Recently, I interviewed Jim LaValle, who is a clinical pharmacist and author. In this episode he talked about how specific peptides like BPC-157 and KPV can support gut health, reduce inflammation, and potentially accelerate healing in those with autoimmune thyroid conditions. He breaks down the mechanisms in layman’s terms, including how gut permeability and chronic stress can feed into conditions like Hashimoto’s and Graves’. If you would prefer to listen to the interview you can access it by Clicking Here [1].
Dr. Eric Osansky:
I am super excited to chat with James LaValle. We are going to talk about peptides. James is the author of The Peptide Handbook, second edition. Let’s go ahead and chat about his impressive bio here.
Jim LaValle is a clinical pharmacist, board certified nutritionist, and author with 40+ years of experience. He specializes in precision and performance health, integrating metabolic-based care. The founder of Metabolic Code Enterprises, he has taught at institutions like University of Cincinnati and George Washington School of Medicine. James LaValle has worked with elite sports teams, military, and first responders, optimizing performance and recovery. He has authored 26 books, including Cracking the Metabolic Code, and over 200 articles. He currently serves as Chief Science Officer at Life Time, leading scientific initiatives toward longevity and performance programs. Welcome, Jim.
James LaValle:
Great to be here. How are you doing?
Dr. Eric:
Great to have you. I’m doing well. Hope you are.
James:
I am.
Dr. Eric:
26 books. We recently chatted at a forum. I think you said you’re still working on a couple others.
James:
Two coming out this year and two rewrites. I don’t know what it is. I keep getting stuff clustered in my head and got to get it out. That’s very impressive.
Dr. Eric:
I don’t know if you have a goal of 50 books in my lifetime.
James:
I don’t have a goal. My wife would say, “Get a goal, and get it over with.” Once I establish a goal, then I will hit it, and it will be done. I haven’t done that yet.
Dr. Eric:
I’ve only written three books, and I talk about a fourth book. My wife is always like, “What? A fourth book?” I have another 20 in the pipeline, imagine.
Let’s go ahead and talk about how you also do a lot with metabolic health. We will focus here on peptides. We could talk about anything you want. We could talk about how peptides relate to metabolic health. How did you become interested in peptides? What led you to write specifically the first and second editions of The Peptide Handbook?
James:
The first peptide was synthesized and used 100 years ago. That would be insulin. As a pharmacist, I learned about insulin and realized it was a peptide. It was really this evolution. We work on people in the precision health approach. I had a big institute in Ohio, 300-400 people a week. Same thing as other clinics and institutions, teaching about it.
When peptides came to light for the practitioner, it became another very valuable tool in the toolbox for people to try to move people toward wellness more quickly. The way I best describe that is for example, in my son, 10 years ago, when he got hurt, we used peptides on him. I was working with the orthopedic surgeon. He got over this injury in five months when it’s supposed to take 12-18 months. That was a big aha moment. Ever since then, utilizing them, I see that it moves the needle on restoring homeostasis in someone.
Just so people understand, all peptides are are signaling compounds that are made in your body that are smaller than proteins and bigger than amino acids. Peptides are made from a small sequence of amino acids. They can only get to so big before they’re considered either biologics as drugs or proteins.
Peptides are a natural part of our body that we should be using. Either due to injury or age or duress or intoxication of the exposome, somehow, we stop making them. We need to get more of them in order to heal.
That’s the journey for me. It was self-discovery and realizing that peptides- There are 150 peptides in the funnel right now, in the world of pharmacy and drugs. That’s what we’re using.
Dr. Eric:
You said it took your son five months to heal from that injury?
James:
Not only was it only five months. He got injured during the second weekend of the California football playoffs. He won the state championship; he was an all-state football player, division 1. He gets hurt, and he wants to do track his senior year. He ends up within five months winning the discus championship for the state of California, which is arguably the hardest in the country to win. He had to spin on that injured foot in order to curl that disc a couple hundred feet. The amount of torque you have to put on that foot is pretty amazing. To have that in five months.
