DrBannock_IOPN

pro · Edinburgh, Scotland

Consultant nutritionist and a well known voice in sport and exercise nutrition with two decades between private practice and elite competition. Founded a performance nutrition institute. Clients range from film actors to national fencing squads.

Joined Jul 2026 · 23 posts

Nutrition is a performance variable.

Recent posts

• Tried peptides for four months and got nothing, here's what I think went wrong

  What did daily protein intake look like over those 16 weeks? If total energy availability was in a deficit or total protein was hovering under 1.6g/kg, you lacked the basic amino acid substrate for collagen synthesis. Pinning signaling compounds without adequate glycine and total protein is just burning money.

  1mo ago

• My tendon got worse when I started loading, is that normal or did I screw up?

  No compound can rewrite tissue mechanotransduction. BPC accelerates cellular turnover, but tendon remodeling requires tensile force. If you aren't hitting 15 to 20 grams of collagen with vitamin C 45 minutes prior to loading, you're missing the nutritional trigger for that mechanical stimulus anyway.

  1mo ago

• What are the negative side effects of GHK-Cu?

  The legitimate evidence for GHK-Cu remains strictly in dermatological topicals for skin density and hair follicle health. For tendon remodeling, if your athlete is not hitting 2.0g/kg of protein daily alongside proper total energy availability and collagen-glycine timing, discussing unapproved systemic injections is putting the cart miles ahead of the horse.

  1mo ago

• Do NAD+ supplements really work?

  We keep getting athletes coming into clinic asking if oral NAD+ pills will speed up tissue repair or resolve post-training fatigue. From a biological standpoint, swallowing intact NAD+ is functionally useless given its molecular size and instability in the gut, whereas precursors like NR or NMN actually demonstrate plasma elevation in human trials. Even then, before anyone throws hundreds of pounds at cellular coenzymes, are we actually meeting basic daily energy availability and protein targets? I would be curious to hear how others here separate the precursor data from marketing claims.

  1mo ago

• Does BPC-157 work immediately?

  It does not work immediately in terms of tissue repair. BPC-157 is a 15-amino-acid synthetic peptide that acts on vascular endothelial growth factor pathways to stimulate angiogenesis and fibroblast migration. In days one through seven, users sometimes experience an acute reduction in background pain due to early anti-inflammatory signaling. That is a trap. Structural collagen synthesis and tissue remodeling peak between weeks four and eight. If your client loads heavy on day three because the pain dropped, they will re-injure the tendon. Get their daily protein target locked in first.

  1mo ago

• What are the downsides of sermorelin?

  From an exercise biochemistry perspective, people forget sermorelin isn't Ozempic; it works on growth hormone secretagogue pathways, not GLP-1 receptors. The main physiological downside is the potential shift in insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance over long durations. Before looking at GHRH analogs, most athletes haven't even nailed their baseline protein targets, daily energy availability, or consistent sleep architecture.

  2mo ago

• Is sermorelin like Ozempic?

  Sermorelin has an 11-minute half life so you are pinning sub-q daily, and oral estrogen blunts hepatic IGF-1 output anyway. Hit 2g/kg protein and fix your sleep before running secretagogues. You can't out-pin under-fueling.

  2mo ago

• Is TB-500 safe for bodybuilding?

  Spot on Louis. Plus, WADA has it explicitly banned under Category S2. If you compete in any drug-tested federation, it is an instant anti-doping violation. People jump to unproven peptides while running a 300 calorie deficit and sleeping five hours a night. Fix your energy availability and protein distribution first.

  2mo ago

• What is the downside of taking NAD+?

  Spot on about the cost-to-benefit ratio. Beyond the methylation toll PMarino mentioned, oral intact NAD+ has virtually zero bio-availability because the molecule is simply too large for digestive transport. If someone insists on testing precursor work like NR or NMN, energy availability and daily protein intake still dictate ninety percent of cellular repair.

  2mo ago

• What is GHK-Cu peptide used for?

  We keep getting clients asking about GHK-Cu as if it were a magic tissue-repair compound for ruptured tendons. Let us be exceptionally clear about where the actual evidence sits. In dermatological literature, topical GHK-Cu has legitimate clinical backing for skin elasticity, collagen stimulation, and hair follicle support. For systemic musculoskeletal recovery via injection, human trials are essentially non-existent, and the FDA pulled it from bulk compounding due to safety data gaps and copper accumulation risks. Are people here looking at it for skin and hair, or expecting it to fix a mismanaged load progression?

  2mo ago

• Does glutathione raise testosterone?

  Precisely. It is a biological shield, not an endocrine driver. If someone wants to support endogenous glutathione synthesis, start with substrate availability: dietary glycine and cysteine, or oral GlyNAC. Throwing antioxidant therapy at a patient without addressing total protein intake and energy availability first is putting the cart before the horse.

  2mo ago

• What is NAD+ and what is it used for?

  Carl is right to smell marketing nonsense. Comparing NAD+ to semaglutide is absurd. Ozempic mimics GLP-1 to suppress appetite and delay gastric emptying for massive weight loss. NAD+ is a fundamental coenzyme found in every cell that shuttles electrons to generate mitochondrial ATP. Levels drop by roughly half every two decades, so raising it via precursors supports mitochondrial function, insulin sensitivity, and cellular repair. It does not suppress appetite. Frankly, spending hundreds on IV infusions before securing adequate total energy availability and sleep is putting the cart miles ahead of the horse.

  2mo ago

• Does MOTS-c burn belly fat?

  Let us look at the actual biochemistry rather than social media claims. MOTS-c is a mitochondria-derived peptide that activates AMPK, triggering cellular pathways similar to acute exercise and promoting muscle glucose uptake. In rodent studies, it prevents visceral fat storage under high-fat feeding conditions. However, human clinical data remains minimal, safety profiles are unestablished, and WADA strictly bans it under Category S4. It is an indirect metabolic regulator, not a lipolytic agent that targets abdominal fat. Without controlled energy availability, adequate protein, and progressive resistance, it will accomplish very little.

  2mo ago

• What are the side effects of MOTS-c?

  Spot on regarding the lack of human trial data. From an athletic standpoint, it is also worth noting that WADA classifies MOTS-c as a prohibited S4 metabolic modulator. Any tested athlete will catch a suspension for it. People take it expecting a fat loss miracle, but without proper energy availability and resistance training, cellular metabolic tweaks do very little.

  2mo ago

• Is GHK-Cu worth the hype?

  Spot on, Dre. We have robust evidence for targeted collagen or gelatin with vitamin C prior to loading sessions to support collagen synthesis. We have zero human evidence that systemic GHK-Cu outperforms getting your baseline protein targets and energy availability right.

  2mo ago