WASHINGTON (AP) — Unapproved peptide drugs have become a trendy new hack among wellness influencers, fitness coaches and celebrities, pitched as a way to build muscle, shed pounds and look younger.
Online stores will offer injectable vials for $300 to $600 each. Longevity and wellness clinics offer in-office evaluations and injections, sometimes with membership fees of thousands of dollars per month.
But many of the products have never been extensively studied in humans, raising concerns that they could cause allergic reactions, metabolic problems and other dangerous side effects.
Here’s a closer look at the science, the hype and the potential risks surrounding the trend.
What are peptides?
Within the human body, peptides are short chains of amino acids that perform essential functions.
Insulin, for example, controls blood sugar levels and helps break down foods into energy. Likewise the popular weight loss drugs, GLP-1s — short for glucagon-like peptides — are based on a hormone found in the intestines that helps regulate blood sugar.
The Food and Drug Administration has approved both substances as drugs. But there are many more peptides that have never been approved by regulators as safe and effective, though some have shown interesting study results in rodents and other animals.
Why are peptides so popular right now?
Synthesized peptides are not new. Some doctors have prescribed them for decades off-label, or for unapproved uses, in patients with gastric ulcers, nervous system disorders and other conditions.
In recent years, peptides have become a focus for wellness gurus and other public figures with large online followings. That’s driven interest in using obscure peptides for unsubstantiated uses like healing injuries, improving complexion and even extending life. Peptides in this group include an alphabet soup of injectable compounds, including BPC-157, thymosin alpha, GHK-Copper and many more. Some are banned by sports regulators as doping substances.
Experts who have studied the field are particularly concerned that some people are combining multiple peptides.
“These influencers are often advocating taking a stack of peptides each month, so it could be two, three, four different peptides,” said Dr. Eric Topol of Scripps Research Translational Institute. “This is really what I consider dangerous.”
Interest in the trend is being amplified by celebrities.
Joe Rogan has repeatedly talked about using BPC-157 to recover from injuries. Jennifer Aniston has talked about using weekly peptide injections to improve her skin and currently serves as a paid spokesperson for a company selling peptide-enriched supplements.
“If any celebrity is using a peptide, and they’re saying this is what worked for me, then of course it’s going to be more mainstream and people are going to be looking into it,
A Closer Look at the Unapproved Peptide Injections Promoted by Influencers and Celebrities