He had a great surgeon, too. Not going to say the surgery didn’t make a difference. Usually when you get a Lisfranc injury, you got a big old sausage foot. He had no swelling, virtually no discoloration. It was just strange how it healed so fast.
The next 300-400 people I saw that our clinics utilized them on, I saw an equal type of response, where, whatever the target was, whether it was healing the gut or an injury or a tendon tear or cognitive capacity or reducing anxiety or getting more energy, sleeping better, the peptides seem to help people cross that threshold to wellness way quicker than they normally would have.
Dr. Eric:
From what I understand, it’s not replacing foundations like diet and lifestyle, but it helps accelerate that process.
James:
I don’t think you could ever escape from diet and lifestyle. We are still looking for the miracle pill. The fountain of youth pill. It’s live healthier, understand how to enjoy your life, learn what is the right food for you to eat, and stay within a social context as you’re aging. Chances are you will live a long time one way or the other. If you get injured or develop autoimmunity or have some sort of accelerated aging, peptides will probably help you restore that homeostasis. Another tool in the toolbox, that’s all I try to get across to people.
Dr. Eric:
Let’s talk about autoimmunity. A lot of the listeners have thyroid conditions. You’re probably aware that most thyroid conditions are autoimmune in nature. What are some of the most helpful peptides for those with Graves’ or Hashimoto’s?
James:
In Hashimoto’s, for example, often it’s due to a permeable gut. The gut breaks down. You start creating more lipopolysaccharide because the lipopolysaccharide is released from the bacteria that are no longer surviving. The bacteria die off and release a bunch of lipopolysaccharide.
Because the gut is leaky, it gets into circulation. It gets into the liver. The intestines should be taking it out, so when you overwhelm it, it can’t. The lymph as well. Then it attaches to the thyroid and triggers that inflammatory response in the thyroid.
In addition to that, once the gut gets leaky or permeable, you start to react to higher lectin foods, things like gluten and dairy and other food sensitivities. They contribute to Hashimoto’s, food antigen induced thyroiditis.
The big ones for the gut, one is BPC157, which is allowed as a dietary supplement. BPC157 helps restore the damaged mucosal barrier that allows for gut permeability. That is just one of the main functions. There are other functions to it, but in relationship to autoimmunity, that is the big function.
The other one is a three amino acid peptide called KPV, which acts as something called a TNF alpha inhibitor. 70% of your immune response is in the gut. A lot of TNF alpha gets triggered with a permeable gut. Drugs like Enbrel, which are biologics or other autoimmune conditions, are working to dampen TNF alpha. KPV is a peptide that could help to dampen the inflammation signaling going on in the gut.
The third one, which is very interesting, and has just come to light over the last few years, is one called larazotide. It basically lowers zonulin. What happens, either due to infection or stress or you end up releasing more zonulin. Zonulin makes the tight junctions, so these are the cells of the intestine. Now you’re getting bacteria translocation, bacteria fall through the food. The food isn’t digested all the way. You’re getting reactions to the food.
High zonulin is real problematic and associated with a lot of different health conditions, including autoimmunity. Larazotide lowers zonulin and allows the gut tight junctions to come back and be aligned.
That of course is in light with what you said earlier. Do you have adequate glutamine? Do you have adequate zinc? Do you have the nutrients? Do you have enough fiber to make butyrate to repair the epithelial cell? All of that plays together. Those are three really big peptides related to gut and autoimmunity.
Of course, one of the ones that got taken out with the FDA’s actions is thymosin alpha 1. It helped with immunomodulation. That can be really important because obviously, what we are trying to do is balance our immune response. Turns out when the gut gets permeable, you start creating more histamine response, more inflammation, more antigen antibody response. You’re wanting to throw a big bucket of water on that fire.
