BPC-157: The Accelerated Full-Body Healing Hack
This is an anti-aging peptide cocktail of 15 different amino acids.
BPC stands for Body Protection Compounds, an apt acronym as this peptide’s chief utility seems to be as a biohack for resilience and healing. In gym bro slang, it’s referred to as The Wolverine Drug, if you recall, in the X-Men movies Wolverine has a superhuman capacity to heal his own body — that’s sort of what BPC-157 enables.
You can find over a hundred scientific papers and studies on it on Pubmed, to date no human clinical trials have been completed. It’s a research chemical for biohackers with higher risk tolerance. However, since BPC-157 is such a darling of the self-experimentation community online there’s much that we can ascertain from anecdotal reports.
12 Benefits of BPC-157
Healing Hack
It heals tendons, ligaments, muscles, and even bones. I list this first because this is its real strength. Anyone who’s spent much time in the gym knows that if you want to put on muscle you need to really push yourself and inevitably you’ll suffer some sort of injury. I go to the gym regularly and I’ve noticed a micro-injury in my left elbow, it’s just a little sensitive, it (almost imperceptibly) hurts at the end of a day and is a bit strained after a gym session. It’s not quite enough suffering for me to justify quitting the gym or really worrying about it. I can imagine if I pushed myself even harder in the gym, I’d have numerous niggling little injuries and I would be willing to experiment with a research chemical like this that hacks healing.
From a 2018 paper that explains its wide-ranging angiogenic effects:
BPC 157 — using same regimens like in gastrointestinal healing studies — improves tendon, ligament and bone healing, accurately implementing its own angiogenic effect in the healing. Thus, we claim that just BPC 157 represents in practice a pharmacological and pathophysiological role of various peptidergic growth factors.
Angiogenesis means the birth of new blood cells.
A Biohacker on Longecity reports that it mitigated his carpal tunnel:
The results have been little short of astounding. The very next day I saw marked improvement. I have a number of problems that seem to be tendon or connective tissue related. My wrist has bothered me a lot for over a year, might be carpal tunnel since its in that area. I had to switch hands using the mouse which I am now used to doing. Next morning the wrist did not bother me. I have had lower back aches and pain for decades…
If big pharma had been able to patent this it would cost $500 a mg and people would buy it. If one dose makes that much improvement people would pay. Lucky for us its dirt cheap. Even if you pay $50 a vial as many charge, you will get your money’s worth if its the real thing.
My theory is that the bpc 157 may have caused the swelling and inflammation in the tendons to subside. That is something that could have happened overnight. If they are not so tightly packed going through that area that would relieve much of the stress and could account for some or all of the pain relief. The other areas with tendon discomfort are doing better too. Medical studies have shown it speeds the healing of tendons and can cause a tendon to reattach after separation when it did not do so on its own.
Arthritis Treatment
One of the first animal studies that made BPC-157 stand out among research chemicals found it highly effective in treating Arthritis after a two-week course of administration.
As a therapy of already established adjuvant arthritis, its salutary effect consistently appeared already after 2 weeks of medication and it could be clearly seen also after 1 year of application.
Growth Factor Hack
BPC-157 stimulates growth factor EGF-1 and EGR-1 nerve growth factor. Nerve growth is great, it empowers neuroplasticity; the capacity of the mind to change, adapt, and heal itself. We can attribute the Nootropic effects some report to the nerve growth stimulation.
One of the few animal studies done outside of Croatia was done by a Taiwanese team of researchers in 2017, it concluded BPC 157 accelerates the blood flow recovery and vessel number…
It often starts works surprisingly fast, one biohacker reported…
On day 4 of injectable BP-157. I don’t have any pronounced injuries at the moment, rather a host of small nagging aches and pains as well as general anhedonia… Thus far there seems to be a bit of a rejuvenating feeling/quality. I feel better rested and in a better mood. Recovery from my last leg workout has been faster for sure. Mood/motivation is definitely improved as is response to caffeine…which now gives a smoother, calmer effect. Small back injury pain has subsided as has my chronic plantar faciatus pain.
