Peptides can cost around USD$100 per gram, and BPC-157, in particular, has a price tag of up to USD$500 a gram. Also, BPC-157 products aren’t 100% pure. At most, you’ll get a product with around 10% bioavailability. In other words, BPC-157 is costly.
Moreover, there’s a chance that BPC-157 conflicts with other medications or substances. Looking at these facts, it’s clear that research on BPC-157 is still incomplete, but why do people insist on using BPC-157?
This guide will show you what BPC-157 is and its potential benefits.
What Is BPC-157?
Peptides are chains of amino acids that can be as few as two or as many as 50.
Peptides are present in all living organisms, so it’s a given that you will have countless peptides within your body. The reason why peptides are popular in many industries is that they can act as a supplement in case your body is lacking this chemical compound.
BPC stands for ‘body protecting compound’ and is a type of peptide consisting of 15 amino acids. What makes BPC-157 stand out from other peptides is the fact that it isn’t natural. It’s extracted from a peptide located in your gut. Hence, many scientists call it ‘synthetic.’ But, aside from being synthetic, there are other things BPC-157 is known for.
For instance, many athletes and skin-conscious individuals claim that BPC-157 is useful for skincare or strengthening. Unfortunately, there’s still no proof of these claims.
With that said, let this be a reminder that research references in this guide all involve rats or other animals, and no human testing has been done at the moment.
Here are some of the reasons why people use BPC-157:
- Anti-Inflammatory
Research found that BPC-157 can act as an anti-inflammatory agent on rats. Hence, test subjects with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) symptoms show less severe symptoms due to a decrease in inflammation.
For your reference, IBS is a condition involving the digestive system and has symptoms such as bloating, stomach cramps, and constipation, among others.
It’s also worth noting that inflammation can affect not only your gut health, but also other parts of your body. For instance, inflammation can put your skin and bones in bad shape when not taken care of for a long time.
Aside from IBS, BPC-157 can also treat other digestive problems of rats, such as:
- Stomach ulcer
- Gastrointestinal fistulas
- Inflamed esophagus
Although BPC-157 mostly affects inflammations around the gut, it also affects other parts of your body, such as the spine. For example, a study shows that rats with arthritis are showing fewer symptoms after taking BPC-157.
Hence, senior citizens would be one of the main targets of BPC-157 if ever research about this substance progresses. Speaking of which, scientists also claim that this drug will help athletes.
- Healing Factor
Athletes tend to accumulate injuries throughout their career, three of the most common being sprains, strains, and knee injuries, all of which involve tendons and ligaments. Some athletes may even have to retire without reaching their peak due to such injuries.
On that note, BPC-157 is capable of healing injured tendons and ligaments of rats. Perhaps, this is the main reason why researchers think that BPC-157 is a wonder drug for athletes.
Numerous studies are leading to the healing factor of BPC-157 on tendons.
- Angiogenesis
Angiogenesis refers to the creation of new blood vessels through existing vessels by splitting and sprouting. This process plays a vital role in healing.
The good news is that research has found that BPC-157 can increase the amount of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF); directly triggering angiogenesis can sometimes speed up the process. As such, cuts, bruises, and other wound types heal much faster in rats that took BPC-157.
- 4‐Hydroxynonenal
4‐Hydroxynonenal or HNE is a chemical compound that plays a vital role in cell signal transduction. Although this compound initially has different effects, a study shows that BPC-157 can stimulate the positive benefits of HNE.
Doing so will prevent any adverse effects of HNE that may hinder growth; instead, it assists in growth and reproduction.
- Tendon Fibroblasts
Growth hormone receptors (GHRs) can be found in different parts of the body. However, research shows that GHRs located in tendon fibroblasts seem to increase gene expression when BPC-157 is ingested.
Since fibroblasts play a critical role in wound healing, this improvement shows that BPC-157 has a potential benefit in recovery. Nevertheless, further research is needed to confirm this claim.
- Healing Inhibitors
Corticosteroids refer to a class of drugs that are often used to treat asthma, but these drugs often reduce the body’s healing ability. Basically, corticosteroids have the opposite effect of BPC-157. What’s surprising is that BPC-157 overwhelms corticosteroids.
More specifically, a certain study shows that even after taking both BPC-157 and corticosteroids, rats with injuries show faster regeneration than normal rats. Moreover, diabetic rats also heal faster than usual. If you didn’t know, diabetes could also slow down the healing of the body. These show that BPC-157 has a high level of regeneration effects
- Emotional Health
Dopamine and serotonin are neurotransmitters involved in different bodily functions, but they’re best known for their roles in a person’s emotional wellbeing.
To be precise, dopamine is one of the neurotransmitters that control how you feel pleasure, while serotonin is the hormone that stabilizes your mood. Depending on the activities of this neurotransmitter, you can feel stress, anxiety, or happiness.
BPC-157 directly influences these neurotransmitters, positively at that. A research about serotonin and dopamine shows that BPC-157 can help with depression and anxiety. Hence, it’s safe to say that the effects of BPC-157 go beyond the physical aspect of an organism’s health. As with other studies, rats were the primary subjects of this research.
Wrapping Up
Curiosity knows no bounds, so even with all this information, you most likely have more questions regarding BPC-157. Unfortunately, you’d have to hold off those questions for when research on BPC-157 is complete. After all, there’s still not much progress in human testing, so it might be a good idea to be safe and cautious when dabbling with BPC-157.