THE US SECRETARY of Health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, “Make America Healthy Again” supporters and online influencers are promoting them, while social media is awash with the putative ability of peptides, advertised as “not fit for human consumption” to enhance fitness, wellness, scar-free skin and luxurious mops of hair.

A recent RTÉ Prime Time investigation has explored the claims, the safety standards and the possible long-term risks of peptide injectables that are being sold on a grey market in Ireland.

Do the claims for enhanced performance, longevity and healing from the use of injectable peptides live up to the hype?

Here’s what the science says…

Peptides are molecules that our body uses to send signals from cell to cell and tissue to tissue. They are short strings of amino acids – the building blocks of proteins. Scientists have identified about 7,000 peptides in the human body.

They act as lightning-fast messengers, conveying signals from one organ to another – “just ate lunch,” “time to sleep,” or “I’m hungry.” The GLP-1 peptide is produced in the gut when we eat a meal and travels to the brain and pancreas, telling these organs we are full and to start releasing insulin into the bloodstream.

Weight loss drugs like Wegovy and Mounjaro are peptides. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

The first peptide-based medicine, insulin, was discovered in 1921. It also became the first synthetically manufactured peptide in 1982.

Since then, the US FDA has approved 100 different peptide therapeutics for conditions ranging from diabetes to multiple sclerosis to septic shock.

Injectable peptides, containing synthetic sequences built in a lab that are promoted on social media, are different. Most of them, whether it’s helping to heal a sports injury or building muscles, were never developed as medications. There’s not much information on the products’ effectiveness and even less on their safety.

There is a whole plethora of these........

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