Leaky Gut
BPC-157 does wonders for a cantankerous gut and gastrointestinal system. If you suffer from leaky gut, irritable bowel syndrome, or digestion issues it’s probably worth experimenting with.
The Croatians did several studies evaluating this, a 2017 paper explains the connection between gut issues and stress…
Logically, from the gastrointestinal tract viewpoint, such organoprotective/healing response implies the angiogenic growth factors that commonly signify the healing. Thereby, the gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157-organoprotection (huge range of beneficial effects) signifies the Selye’s stress concept/stress coping response implemented in and from gastrointestinal tract, and BPC 157 as an integrative mediator that integrates the adaptive bodily response to stress.
Another 2012 Croatian paper, discusses it’s anti-inflammatory effects in the gut…
Hopefully, the lessons from animal studies, particularly advanced intestinal anastomosis healing, reversed short bowel syndrome and fistula healing indicate BPC 157’s high significance in further [inflammatory bowel disease] therapy. Also, this supportive evidence (i.e., no toxic effect, limit test negative, LD1 not achieved, no side effect in trials) may counteract the problems commonly exercised in the use of peptidergic agents…
Gut-Brain Biohack
There’s an undeniable connection between gut health and cognitive function. A 2016 paper delves into the Theoretical and Practical Implications of how BPC-157 hacks our neurobiology.
Brain-gut interaction involves, among others, peptidergic growth factors which are native in GI tract and have strong antiulcer potency and thus could from periphery beneficially affect CNS-disorders.
BPC 157 modulates serotonergic and dopaminergic systems, beneficially affects various behavioral disturbances that otherwise appeared due to specifically (over)stimulated/damaged neurotransmitters systems. Besides, BPC 157 has neuroprotective effects…
BPC 157, a gastric peptide, may serve as remedy in various CNS-disorders.
Neuroprotection
It’s demonstrated to have Neuroprotective effects in animal studies. More Neuroprotection is good, this means that your mind is more resilient to stress, anxiety, and toxicity of modernity.
Treating Ulcers
One of the earlier Croatian papers delves into its potential treating ulcers:
BPC 157, in addition to an antiulcer effect efficient in therapy of inflammatory bowel disease… so far only tested in clinical phase II, has a very safe profile, and exhibited a particular wound healing effect.
A 2004 Chinese study confirmed its effects in an animal study…
Both [intramuscular] and [intragastric] administered gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157 can apparently ameliorate acute gastric ulcer in rats and antagonize the protracted effect of acetate challenge on chronic ulcer. The effect of im administration of BPC 157 is better than that of [intragastric], and the effective dosage of the former is lower than that of the latter.
Cancer Treatment
Apparently, it rescues animals in studies from cancer cachexia, a metabolic downstream effect of cancer that is responsible for 20% of cancer deaths.
In this review, we propose the potential application of BPC157, one of the active cytoprotective agents isolated from gastric juices for cancer cachexia. Before clinical trial, we introduced the evidence showing BPC157 rescued from cancer cachexia supported with explored mode of actions.
Sleep Enhancer
Sleep quantity and quality have everything to do with our bodies’ capacity to recover and rebuild muscles after a grueling workout, along with healing injuries.
While not evaluated in studies, rigorous self-experimenter Lucas Aoun reported to me that he got his best sleep ever on BPC-157 as measured by his Oura Ring.
Healing Eye Injuries
A 2018 European study found that it rapidly healed corneal injuries to the eye
BPC 157 effects the rapid regaining of corneal transparency… Thus, BPC 157 eye drops successfully close perforating corneal incisions…
Counteracting Liver Disease
Six studies underline its effect on counteracting liver diseases. An older study published in the esteemed journal Life Sciences established its Hepatoprotective effect and concluded
Thus, on the basis of consistent protective effect of BPC 157, possible clinical application in liver diseases is now warranted.
A 2019 European animal study evaluated its apparent beneficial effect on Liver Fibrosis
BPC 157 therapy markedly abated jaundice, snout, ears, paws, and yellow abdominal tegmentum in controls since 4th week, ascites, nodular, steatotic liver with large dilatation of main bile duct, increased liver and/or cyst weight, decreased body weight… Thus, BPC 157 may counteract liver fibrosis and portal hypertension.