That’s where peptides accelerate the ability to do that. When you used to have to struggle for eight months to help get people’s guts aligned, now it’s happening in a few months, and they’re feeling the difference.
That was a pretty short answer for all that.
Dr. Eric:
To summarize, BPC157 to help with the mucosal barrier. KPV, which is a TNF alpha inhibitor. Larazotide, which helps lower zonulin, and can assist with the gut healing process. Then thymosin alpha 1 is no longer available, but there are other peptides that could-
James:
TA11 will be out shortly. It’s compliant. I think TA1 is going to come back in the short run. I think we’re going to see it change its status on TA1 over the next 60 days. Visited Washington on the compounding issue a couple times. I was in front of the FDA. I think TA1 probably has a really good shot.
I think some other ones will come back as well related to longevity, like epitalon or delta sleep inducing peptide will probably get a shot. I think there will be some positive moves related to that. The GLP1s, pharma will say we need to have that space. We’ll see what happens.
Dr. Eric:
Taking those three peptides alone that you mentioned can have a dramatic impact on pretty much any autoimmune condition. All autoimmune conditions are associated with that increase in intestinal permeability.
James:
Without a doubt. Where it gets powerful is when you combine nutrition. Hey, what will I do to kill the bad bugs? Put some beneficial flora back in. Add fiber, so the microbiome can make butyrate. Do something like Moducare, which is really good for immunomodulation. There are some great human studies on Moducare. It creates a good basis.
When you layer those peptides on the nutrition and dietary changes that you make in autoimmunity, because of course you will make changes on diet with autoimmunity, right? It just makes them stick quicker. People get better faster. No aching. Not noticing the visual disturbances. I’m not as puffy. Gee, my belly isn’t bloated. It really is I think one of the most significant things to come out over the last 25 years: the more random acceptance and awareness of peptides.
Dr. Eric:
I know everybody is different. On average, how long do people take these peptides for when dealing with an autoimmune condition?
James:
At least a good 12 weeks. You may be on them for quite a while. It may take six months. It depends on the individual as to how they’re feeling. They could always take a break. I tend to want to keep people on them until I feel really comfortable, and my staff or a dietician feel really comfortable. You’re in a good place now; let’s start to reverse titrate you out of this. See if it sticks.
The beauty of it is if they need a peptide, the side effect profile is way less, especially if you’re not injecting them. One of the big issues that the FDA brought up was the immunogenicity. If you inject it, the immune system gets after it and attacks it because of the injection into the tissue.
Other than the secretagogues, the sermorelin helps release the growth hormone, which is also important because it helps retain circadian rhythm for your body. You start making the hormones and sync them when you use things like sermorelin at bedtime. The secretagogues are probably the only ones that might- You might get injection redness or irritation depending on what it is. The secretagogues are the only ones I have seen over the last decade where it could potentially lead to getting a welt or wheel or rash, in which case they have to discontinue it. Start back really slow after a couple months, a tiny amount, almost as if they were doing an allergy vaccine. Build back up to it, and tolerate it.
On a secretagogue, you would only do it five days out of seven because of the immunogenicity risks. Five days on, two days off.
Dr. Eric:
With BPC157, I know you could take that orally. Are those other two only injections, or can you take those orally, too?
James:
Larazotide is great orally, as is KPV. Full disclosure: we have played with patent pending process of a solid-state liposome that had patent pending for all drugs, all nutrients. It was initially made to deliver oncology drugs and opioids in the European market. It’s particularly good at delivering small molecules.
Peptides are really small. You can wrap them in this solid-state liposome chewable. We have seen dramatic results partnered with compounding pharmacies to experiment on these things. Obviously, the BPC and KPV actually qualify as dietary supplements in their natural state. We are seeing really great results with them orally.
In the end in certain instances, injection is going to be favored. If you want to build collagen in your skin, copper peptide is best. If you can inject GHKCU, it’s great. Now of course, for working around that through microneedling or driving the medicant through the skin, so they can do that way, too.
