could see if, like, their markers for inflammation are higher, you know, then I could work on other things with them. And, you know, because you don't know, like, I had one person who, you know, had high markers for inflammation, I didn't put them on peptides first. I had them work on lifestyle, clean it up, and, they're, you know, the markers came down. And, you know, so you gotta just be careful. I mean, you know, but it's I'm very passionate about it.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And and for people who are thinking about, you know, where do I start? Because we mentioned a lot of peptides. Yeah. And and, you know, there are ones that are have more evidence and others that have less evidence. Are there sort of tried and true that you would recommend people consider looking at to get started with? Or are there areas that you think people should be focused on if they're thinking about peptides?
Dr. Edwin Lee: You know, I think the most common thing that people are looking for is weight loss. Yeah. So and I think you can start with a diet that's more anti inflammatory and and you could do high protein, low carbs. And you can do also, like, you know, like, more, you know, not not taking, like, if you have a gluten sensitivity or if you're trying to watch out for your food sensitivities, but then
Dr. Mark Hyman: what's the gluten sensitivity?
Dr. Edwin Lee: Yeah. But the thing is with peptides, I I I think just you know, work on your lifestyle first. And then, if, you know, your doctor, like, or you see a functional medicine doctor and if if if, you know, everything else is optimized, then you could start with like I like TA1. And…
Dr. Mark Hyman: If you mentioned that a lot because it's…
Dr. Edwin Lee: just it works. And then you could start with maybe BPC 157.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Those are sort of the top 2.
Dr. Edwin Lee: Yeah. Top 2. So so I think the question is really the thing to highlight is these are therapeutics that work across a wide range of areas of your body, not just treating disease, but optimizing function, longevity, helping repair and heal from injury and trauma and even potentially treat a range of diseases from autoimmune disease to cancer, to diabetes, to, you know, many things that we see as as people get older that decline in their function. So it's a very exciting new frontier. It's something that you should be working with a practitioner on who knows what they're doing.
Make sure you get the peptides from a reliable source. Make sure the purity is good and and then get educated. So I think, you know, there are websites out there where you can learn about peptides like the international peptides society. Like, you mentioned the, you know, the the safe peptides.org and get educated about it, but this is an exciting new area. And I think, in the future, we're gonna see more and more peptides available, more and more research.
And, it's it's an exciting frontier because we're we're learning how to tap into our body's own healing and repair systems to optimize function to enhance longevity to improve tissue repair to regulate all the things that go wrong with us as we get older. And that's kinda exciting to me. It's it's it's a little bit, of a like, mind blowing. I think. Yeah.
Dr. Edwin Lee: It's mind blowing, exciting, and and you know what? I'm just a huge fan of your podcast.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Well, thank you, Edwin. It's been a delight having you on the podcast. And if anybody wants to learn more, you can go to the show notes, we'll be linking to, safe peptides.org, to, the websites to some of the research that Edwin talked about. And if you've been listening to this podcast and you've been thinking about peptides, hopefully, now you know a lot more about them and you're gonna be more curious and maybe check it out for yourself. And if you've been loving this podcast, please share with your friends and family on social media.
Leave a comment. How have you been using peptides? Have they been helping you? We'd love to know. And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and we'll see you next time on the doctor's pharmacy.
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