How strong is the evidence behind the claim?

Ask what evidence applies to this exact product

• Was the research in people, and what health problem did they have?

• Was the product the same as the one being proposed?

• What benefit was measured?

• What was still unknown at the end?

A trial is a study that tests a treatment. Ask the person treating you how the study applies to the proposed medicine and your goal.

Missing information is part of the answer

The Food and Drug Administration, known as FDA, carries out medicine reviews in the U.S.

BPC-157 is a peptide name. FDA says it has too little information about harms in people to know whether the proposed uses would hurt them.

FDA is concerned that the body may react to some injected peptide ingredients as if they were invaders.

It can also be hard to check exactly what is in the injection.

Ask about what is known for this particular product.

A report of a problem is not proof of its cause

An unwanted event is a health problem reported while someone was using a product.

A reported problem alone cannot establish that a medicine caused it, FDA says.

These reports cannot establish the frequency of a problem among users of the medicine either.

Think of two separate questions: Did the medicine cause this problem? How many people using it had the problem? A report alone cannot answer either one.

Ask for both counts: the total number of medicine users and the number who experienced the problem. A count of reports alone is not that comparison.