Addiction Recovery
As a healing agent, it can (supposedly) be miracle medicine for some whose bodies have been racked by years of drug or alcohol addiction. Teddy relayed his story on Longecity:
In my experience, BPC itself is stimulating, but that may be only because it is counteracting my benzo creating rebound stimulation… I wrecked my memory too, via 30+ years of drugs/alcohol, and I am not as smart as I used to be, either. It sucks. I used to be a Goddamn genius. :laugh: But it’s true, Mayo Clinic measured me! I will never get that back, BUT, just this morning I got something else. (Keep in mind my entire life has been pretty traumatic with sexual abuse, eating disorders, depression, anhedonia, alcoholism, meth OD, benzos.)
[On BPC-157]…what I had this morning was a good window of time where I felt something I can’t ever remember feeling before in my life. Right after waking, I had this energy that wasn’t forced by stimulants. It was like a weightless, perfectly balanced energy in both mind and body.
In this podcast, hacker extraordinaire Patrick Kroupa describes how he’s used BPC-157 to rehabilitate his mind and body from heroin addiction.
BPC-157 reduces depression (maybe), a strong argument can be made that it raises serotonin, which some users attribute an antidepressive effect to.
Nootropic
Ryan Michael Ballow here. notes that 300–500 micrograms of it produced a sublime Nootropic effect, spiked his libido, and enhanced sleep quality.
Since there’s not yet any published human research on the stuff we have to make our judgment about it based upon what people are saying about the stuff. Anecdotally, it is often a godsend to the injured, if I ever catch a serious gym or sports injury I’d use it.
BPC-157 Protocol: Dosage and Usage Guide
BPC-157 is a very special biohack but you need to treat it with the respect it deserves…
- It’s an injectable peptide, not a supplement or pill that you simply take orally. You’ll need to handle some hypodermic needles and prick yourself properly.
- There is no universal protocol usage protocol that comes from human research or manufacturers’ recommendations, you need to do some reading, figure out what works for others and then meticulously record your dosage and the results.
- The peptides themselves are fragile. If you drop the little bottle on the floor or leave it sitting out on a countertop next to a window in the sunlight the peptides may be damaged.
- A lot of the BPC-157 that you can find for sale online is sourced from dodgy Chinese manufacturers that product bunk stuff. You need to check COAs before pressing the buy button to make sure you’re getting pure stuff.
The good news is that it lives up to its acronym (Body Protection Compound), it’s a powerful agent of healing and resilience. You may find, like many other biohackers, that $60 — $90 spent on BPC-157 results in transformative healing that would cost thousands of dollars were it administered via surgery or mainstream medicine.
Usage
It can be taken orally, subcutaneously, or intramuscularly, but in my anecdotal analysis, it would seem that subcutaneously is the way to go. Subcutaneous means injecting it shallowly into the skin, the least invasive kind of injection. Intramuscularly means injecting it a little deeper into a muscle.
Should you inject it in the spot where you need healing or just anywhere?
Some biohackers inject it into subcutaneous fat deposits but it does absorb via osmosis like any other drug or supplement. If you’re taking it for general healing and protection, you can shoot it in a non-specific fat deposit. If you’re taking it to heal an injury, you’ll want to shoot it in the general vicinity of the spot that needs healing. Importantly, you want to sanitize the injection site before and after with an alcohol swab, along with the needle itself, and of course, you should wash your hands.
A relevant anecdotal report from Longecity:
I inject it in my knees that suffer as a result of Rheumatoid Arthritis. I used to inject it subcutaneously into the belly and while it seemed to decrease overall pain (within half an hour after administering it) it didn’t help with local inflammation it seemed to me. Whenever I inject it locally (subcutaneously into the skin on top of the inflamed area) I can feel a decrease in stiffness and pain and joint function seems to improve temporarily. On the other hand: I don’t see a difference in local swelling unfortunately. But all in all: there is a marked difference to me when injecting it subcutaneously into the belly vs locally.
You’re going to want to watch some Youtube videos about how to do the subcutaneous injection.