I do think new technologies are around that will allow us to deliver these things in a more elegant and easier way. Some people get injection fatigue. I’m getting tired of sticking myself.
Dr. Eric:
Since you’re a clinical pharmacist, I wanted to ask you about potential interactions, especially those taking- Pretty safe when it comes to thyroid hormone replacement. I don’t know of any interactions. But people with hyperthyroidism who are taking antithyroid meds like methimazole or beta blockers. Are there any known interactions with at least any of those medications?
James:
If you’re on beta blockers, and you give a GLP1, it’s a little bit of concern as your heart rate will go up. Honestly, the other benefits are so big, it doesn’t matter. There is a known interaction with methimazole. I’ve seen no issues with thyroid.
The only thing I’ll say is people who are taking thyroid hormone, you start to correct their chemistry, and their cortisol is coming down. Thyroid hormone receptors come back to life, and you will have to adjust that dose down most likely.
Same thing if your cortisol is elevated, and you’re wanting to use kisspeptin for stimulating gonadal release of hormones. Once cortisol is under control, cortisol competes with testosterone and estrogen receptors. You get your cortisol under control, and your hormones are starting to work better. It’s giving that full thought of understanding. All of these hormones are in sync. All these peptides are part of that cascade or symphony, where you’re creating a harmonic signal for “I’m healthy.”
As a practitioner, you want to watch and go, “Okay, they’re still doing well. Maybe I can lower something or even get off of it.”
Dr. Eric:
Makes sense. Let’s talk about some other peptides. Weight loss is a hot topic. I know you said GLP1s might not be available, it sounds like, in the near future. Feel free to talk about them. I don’t know if there are other peptides that also can help with weight loss.
James:
There will be other GLP1s available through compounding pharmacies. They will be there. Phase 2 or 3a. Researched peptides. I don’t have a crystal ball to look into the middle of that, and it’s way above my pay grade from the legal side. When you think of the magnitude of the companies that are making GLP1s, Nova and Lily. I can’t gaze into the crystal ball.
I think GLP1s are super important. They are one of the most significant drugs to be developed for the U.S. in particular, or what I would say morbidly obese countries because Canada is following us fairly closely.
There is a big controversy, “Oh, it’s cheating to use a GLP1.” Then there was, “You only lose lean mass; you don’t lose fat,” which is absolutely a lie. It’s not a fact. GLP1s actually stimulate muscle synthesis. When people undereat, they are going to get catabolic and lose muscle and lose fat pads on their face.
Given that you use a GLP1 correctly, and I am big on teaching at least at the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, and what we are implementing at Life Time, is titration to where you are losing weight, about two pounds a week. Keep at that lower dose. When you go to get off it, your body isn’t so dependent on it. Hopefully, at the same time, you’re implementing lifestyle changes, like exercise, diet, stress reduction, better sleep. Those are four biggies. How do I manage those four things?
In that criticism, I laugh because people who are trying to say GLP1s are cheating is like saying taking insulin is cheating. Nobody would deny anyone insulin because they die really quick. The only difference is when you’re not getting a GLP1, you die a slow, miserable death. You get pulmonary hypertension. You get ventricle failure. You get cardiac remodeling. You get fatty liver. All the complexes of insulin resistance and type two diabetes come crashing down on a person.
The challenge is if we’re using it as a miracle again. Societally, we’re not doing enough to teach people, “If you want to use this to lose weight, you need to use it as the bridge to adopting a healthier lifestyle,” which I don’t think that message gets out too much or nearly enough.
Dr. Eric:
Very true. That’s good to know. I’m glad you mentioned how GLP1s actually stimulate muscle synthesis. Also, it’s a slow process. Like you said, two pounds a week, which is losing weight at a healthy rate. You don’t want to lose 10 pounds a week.
