2 beginner-friendly peptides to improve skin, sharpen your brain and fix your gut

The world’s largest and longest-running biohacking conference just wrapped — and peptides were among the hottest topics on the floor.It’s not hard to see why.In recent years, these experimental compounds have exploded across the worlds of longevity, beauty and fitness, with devotees touting benefits ranging from muscle building and injury recovery to slower aging and improved skin. The buzz has gotten so loud it’s even being heard in Washington.

Just last month, the FDA announced that a panel of its advisers will meet this summer to consider easing restrictions on more than half a dozen peptides, following a push by Health Secretary Robert F.Kennedy Jr.Peptides are short chains of amino acids — the building blocks of proteins — that help drive essential processes like metabolism, tissue repair and immune response.

Your body makes them naturally, but synthetic versions have become a booming industry, with influencers flocking to social media to tout their favorite “stacks.”But according to Dave Asprey, the creator of the biohacking movement, peptides are no silver bullet.“They are the last thing that you do if you want to get healthy,” Asprey told The Post last week at the 2026 Beyond Biohacking Conference in Austin, Texas.

“If you’re lacking your vitamin D, you’re lacking your minerals, you don’t have any B vitamins — taking peptides [is] like putting nitrous in your car when it has an engine that’s about to blow.It doesn’t work — except for a couple of them.”Asprey broke down two experimental drugs he says could serve as an entry point for those looking to dip their toe into the fast-moving, still largely unregulated world of peptides.“These are two peptides you can start with that are going to be foundational,” he said.

The best part: Neither require cozying up with needles.BPC 157 is a gastric peptide that’s naturally present in the stomach “It works by making your stomach less likely to leak food and bacterial ...