About Peptide Decode
Peptides are one of the most confusing topics in health, and most of that confusion is manufactured. We are trying to fix a specific part of it.
Why this exists
“Peptide” is a chemistry word. It describes a short chain of amino acids - nothing about what a substance does, whether it is legal, or whether it works. Which is why the same word covers a collagen powder from a supermarket, an FDA-approved medicine that has been through years of trials, and an unapproved compound sold in a vial marked “not for human use”.
Almost every bad peptide article treats those as one topic. They aren't. They differ in what is known about them, what you can legally buy, and what happens if you get it wrong. Ourthree-bucket model is simply the observation that once you know which bucket something is in, most of the confusion dissolves.
How we work
Claims trace to a source you can check, and we name which kind it is: a study, a regulator, a product label, or arithmetic. Not everything worth writing about is a trial result, and pretending otherwise would be its own kind of dishonesty. We attribute rather than assert - we tell you what a source found, not what you should do. And when the evidence is thin, we say it is thin.
That last one is the whole point. There is no shortage of sites willing to tell you a rodent study means something for you. The useful thing - the thing almost nobody does - is to say plainly: this has never been tested in a human being. Oureditorial policy sets out the rules we hold ourselves to, including the ones that cost us money.
How we're funded
Affiliate commissions and telehealth referrals. We sell nothing ourselves - no supplements, no house brand, no vials. That matters: we have no product to defend, so “the evidence doesn't support buying this” is a sentence we can actually afford to write. Where we earn a commission, we say so above the link, before you decide.
Who writes this
Sebastian Hunter
Founder and Editor
Sebastian Hunter is a senior advisor who spends his days helping people make good decisions and his early mornings running long distances. He is 42, married to Sofia, and father to two children who think his race medals are pirate treasure. Two years ago he decided he was ageing badly and did something about it: sleep, strength, running, and then peptides, which he came to as a sceptic and now uses with his eyes open and his bloodwork on file. He writes here about what he takes, what he does, what it costs, and what actually changes. He is not a doctor. He is a man running his own experiment and keeping honest notes.
We use the phrase “medically reviewed by” only where the reviewer holds an actual clinical credential - a licence to practise, not a job title. Where they don't, the byline says “reviewed by” and names their role. It's a smaller claim, and it's the true one.