Dr. Seeds BPC- 157

Dr. Seed’s Body Protective Complex is a daily supplement that doesn’t mask the pain, it increases your collagen synthesis and repairs the nagging injuries that are holding you back. Using a protein sequence, BPC is ready to help you feel your best. 

• Increases Collagen Synthesis
• Repairs Connective Tissue For Both Tendons And Ligaments
• Decreases Inflammation 

BPC 157 is a short peptide chain – essentially a piece of a protein. Its regenerative potential attracted scientists, who are starting to reveal that this peptide may promote muscle and wound healing and counteract the toxic effects of common painkillers. Read on to learn what the science does, and doesn’t, say about BPC 157.

What is BPC 157?

BPC is a protein that is present in stomach acid, discovered in the ‘90s. BPC 157 is a 15-amino-acid-long fragment of this protein that is synthetically produced [1].

Some studies refer to BPC as “body protection compound,” hinting at its therapeutic potential. Scientists consider it a blueprint for an entirely new class of organ-protective/healing drugs, but research is still in the early stages [2, 1, 3].

How Does BPC 157 Work?

BPC 157 likely promotes muscle and tendon healing by triggering the formation of new blood vessels – a process called angiogenesis (by increasing VEGF). This explains its regenerative potential and why it might also help heal wounds, cuts, and other types of damage in the body [4, 5].

By increasing new blood vessels, it might help with IBD, in which healing of the inflamed gut lining is slow [6].

Additionally, BPC 157 may promote wound and tendon healing by blocking the growth-inhibiting effects of a specific molecule (called 4‐hydroxynonenal) [7].

It might specifically help tendons heal by causing tendon cells to make more receptors for growth signaling molecules. This, in turn, allows the tendon cells to grow and move during injury repair, speeding up the process [8, 9].

It can also reduce inflammation, which is probably involved in its effects on wounds, ulcers, and tissue protection [10, 11].

BPC 157 can also influence the activity of neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine. In turn, it might help with depression, seizures, pain, and may even promote gut health. More research is needed to understand exactly how it works in the brain [12, 13, 14, 3].

Lastly, it can increase the production of nitric oxide (NO), which lowers blood pressure and helps to reduce the effects of high potassium levels [15, 16].

Snapshot of BPC 157

PROs

• May promote healing and tissue regeneration
• May reduce inflammation
• May protect organs from toxins and damage

CONs

• No published, peer-reviewed studies in humans
• May interact with other drugs and medications
• Potential conflicts of interest for scientists doing the research

Benefits & Potential Uses of BPC 157

1) May Counteract Damage Caused By NSAIDs

NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) include over-the-counter (OTC) pain medications like aspirin and ibuprofen. Although generally safe if used as directed, these drugs can cause damage to organs like the stomach and liver if taken in high doses [17, 18].

BPC 157, either injected or consumed in drinking water, reversed these toxic effects in rats given NSAIDs [18, 19, 20, 21].

2) May Improve Inflammatory Bowel Disease

There are numerous references, both online and in published scientific studies, to BPC 157 being safe and/or effective in clinical trials of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, results from such studies do not appear to have been published or peer-reviewed.

Some studies in humans with titles suggesting they tested IBD – falsely cited even in the scientific literature – were in fact performed in healthy people (see “Side Effects” section below) [6, 22, 23].

In rats with IBS, the peptide decreases inflammation [6, 11, 24].

3) May Increase Muscle and Tendon Healing

In rats with injuries in their Achilles tendons, injections with BPC 157 helped the tendons to heal almost completely, whereas control rats didn’t make full recoveries [7, 5, 25].

Similarly, peptide injections improved muscle healing for rats whose muscles had been cut or crushed. This effect even held true when rats were also treated with corticosteroids (steroid drugs like hydrocortisone), which can slow the healing process [26, 27, 28].

4) May Help Healing Burns, Cuts, and Broken Bones

In mice with burns, creams containing BPC 157 accelerated the healing process, even in mice simultaneously given corticosteroids [29, 30, 31].

BPC 157 also helped cuts heal in mice and in rats. It was effective even in diabetic rats; diabetes can make it harder for the body to heal wounds  [32, 33].

Injections with the peptide also spurred the healing of broken bones in rabbits [34].

5) May Protect the Brain and Nervous System

Rats given BPC 157 injections after suffering traumatic brain injury had less brain damage, and rats injected with BPC 157 before brain injury were more likely to stay conscious and less likely to die [35].

In rats with nerve damage in their legs, BPC 157 injections helped the nerve cells regrow and heal [36].

The peptide also protected mice from drug-induced seizures [37].

It might also positively affect mood. In one study, BPC 157 injections decreased depression-like behavior in rats. This effect was comparable to that of conventional antidepressants [38].

6) May Improve Ulcers and Gut Health

Injections of BPC 157 helped to heal stomach ulcers in rats. It also protected the rats’ intestines from damage due to toxins like alcohol and helped heal gastrointestinal fistulas – abnormal openings in the digestive tract that cause fluids to leak [37, 39, 40, 41, 11, 42, 11].

In one study, BPC 157 injections reduced inflammation in rats with both stomach ulcers and arthritis [21].

In rats with an inflamed esophagus – the tube that goes from the throat to the stomach – the peptide also reduced inflammation [11].

Interestingly, BPC 157 might act on the gut-brain axis, helping to soothe the stress response “from the inside out” [3, 1].

7) Tackling Drug Intoxication

BPC 157 might be useful in counteracting drug intoxication.

In rats, BPC 157 given with morphine made the morphine less effective – that is, the rats given both morphine and the peptide were more sensitive to pain than those given just morphine. However, rats given both were still less sensitive to pain than rats given nothing at all [12].

It also decreased abnormal behavior in rats given amphetamines. This peptide might counteract the chemical imbalances amphetamines can trigger, especially on the dopamine system [43, 44].

8) May Decrease Pain

BPC 157 by itself may be a mild painkiller. Rats injected with the peptide experienced less pain to pinching and similar unpleasant stimuli. Notably, this study was testing the effects of BPC 157 alone, not in combination with pain-reducing drugs (i.e. morphine, discussed above) [45].

9) May Balance Blood Pressure

In rats, BPC 157 had a stabilizing effect on blood pressure: in rats with chemically induced high blood pressure, peptide injections decreased blood pressure. However, in rats given L-arginine, which can abnormally lower blood pressure, BPC 157 increased it [15].

10) May Help With High Potassium Levels

Hyperkalemia is when blood potassium levels become too high. It’s usually the result of kidney disease, and it can cause muscle weakness, fatigue, irregular heart rhythms (arrhythmias), and even death [46].

In one study, untreated rats with hyperkalemia died within half an hour. But rats given injections of BPC 157, either before or immediately after getting hyperkalemia, survived and had fewer symptoms [16].