Apparently, intramuscular injection is quite painful as you have to jab it deeper in, which seems unnecessary as subcutaneous administration works pretty consistently.
Take it once or twice a day.
Dosage and Cycling
If we derive the dosage from animal studies, this is approximately what you would want to take…
100lb person/90 μg
150lb person/110 μg
200lb person/145 μg
250lb person/180 μg
μg stands for microgram, a microgram is one-thousandth of a milligram, a thousand micrograms is a milligram and a milligram itself is a very small quantity. So BPC-157 is potent stuff! Some biohackers take 300–500 micrograms daily, no human clinical trials have established an upper limit or toxicity so…
- Week One — Start with the proportional dosages from the animal studies. Record and be mindful of the changes you notice.
- Week Two — Double the proportional dosage and see how you tolerate it. Does it make much of a difference?
- Week Three — Increase to a high-end dose, as much as 500 micrograms daily (or however much you can reasonably afford). Does the high-end dosage make a difference?
- Week Four — Go off it. Take a week break
I wouldn’t place BPC-157 in my biohacking cabinet next to B-Vitamins, C60, magnesium, or other anti-aging supplements that I take regularly. According to the anecdotal reports, it works pretty quickly, you may not even need to go through this 4-week course, take it as you need to and go off it once it’s done its job.
Mixing the BPC-157 Solution
Many places around the internet you can buy BPC-157 pre-mixed with bacteriostatic water, I think that’s the best option and it’s very affordable, but you can also purchase the raw powdered peptides in which case you need to mix it yourself with bacteriostatic water.
You’ll need to do a little math at this step, to determine the dosage you’ll need to convert the milligram amount to micrograms and then divide that by the milliliters of water added.
Let’s say that you have a 5-milligram (5000 micrograms) supply of peptides, add 30 milliliters of water to that bottle, so each milliliter = 166 micrograms of BPC-157. You’ll want to inject about 2 milliliters (333 micrograms)
The syringe should indicate how many milliliters filled it is.
You might be using more or less bacteriostatic water with a different quantity of BPC-157, so break out your calculator and double-check your math. The good news is that if you make a mistake and don’t quite get the dose right there’s no danger, BPC-157 is not like some drugs or supplements that become toxic or dangerous if you accidentally double or triple the dosage. It’s important to be accurate for your own self-quantification; so you can track how different doses are affecting you.
When you add the bacteriostatic water, what you don’t want to do is shake up the bottle, the peptides are very fragile and this may damage them, rendering them ineffective. The fragility of these peptides cannot be overstated; when you add the water to the bottle of peptides you don’t want to drip or stream the water directly on the peptides, you want to stream the water towards the sides of the bottle so it runs down into the powdered peptides instead of splashing on them.
You’re going to need needles to inject it, 1ml/1cc, with 28 gauge 1/2 inch attached needles are recommended as the gauge is small enough that it won’t hurt much. and an insulin syringe is fine.
Throughout this process sanitation is crucial. You’re going to want to use alcohol swabs to sanitize the needle, the syringe, the bottle cap, and crucially the injection site on your body before and after injection. Throw out needles after you’ve used them once.
Oral Dosing
You can take it orally, but many biohackers question whether that will do any good. I reviewed almost every anecdotal report I could find on the internet from BPC-157 users and there’s a stark absence of discussion of it working orally which doesn’t exactly align with the results of the animal research. A 2010 study compared oral and injection in animals and it found the effect similar:
BPC 157 [dosed rats] exhibited consistent functional, biomechanical, macroscopic and histological healing improvements. Thus, we suggest BPC 157 improved healing of acute ligament injuries in further ligament therapy.
Around the internet biohackers and users debate about whether it works better if administered to a specific spot or not, it’s claimed that it works systemically; that if you take it, it goes where it needs to go in your body to heal what needs to be healed. I’d suggest that you do a week of oral vs subcutaneous administration and just judge for yourself.
If you’re squeamish about needles (or just want to experiment) you can try it orally but you don’t take it as a pill or capsule. You’ll measure it out in bacteriostatic water, and deposit it in your mouth with a dropper; leave it in your mouth for about 2 minutes before swallowing. Again, it’s fragile stuff so drip it into your mouth slowly.