James:
The protein targets 1.6g/kg. That’s the one that says you’re not going to lose lean mass. Yes, exercise. Exercise to stimulate lean mass as well. Those are the things people should be doing if they’re trying to lose weight.
I have been around this business for 40 years, like you said in my introduction. 40 years, I have seen the HCG diet. Everybody jumped on that. “Oh my god, it’s a miracle. Look how much weight I lost.” They abused it. They didn’t change their lifestyle. Three times a year, they are going back to use HCG, and by the third year, it’s not working anymore. They have just lost a bunch of lean mass, which is the currency of your health, aging process, and metabolism.
If you just take a GLP1, and you don’t do anything else, a third of your weight will be lean mass, not weight loss. If you lose 20 pounds, about seven of it, 6.75 of it, is going to end up lean mass and not fat mass versus doing it a little slower, eating enough protein, and burning off the fat.
We’re talking about this at Life Time. People need to lose 20-30 pounds of weight, and nothing has worked to get it off. It’s because they’re insulin resistant. They’re under stress. They’re probably eating too many carbs and sugars. Who knows what their exposome burden is? What their glyphosate is at, which messes with insulin receptors. Is your gut permeable? When your gut is permeable, and you’re releasing all these inflammatory cytokines, that turns off your insulin receptors.
That’s the GLP1s. I think they’re really important because people have themselves backed into a corner.
Dr. Eric:
I definitely agree. If someone is 50, 75, 100 pounds overweight, even 25 pounds overweight, time and place for that. How long can someone safely take them? If someone is 50 pounds overweight, and they’re losing an average of two pounds per week, and they are incorporating the foundations, eating enough protein, doing strength training, is it safe for them to be on it for 25 weeks to achieve their goal of 50 pounds?
James:
Look, there are diabetics who have been on them for years. It’s safe for people to stay on them until they hit their target weight. There are people who may need to be on them on a microdose. It’s showing up a lot. Even in the literature, there is starting to be this rumbling of microdosing.
In my opinion, I come by weight loss honestly. I have run weight loss clinics. I had a contract research organization on weight loss clinics. My brother was 476 pounds. My mother was obese. My father was a type 2 diabetic that was obese. My aunts and uncles, all a bunch of little Italians who tended to be overweight.
If you had to stay on it for the rest of your life on a small dose in order to keep the weight off, I don’t have a problem with that. That excess weight will kill you really quickly. If you’re a diabetic by age 30, you will lose 13 years of your life. That study just published.
I am a big fan of trying to get people to titrate off when they hit goal and see if their diet and lifestyle holds them. If it does, awesome. The older you are, the harder that probably is because you have trained your body in a certain metabolic signaling pathway that may be hard to reset, but you don’t know until you try.
Dr. Eric:
Very true. Hair loss is very common in those with thyroid conditions. You want to address the cause of the problem. If the thyroid hormone imbalance is the cause, you want to address that. Still, sometimes, they will address the cause of the problem, and the hair won’t grow back, or not as quickly as they want. I know there are peptides that can help with hair regrowth.
James:
The big one is copper peptide, GHKCU. The other two, BPC and TB4. TB4 is another one that is probably going to come back. Topically, there’s peptides for topical use for the hair that are accepted because they’re more cosmeceuticals. When you start to combine thymic peptides with copper peptide, which helps with collagen synthesis and gene regulation. When you think about your hair bulb, you get a lot of inflammation there, and that changes gene transcription in the hair bulb. The GHKCU helps modulate that.
Then there are a couple of things that work with it as well. Melatonin and caffeine are interesting topicals to go with peptides. Using PRP, platelets are spun down and getting the plasma and injecting that with the peptides, that’s been a stable process for a lot of folks that I know. It’s involved at the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine on hair restoration.
Once again, topical BPC. Thymic peptides. Copper peptides. Actually, an interesting compound that is used is a senolytic called rapamycin. They are finding a lot of success with rapamycin topically. It’s a powerful drug.
