45 terms / 4 groups
Know the words before the product.
A label, a testing report, a study, and a care plan each use a vocabulary of their own. These are the terms you will meet on this site and on any comparison you make elsewhere, defined without a product attached.
Start readingMolecules & formats
The words that describe what a peptide is and the shapes it arrives in.
- Peptide
A molecule made of two or more amino acids joined by peptide bonds. Peptides are shorter than proteins, and the word names a class of molecules rather than one substance.
Two products described as peptides can have nothing in common beyond the bond that joins their amino acids. Compare the exact molecule.
- Amino acid
One of the small organic molecules that link together to form peptides and proteins. The order in which they connect gives each peptide its identity.
The same amino acids in a different order are a different peptide.
- Sequence
The ordered list of amino acids in a peptide, usually written with one- or three-letter codes. A sequence identifies the molecule more precisely than a trade name.
A product record that states the sequence lets you check that two products are the same molecule.
- Synthetic peptide
A peptide assembled in a laboratory rather than extracted from a natural source. Synthesis does not by itself say anything about purity, quality, or approval status.
How a peptide was made is separate from whether it was tested and separate from whether it is approved for any use.
- Lyophilized
Freeze-dried. A lyophilized peptide is a dry powder that must be reconstituted with a suitable liquid before use, according to the product's directions.
Storage and handling conditions differ before and after reconstitution. Both belong in the product record.
- Reconstitution
Dissolving a dry product in a specified liquid to reach a stated concentration. The volume, the liquid, and the resulting concentration are part of the directions for use.
A concentration after reconstitution depends on the volume added. Directions, not a chart from another site, define it.
- Vial
A small sealed glass or plastic container for a liquid or a dry powder. A vial can hold one dose or several; the label states the total quantity.
A vial's total quantity is not a dose. The directions state how much of it is used and how often.
- Capsule
An oral format in which a measured amount of ingredient is enclosed in a soluble shell. Capsules are swallowed and absorbed through the digestive system.
Many peptides are broken down in digestion. An oral format and an injectable format are not interchangeable claims.
- Prefilled pen
A device that contains a set number of doses of a specific medicine and delivers a measured amount at each use. Pens are tied to one product and its instructions.
A pen belongs with its exact product record and, for prescriptions, with clinical instructions on use.
- Subcutaneous
Injected into the fatty tissue just under the skin. Many injectable peptides and some prescription medicines are given this way.
Route of administration is part of the directions and part of the clinical conversation. It is not a marketing detail.
The product record
The terms on a label and in the documentation that travels with a product.
- Active ingredient
The component of a product intended to produce its effect. Everything else in the formula is there to carry, stabilize, preserve, or flavor it.
The active ingredient's name and amount are the first two facts to compare between products.
- Excipient
An inactive component of a formula, such as a filler, binder, preservative, or buffer. Excipients affect stability, shelf life, and tolerability but are not the active ingredient.
A complete ingredient list names excipients. Allergies and sensitivities are usually about these.
- Concentration
The amount of an ingredient in a given volume, for example milligrams per milliliter. Concentration and total quantity per container are different numbers.
Two vials with the same total milligrams can have different concentrations if their volumes differ.
- Serving size
For a dietary supplement, the amount the label's facts panel is based on. The panel lists ingredient amounts per serving, and the container holds a stated number of servings.
A serving size on a supplement label is a labeling unit, not medical dosing advice.
- Lot or batch number
An identifier printed on a product that ties it to one manufacturing run. Testing records, recalls, and expiration dates are tracked by lot.
A test report is only meaningful for the product in your hand if it names the same lot.
- Expiration date
The date through which the manufacturer supports the product's stated identity, strength, and quality when stored as directed.
Storage conditions are part of the promise. A date assumes the product was kept as the label says.
- Directions for use
The manufacturer's instructions for preparing, using, and storing a product. For a prescription, the clinician's instructions take precedence over general text.
Directions are specific to one product. They do not transfer to a similar product from another maker.
- Warnings
Statements on a label or in product information about who should not use a product, which conditions or medicines interact with it, and which effects to report.
Warnings are read before purchase, not after. They are part of the record that a comparison is based on.
- Dietary supplement
A product taken by mouth that contains a dietary ingredient such as a vitamin, mineral, herb, or amino acid. Supplements are regulated as a category of food, not as drugs, and are not approved by the FDA before sale.
A supplement label may not claim to treat, cure, or prevent a disease. That boundary is a useful reading test for any product page.
- Compounded medicine
A medicine prepared by a licensed pharmacist or physician for an individual patient, combining or altering ingredients to meet a need an approved product does not. Compounded drugs are not FDA-approved.
Compounded and approved versions of a similar molecule have different regulatory status, and that difference belongs in the clinical conversation.
- FDA-approved
A drug the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has reviewed and approved for a specific use, dose, and population, based on submitted evidence of safety and effectiveness.
Approval is for a named product and use. A facility registration, an ingredient's presence in an approved drug, or a testing certificate is not approval of a product.
- Research use only
A label statement that a product is intended for laboratory research and not for human or veterinary use. It carries no approval and no safety review for use in people.
A research-use label is a limit, not a loophole. A product sold under it has not been evaluated for the use a wellness page might imply.
Testing & evidence
The vocabulary of laboratory reports and human studies, which answer different questions.
