Crocodile dung. Tapeworms. Raw meat facials. At some point in history these wildly popular \u2014 and wildly unproven \u2014 treatments were how the (richest) men and women of the day tried to hold on to youth, beauty and strength.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Right now, plenty of influencers will tell you that injectable peptides are the answer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the research and the scientists? Not so much. <\/p>\n
While there are well-studied injectable peptides used in medicine, namely insulin and GLP-1s, like Ozempic, these peptides that influencers push are neither approved by Health Canada nor have they been studied in large-scale human trials. Instead, they are often sold through a \u201cgrey market,\u201d meaning they\u2019re sold legally for research purposes but purchased for unintended uses. <\/p>\n
In fact, the regulatory agency issued warnings in April 2025<\/u><\/a> and again in August<\/u><\/a> against purchasing these unregulated drugs online. Globally, the World Anti-Doping Agency has also banned many of these injectables for professional athletes.<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n The Dose<\/span>22:49<\/span>What’s the real evidence on injectable peptides? <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n The U.S., however, is taking a different turn. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Joe Rogan\u2019s podcast in February that he\u2019s looking to ease Food and Drug Administration regulations tightened in 2023 on the compounding of 14 popular peptides by pharmacies. <\/p>\n The New York Times reported Wednesday<\/u><\/a> that change could happen any day now, much to the chagrin of the scientists and health researchers it interviewed.<\/p>\n At the molecular level, naturally occurring peptides are amino acids. These are the building blocks which, when about 50 combine, create a protein. Inside your body, peptides help regulate hormones, digestion and appetite. They also support the immune system and muscle growth and repair, among other things.\u00a0<\/p>\n Many of the unregulated synthetic injectable peptides are marketed as growth hormone stimulators to help you build muscle faster and with less effort, while others are touted as the holy grail of youth.<\/p>\n “The evidence for these things versus the claims that people make is essentially empty,” said Stuart Phillips, the Canada Research Chair in Skeletal Muscle Health. “There are no large-scale human trials. There are no efficacy trials. There are no safety trials.”<\/p>\n What\u2019s happening right now is a classic case of “science-ploitation,” said Tim Caulfield, a Canada Research Chair who specializes in the legal and ethical issues around commercialization in medicine at the University of Alberta.<\/p>\n These influencers are using “a genuine area of research \u2026 that is maybe getting headlines and you take that \u2018sciencey\u2019 word and you use it to market unproven theories,” he said in an interview on CBC\u2019s The Dose<\/em> podcast. <\/p>\n He says the unproven theories are being pushed by the “manosphere” \u2014 certain online communities whose content critics say can promote misogynistic and harmful views<\/u><\/a>. It\u2019s also rampant among “looksmaxxing” influencers, he says, and “tech bros” trying to project success who believe “you should be constantly trying to optimize.” <\/p>\n Caulfield compares it to the sudden influx of unregulated stem cell<\/a> products that emerged several years ago, following advancements in stem cell research<\/a> unrelated to what the products were actually marketing. <\/strong>And with Ozempic as much a part of pop culture now as it may be a life-changing drug, he said it\u2019s one of the catalysts for the injectable peptide push on TikTok, Instagram and podcasts.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the U.S., Rogan has been confidently telling the 11 million people who listen to each episode of his podcast how the “Wolverine stack” \u2014 injecting two peptides, BPC-157 and TB-500 \u2014 has helped him, as well as professional athletes, recover from injuries associated with training. Guests have also mentioned similar benefits shown in animal trials.\u00a0<\/p>\n While these anecdotes may sound convincing coming from a professional communicator, Caulfield says, it\u2019s not driven by data. Replicating the results of an animal study in large-scale human trials that then lead to regulatory approval has a success rate of around five<\/u><\/a> to 10 per cent, based on several analyses<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n “If you were a betting person, you would bet against an animal study being relevant to humans in the clinical context,” Caulfield said.<\/p>\n The manufacturers of these peptides are largely unregulated, which means there\u2019s no guarantee that the drugs are being made in a sterile environment. That means an injection could introduce bacteria into the body and, in a worst-case scenario, says Caulfield, lead to sepsis \u2014 a life-threatening response to infection that can cause major organs to shut down.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s also unclear whether the peptides people pay for are what they get. Alongside grey market producers, commercial labs have sprung up that test samples of injectable peptides for purity. But these, too, are unregulated, Phillips cautions, and the need to test these products should also be a red flag.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n “That actually says you’re acknowledging that you see that there’s no real guardrails on this market,” he said.<\/p>\nWhat exactly are they?<\/h2>\n
Why now?<\/h2>\n
![\"Tim](\"https:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/ais\/1.4632313,1701981904000\/full\/max\/0\/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C1920%2C1080%29%3BResize%3D796\"\/)
<\/picture><\/div>The risks<\/h2>\n
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