“Peptide” and “supplement” get used almost interchangeably in wellness marketing. In regulation they are different things, and the difference determines what you are entitled to assume about a product.
Supplements
A supplement is a food product. In South Africa it falls under complementary medicines regulation, which sets requirements around labelling, permitted claims and manufacturing standards. Notably, a supplement may not claim to treat or cure disease.
What you can assume: the product is intended for human consumption, its ingredients are permitted in food, and the claims on the label have had to survive a regulatory framework.
Research compounds
A research compound is supplied for laboratory use. It is not a food and not a medicine. It has not been assessed for human safety by any regulator, and selling it for human consumption would be unlawful.
What you can assume about human use: essentially nothing, because that is not what it is for.
The overlap that causes trouble
Some peptides are foods, collagen hydrolysate is a peptide mixture sold as a supplement. Some peptides are approved medicines. Some are research compounds. The word “peptide” alone tells you nothing about which of the three you are looking at.
What a responsible listing states
- Its regulatory status
- Its intended use
- Whether it is approved for human consumption
If a page avoids these, that avoidance is itself information. Every listing in this catalogue carries all three, including the ones where the honest answer is “research use only, not for human consumption”.
A practical rule
Decide what you are actually looking for before you shop. If you want something to take, you are looking for a supplement, and the label should say so. If you are sourcing a reference material for laboratory work, you are looking at a different category with different rules. Trouble starts when a buyer in the first situation buys from the second.
The practical test is whether a listing tells you which of the two it is. Ours state it, including the ones where the honest answer is unflattering. You can see how we classify things on the regulatory page, or just read a few listings in the store and judge for yourself.