I tend to say to start with the topical melatonin, topical caffeine. Usually, people will see benefit, especially if they are including red light therapy with it, to get the good red light therapy helmets. It can do really well. I have had a lot of success with it with COVID long-haulers who lost their hair, especially women who lost 50% of their hair. Same issue, immune system got fired up, and hair came out.
Dr. Eric:
I’m sure it’s something that takes a while, where they are using the peptides for a few months rather than a few weeks to get some significant hair regrowth. In combination with that red light therapy helmet, correct?
James:
Correct. I tell people all the time that it takes six months. Once again, great teachers are your family members. My spouse had COVID, and she had long haul signs. She lost a lot of hair. She had a lot of hair, but she lost a lot of hair. It was very concerning for her.
It was interesting because yesterday, we were doing QEEG assessments. The guy said, “My god, I can’t get this helmet on your head because your hair is so thick.” That’s what we did with her. We used the peptides. Her hair came back really beautifully. It took about six months, but it grew back to its original luster. You can’t ask for more than that.
Dr. Eric:
Definitely agree. Have you had any success with alopecia areata, like autoimmunity? If so, would it make sense to incorporate some of the gut healing peptides that you mentioned earlier, like BPC157 and the others?
James:
I think there are a couple things you want to talk about there. A lot of times, alopecia areata, you have high cortisol levels. If you wanted to use intranasal sprays of Selank or Semax, which help dampen someone’s anxiety, that could be fantastic.
Yes, you would want to work on their gut. Yes, you would want to do something topical. It’s a little more layered in complexity because you have multiple systems that are interplaying there. Most of my alopecia cases are stress-induced.
Dr. Eric:
That’s interesting. Stress is a big factor with a lot of conditions. You won’t get rid of the stress, but trying to do things to manage stress, improve stress handling. Definitely could make a big difference.
James:
Nervous system in a modern world. It’s very difficult. Getting people to get to sleep at night, that’s where the growth hormone secretagogues, like sermorelin. When you’re stressed, you lose your secretagogue action on growth hormone. That’s pretty important for resetting your master sleep clock. The superchiasmatic nucleus that is responsible for all the mini clocks in all your organs. When people do sermorelin, they typically report they are sleeping so much deeper.
Another big area. When you’re under stress, by default, you shut down your gonadotropin releasing hormone. You shut down your growth hormone releasing hormone. You want to reset those. I think it’s critical for people, but they work at that. Great peptides for sleep that I think will be back on the market. You can do things like bioregulators, which are natural approaches to doing a peptide.
Epithalamin, which is basically Epitalon. Epitalon is a peptide that has to do with signaling of longevity in getting all your circadian clocks to align. That’s a pretty interesting compound as well. Epithalamin or Epitalon.
Dr. Eric:
The question everybody wants to ask, but it’s different with everybody. When taking these peptides or bioregulators to help with sleep, could they get results in a few days or a week or two? Is that something where it’s also a few months before they really notice a difference?
James:
Great question actually. People start noticing sleep a little bit quicker. You have to realize that sleep is a disorder of hyperarousal. Your brain gets jacked up and gets hyperaroused. It thinks a white tiger is chasing it at bedtime. In fact, it was just one too many texts or emails. You’re staring at your phone before you go to bed. You’re telling your body, “It’s a white tiger.” You have to work on correcting that one way or the other.
What I find on peptides, the older you are, the more you probably would stay on a peptide. As you age, sleeping and the regulation of your circadian timing becomes more difficult. If you’re on beta blockers, that depletes melatonin, so that becomes more difficult. Now you don’t have melatonin on board. Therefore, you are always taking melatonin if you are on a beta blocker probably.