Sources
Downloadable BPC-157?
You may be interested in taking it as an infoceutical — a non-pharmacological, side-effect-free version of the supplement that takes advantage of the phenomenon of water memory — which is imprinted on water via quantum collocation and electromagnetism using this device…
Infocueticals typically have 1/3 or half the effect of the actual medicine being imprinted. If you’re skeptical of Infopathy that’s understandable, it’s a game-changing application of a little-known scientific phenomenon. But I’d urge you to evaluate the scientific evidence (presented in my biohacker review) that downloadable medicine is no longer science fiction…
Cofactors
To maximize the benefit from BPC-157 you would want to take it along with some supplements that feed you the building blocks for synthesizing new connective tissue such as collagen and fish oil. If you want to take your peptide experimentation to the next level, you can stack it with TB-500, another peptide with rapid healing properties that some world-class athletes use alongside BPC-157 in this dosing protocol…
- BPC-157 250 micrograms 2X Daily
- TB-500 2.5 milligrams 2X Weekly
“Not for Human Consumption”
On the different websites offering it, the text…
Research Chemical
For Research Purposes
Not For Human Consumption
…will appear conspicuously, this is because it falls into this gray legal territory, being legal to sell and possess but not recognized by the government as a medicine or supplement. Does this mean that you (being human) shouldn’t consume it? You have to decide for yourself based upon what others are saying. If you consume it and something bad happens (which is highly unlikely) you’re on your own, you (probably) have no legal recourse against the manufacturer or whoever sold it to you.
Experiential
Biohackers, bodybuilders, and athletes around the internet praise its healing powers…
“I went to my ortho after 2 weeks of severe rotator cuff tendinitis on both shoulders as well as a touch of tennis elbow and wrist tendonitis… Within 24 hours of the first injections, I started to feel an appreciable reduction in pain, but I still had a way to go. For that first week, day after day my pain level went down and my strength and my range of motion improved to the point now 8 days later where I am at 100% with zero pain and I actually now have better range of motion than I’ve had in both shoulders in the past decade.”
“I used BPC 157 [for tendonitis], had it in both elbows from Thai Boxing over the years. It worked very well… even cleared up an issue with my knee.”
“I’ve used BPC-157 to heal persistent elbow tendonitis, and several minor muscle tears. 250mcg injected daily at the site of injury is very effective. BPC-157 produced much faster healing results than TB-500. Both are excellent antinflammatory peptides, and both work systemically in higher doses, but with localized injections, BPC-157 is very effective at low doses.”
“I initially began to use BPC-157 for golfer’s elbow (inner elbow pain also known as “climber’s elbow” or “medial epicondylitis), and I personally, based on the majority of the research studies in humans, settled upon a self-administered subcutaneous BPC-157 injection of 250mcg in my left elbow on one day, then 250mcg in my right elbow the next day, for a total of two weeks. At this point, my elbow pain had completely disappeared, so I stopped.”
Russell Symes
“I’m a skeptical person when it comes to alternative meds and stuff. I train in boxing and had injured my knee. I didn’t want to quit training to let my knee heal so I tried BPC 157. Literally, in 3 days the pain was gone from the day I started taking it. This had been an ongoing injury and I had felt the pain for 3 weeks. BPC-157 healed it in 3 days.”
“I’m running my third week of BPC for severe tennis elbow on both sides and it’s really worked great.”
“Hi… just wanted to say thanks for introducing me to BPC. It has completely healed my shoulder injury and is healing my golfer’s elbow and torn knee ligaments.”
The Anti-NSAID
From a 2013 paper:
The mentioned variety of the beneficial effects portrayed by BPC 157 may well be a foundation for establishing BPC 157 as a NSAIDs antidote since no other single agent has portrayed a similar array of effects. Unlike NSAIDs, a very high safety (no reported toxicity (LD1 could be not achieved)) profile is reported for BPC 157.
Risk Grade: C+
- While the amino acids it’s comprised of are natural amino acids, in this peptide, they are chained together in a sequence that does not occur in nature. So this is far from being a natural anti-aging biohack,
- It’s not patented. This is part of the reason it’s so cheap.