- Certificate of analysis (COA)
A document from a testing laboratory reporting the results of specified tests on a specified sample. A COA names the product, the lot, the methods, the measured values, and the laboratory.
A COA describes a sample. It does not describe what the product does in a person, and it is only relevant to the lot it names.
- Identity testing
Analysis that confirms a sample contains the molecule it is claimed to contain, typically by comparing its mass or sequence to a reference.
Identity answers what it is. Purity answers how much of it is there. Neither answers whether it works.
- Purity
The proportion of a sample that is the intended substance, usually reported as a percentage measured by a named analytical method. The remainder is impurities, related substances, water, or salts.
A purity percentage without a method, a lot, and a laboratory is a number without a claim behind it.
- HPLC
High-performance liquid chromatography. A laboratory method that separates the components of a sample so their proportions can be measured. It is commonly used to report peptide purity.
Seeing HPLC on a report tells you the method. Read the result, the units, and the date beside it.
- Mass spectrometry
A method that measures the mass of molecules in a sample. For peptides it is used to confirm identity by matching the measured mass to the expected molecule.
Mass spectrometry supports identity. It is usually paired with a separate purity method.
- Third-party testing
Analysis performed by a laboratory independent of the manufacturer and seller. The value of the phrase depends on the laboratory being named and the report being available.
The words on a badge are not the report. A report you can read, tied to a lot, is the evidence.
- Sterility and endotoxin
Two separate tests relevant to injectable products: sterility checks for viable microorganisms, and endotoxin testing measures bacterial toxins that can remain even in a sterile sample.
Purity does not imply sterility. An injectable product's record should address both.
- Preclinical study
Research conducted in cells or animals before, or instead of, testing in people. Preclinical findings describe biology under laboratory conditions.
A result in cells or mice is a reason to study something in people. It is not evidence of an effect in people.
- Clinical trial
A research study in people that tests a specific intervention against a comparison, under a defined design, in a defined population, measuring defined outcomes.
Read who was studied, what exactly was given, for how long, compared with what, and what was measured. Each of those limits what the result can say.
- Placebo-controlled
A trial design in which one group receives an inactive comparison so that the intervention's effect can be separated from expectation, attention, and time.
A study without a comparison group can show change, but not what caused it.
- Peer review
Evaluation of a study by independent researchers before a journal publishes it. Peer review checks methods and reporting; it does not guarantee the findings are correct or apply to you.
A published study is a starting point for reading, not a conclusion about a product.
- Mechanism of action
The biological process through which a substance produces an effect, such as binding a receptor or blocking an enzyme.
A described mechanism explains how something could work. Whether it does, in people, at a dose, is a separate question answered by trials.
- Indication
The specific condition or use for which a medicine has been approved, based on the evidence reviewed. Use for another purpose is off-label.
An approved medicine has an approved indication. A marketing category is not an indication.
Care & commitment
The terms of a clinical relationship and of the purchase that may sit alongside it.
- Licensed clinician
A physician, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or other professional licensed by a state to evaluate patients and, within their scope, prescribe.
Licensure is state-specific. Who is responsible for your care, and where they are licensed, is a fair question to ask before an assessment.
- Telehealth
Clinical care delivered remotely, by video, phone, or secure messaging, under the same professional and legal responsibilities as in-person care.
Remote does not mean automatic. An evaluation still ends with a clinician's decision, including the decision not to prescribe.
- Informed consent
Your agreement to a treatment after its purpose, expected benefits, risks, alternatives, and uncertainties have been explained in terms you understand.
A checkbox on an order form is not informed consent. A conversation you can ask questions in is.
- Contraindication
A condition, circumstance, or other medicine that makes a treatment inadvisable for a particular person because the risk outweighs the benefit.
Contraindications are why a health history comes before a prescription, and why a website cannot decide suitability.
- Side effect and adverse event
A side effect is a known, unintended effect of a treatment. An adverse event is any unfavorable medical occurrence during treatment, whether or not it is caused by it. Both are reported and reviewed.
Knowing how and to whom effects are reported is part of a care plan, and it is a question to ask before starting.
- Follow-up
Scheduled review after a treatment begins: checking response, side effects, measurements, and whether the plan should continue, change, or stop.
The first visit starts a plan. Follow-up is where the plan is judged.
- Subscription
An agreement to receive a product on a recurring schedule with recurring billing. Its terms state the price, the interval, what each shipment contains, and how to change or cancel.
A billing interval and a shipment interval can differ. Read both.
- Membership
A recurring fee for access to a defined set of services over a stated period. Medicines, laboratory tests, or visits may be included or charged separately; the terms say which.
A membership fee and the cost of what it gives access to are two different numbers.
- Auto-renewal
A term under which a subscription or membership continues and bills again at the end of each period unless you cancel before a stated deadline.
The cancellation method and the deadline are the two facts to record when you sign up.
- Reassessment
A clinician's scheduled review of whether an ongoing prescription remains appropriate. For prescription products, a refill depends on this, not on a billing cycle.
A subscription cannot renew a prescription. Only a clinician can.
A definition is not a product record.
These entries explain what a word means in general. They do not describe any RA·NUE formula, and no formula name, amount, batch, or price is published here. When the collection is released, each product will carry its own record, written in these terms.
Read the formula guide