Once I get people to understand calming their stress during the day, peptides like Selank or Semax help calm stress during the day. Eventually, you may not need anything to sleep at night because you have appropriately reset that circadian timing of your hormones. Then you kick back in your melatonin production like you should versus when you’re under a lot of stress, you don’t make melatonin. Delta sleep inducing peptide, you don’t make much of that, so you stay awake. Or you go to sleep and wake up at 3am, making a list.
Dr. Eric:
Just to confirm, it is safe to be on these long term, for good if you need to? I know everything is risks versus benefits, just like you said with weight loss. If you have to be on a low dose GLP1 rather than gain the weight back. Similar with the sleep. Sleep is essential, so maybe there is a time and place for weaning off. If you need to take the peptide in order to get quality sleep, then the benefits outweigh the risks.
James:
Right. I am a big believer on a lot of these peptides, like the mitochondrial peptides. People have heard of MOTS-c or SS-31. There are things that should be seasonally applied. Just like the Epitalon I talked about that resets the circadian rhythm, every six months, you do it for 10-14 days. You don’t do that all the time. There are certain families of peptides where you have a seasonality to them.
There are other ones where as you’re getting older, or if your immune system is really off, and it’s really helping you, why get off? like I mentioned, the sermorelin, you should be taking two days off out of the week. Some peptides, you do every three days. In the book, it details how to dose those things.
Dr. Eric:
Okay. Thymic peptides are every three days?
James:
Right.
Dr. Eric:
Okay. Can I put you on the spot and ask you what peptides you take? I don’t know if there are regular supplements for you, where you take a dozen or more. What are at least a few of the main ones that you take?
James:
I take a small molecule called OS-01, which is not a peptide but a tiny little molecule. That regulates AMPK and induces autophagy. It’s great for lean mass retention.
I’ll periodically use a GLP1 because of my family history. I don’t have to dose it all the time, but I’m one of those people who does better if I do a little bit of it.
I’ll do sermorelin because of my age. I turned 65, and I want to keep producing some growth hormone.
I utilize BPC and KPV pretty regularly in a chewable tablet because I grew up living on antibiotics as a child. I had severe candida. I had allergies and did have obstructed breathing; it wasn’t officially asthma. I had rashes. All of that stuff led to a leaky and permeable gut. Because I still work out fairly hard, I like being on a little bit of KPV and BPC just to protect the gut, decrease inflammation signaling.
I don’t inject all day every day. I am not doing six peptides four times a day. I am very selective. I will have periods of time where I go off the sermorelin. I have periods of time where I may not take KPV. I went weeks, months without taking Ser peptide. I try to be selective and ask what my body needs.
I certainly take a fair amount of nutrients, and I watch my diet. That’s the core. I exercise. Those are probably the most important aspects of my health journey. I think peptides augment it and put a cherry on top of the journey.
Dr. Eric:
Very informative. That first one you mentioned that you took, for the lean muscle mass retention, is it OS-01?
James:
Yes. 100mg, daily, six days, six weeks on, four weeks off. Really interesting small molecule. I have seen a lot of results with that. Losing fat mass, gaining lean mass without having to knock yourself out. It’s an interesting one. Because of its mechanisms of action, it burns fat and retains lean muscle and signals building of lean muscle. When you combine that, say for example with a GLP1, it’s an interesting combination.
Dr. Eric:
That’s orally?
James:
Yeah. It’s an oral capsule, 100mg.
Dr. Eric:
The GLP1, you say you take occasionally because of your family history. Do you take it for a month or two at a time, and then you take a break for six months?
James:
Because of what I do, I’m around- I dose fairly intuitively, so I would say probably every other week is the way I do it. I’m pretty solid at every other week, 2.5mg. That isn’t a microdose; it’s within the range of dosing on it. Every couple weeks, it tends to keep me where I want to be.
Dr. Eric:
Wonderful. Thanks for sharing that. There are plenty more peptides in your book, so I don’t want to steal the thunder. We’d have to spend a few more hours, maybe the whole rest of the evening, talking about them all. Any others that you really wanted to talk about? Did we hit the major ones during this conversation?