- Examine.com criticized it because the majority of the research is done by a single Croatian research group at Zagreb University (nearby where I used to go salsa dancing to meet beautiful Croatian girls)
- It’s been around for a while, the first BPC-157 paper was published back in 1993. I’m of two minds about this, it having been around for a few decades makes it a little more credible than some brand new research chemicals. But, I wonder why it’s never undergone a proper human clinical trial. Apparently, a human clinical trial was pre-registered but never completed (I don’t blame the Croatian researchers for getting a bit distracted from their boring work with all the pretty girls there and the sun-washed, resplendent Dalmation coast beckoning!)
- With the exception of a few podcasts, most of the people online talking about BPC-157 really seem to not be experts. BPC-157 is state of the art Bro Science, researching it you’ll come across a lot of hyperbolic generalizations: “there are no reports of negative side effects!” and “It heals everything!”
It deserves a C grade because of the purity and safety concerns I conclude this article with.
Side Effects
What you hear from a bunch of Bro Science bros on Youtube and elsewhere around the internet is “BPC-157 is SO safe. There are NO cases of bad side effects from it.” Well, I did about 5 minutes of searching the internet and came across a report of side effects. Apparently, in rare cases, it can cause anxiety. One Redditor reported…
When I got home I took another 250 mcg sublingally, this is when things started to get weird. after about 30 minutes I had a weird feeling of anxiety and slight increase of mental alertness. Almost like a little too much coffee. I decided to wait it out and eventually it went away, until later that night. I went to bed and noticed I was agitated, and took a Benadryl to try to sleep it off. I fell asleep and woke up even more agitated and in a dysphoric state. I had a pain my right leg that was pretty bad and wouldn’t go away. I was having what felt like a mild panic attack but with a strange mood and unpleasent body sensations.
I finally got back to sleep and luckily feel much better today. Still experiencing waves of anxiety but seem to be improving. I’ve read some reports of anxiety with this peptide and one user in particular had almost identical anxiety symptoms with no history of anxiety isssues.
Another negative side effect report on Longecity
I’ve used 1mg a day orally for 20days twice. Both times I experienced odd chest / rib pains with the first few doses. I think it restores stomach acid production which is sometimes low for me.
And at least one concerning anecdote suggests that it causes serious dopamine desensitization:
BPC 157 I believe lowered my dopamine levels and destroyed my ability to increase them at all using stimulants. They seemed to have little to no effect on me…
I’m not so sure it actually repaired things on a permanent level. I took it to resolve a shoulder and knee injury as well as hoping to treat any longer-term lyme/stim brain impact. Things might be better, they felt much better at the time of dosing, but overall most of the effect wasn’t very permanent.
You might say…
These are just a few anecdotes, for even the safest drug or supplement you can find examples of people that had bad reactions to it, it doesn’t mean that BPC-157 is unsafe.
Sure, but BPC-157 is a research chemical, it’s unproven in human clinical studies. The anecdotes of it working wonders for people are the only evidence we have for taking it, so negative anecdotes should also be considered and they also disprove the claim that it has never had any negative side effects.
Conclusion
If you’ve studied history or politics much you know that communism always ruins everything, thus I remain bearish on these kinds of anti-aging peptides and probably won’t try them because almost all the peptides that you find for sale online come from one of the worst communist countries, China. Chinese products and supplements consistently are sloppily made and rife with toxins. Many American websites offer suspiciously cheap “Made in America” peptides but often the only manufacturing step actually done in American is the application of the product’s label! As a rule of thumb, competitively priced peptides originate in China. Unless you see a relatively recent certificate of analysis from an American spectroscopy lab for the batch you’re consuming, don’t mess with it. Now, as a biohacker, I’m a pragmatist, not a purist — I don’t always demand 100% purity because I can’t always afford it or get it. But when it comes to something you’re injecting, you really don’t want to take chances with a crappy Chinese product. When you inject something any toxins, additives, manufacturing byproducts, bacteria, or viruses present bypass your liver, your kidney, and your natural immune defenses. The importance of verifying the purity of injectable peptides cannot be overstated.