James:
I think we hit the big ones. I mentioned Epitalon. That is incredibly important. Epitalon and Vilon are the big longevity peptides that as people continue to want to reach for being healthier as they age, to maintain their vitality, those are biggies. I know I mentioned Epitalon a little bit. Those are really big.
My gosh, there is Cerebrolysin or thymosin beta 4. Obviously, the MOTS-c I mentioned. There is a lot to go into that. How do you repair your mitochondria as you’re aging? They get damaged as you age, so you’re not making energy like you should. That’s a topic for another interview. Maybe you could have me back, and we could talk more about peptides.
Dr. Eric:
Yeah. Or your future books or past books. I’m sure we’ll have plenty to talk about with future interviews.
The final question related to the contraindications. I know we spoke about some of the medications. For example, pregnancy, breastfeeding, children. What contraindications?
James:
When women are pregnant and breastfeeding, all things are off, other than what the OB-GYN says. I don’t play there. It’s just too many unknowns in terms of peptides.
With children, it depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. You’re not trying to create growth hormone on a normal child. Maybe they need some gut help because they have eosinophilic esophagitis, and you are trying to quiet that mucosal barrier.
There isn’t a lot of evidence around peds in the use of peptides. You have to rely on the individual wisdom of the practitioner to think through what they might consider doing.
Obviously, the GLP1s, endocrine, type 2 tumors, and certain thyroid cancers, can’t do it with. Those things are well known. If you have a history of cancer, you don’t want to do a growth hormone secretagogue because it’s in the literature that it could stimulate it. That’s pretty much it.
Once again, read up. If somebody is really interested in starting on peptides, I’d encourage them, if they don’t buy my book, to get somebody else’s book. Read what they do, and we list what the cautions are on each of the peptides, so you can get an understanding of, “Is this a candidate for me to try?” Once again, people spend more time picking at their refrigerator than picking out what they need to do for their health. They need to spend more time understanding their health. I’d invite them to do that.
Don’t just listen to a podcast off some bro science situation. We discuss this responsibly. You asked me about contraindications. Are there any interactions? Those are a part of the conversation that should be taking place, not just take this for that. I really appreciate that we get to have that kind of conversation.
Dr. Eric:
Same here. Definitely appreciate you being up front about the contraindications. There is mostly good with the peptides. It’s not even bad; it’s just that not a lot of research with pregnancy and breastfeeding, just with anything else. People ask me about certain herbs during pregnancy. The truth is, there is not much with certain herbs. We don’t know, and we don’t want to take the chance, to say there’s no problem.
James:
“Yeah, just take it.” No.
Dr. Eric:
Great. Jim, this was an amazing conversation. Where can people get not only your new book, The Peptide Handbook, second edition, but your other books? Your future books? I assume Amazon. If there are any other places.
James:
Amazon is a great spot. They can go to the @TheRealJimLavalle on Instagram. I have a lot of information. They can always look up what we’re doing at Life Time with our longevity centers as well. I’m real passionate about all of it.
Dr. Eric:
Wonderful. TheMetabolicCode.com is another website of yours.
James:
Metabolic Code is our cloud-based infomatics platform. It targets where the person is metabolically broken. I teach a lot of that at the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, where I am the co-chair. We have meetings there. My biggest regret is I am always on stage, so I don’t get to network and meet people. 21 hours, I was teaching at the West Palm event. It was crazy.
Dr. Eric:
Wow. I didn’t know that. You were there that Thursday.
James:
Conference event, yeah.
Dr. Eric:
That’s awesome. I enjoyed your presentation. Grateful for everything you do. Thanks for sharing your knowledge about peptides. Definitely look forward to having you back in the future.
James:
Great, thanks for having me. Real pleasure.
Dr. Eric:
All right, thanks again, Jim.