Whether they come as promos on my for you page while mindlessly scrolling through TikTok or commercials while binge-watching my favorite show, I have become sick of the ads for the newest injectable peptide, and it seems I’m not alone.
On May 27, the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners gave notice to physicians and medical professionals in the state, banning them from prescribing or distributing research-grade peptides to patients. But I’m not mad, and you shouldn’t be either.
A peptide is best described as a small chain of amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins. There are thousands of different types of peptides, all of which serve a different purpose. Two of the most well-known medications using peptides are insulin or semaglutide, which is used in the recently popularized GLP-1 medication, Ozempic.
To be clear, I am not talking about FDA-approved medications meant to treat diabetes and other disorders, but rather the unregulated gray market peptides promoted by influencers and looksmaxxers. The gray market itself is characterized by distributors outside the pharmaceutical field, often selling research-grade peptides to users, promising anti-aging or improved muscle strength without any proper studies.
These distributors range from shady online sites posing as legitimate online pharmacies to my personal favorite, TikTok influencers linking their favorite place to purchase peptides alongside their “pinning” routine and promo code. Yes, “pinning” is slang for injecting yourself, and yes, they had a promo code.
My first impression of injectable peptides was a TikTok from a small female creator with the text, “Will never understand why pinning is viewed as worse than drinking and smoking,” overlaying a video of her injecting herself and posing with the syringe. In the caption, she discussed her improved hair growth and a promo code to the site where she bought her peptides.
Needless to say, I was baffled and decided to take a look at her site of choice, Neurolabsresearch.com. This company claims to carry “high-purity peptides — for verified researchers only.” However, before you create an account, the site requires you to confirm that you are aware that these peptides are for research use only, not human consumption.
As if that were not enough, entire online communities have formed around the practice of “stacking,” or using multiple peptides at the same time to strengthen results. The fact that using these untested injections, clearly not meant for us, has attracted tens of thousands of followers is deeply disturbing.
While this may just seem like the newest way for society to breed self-loathing, it is extremely concerning how many people will inject themselves with experimental drugs as an unnecessary solution to an imaginary problem.
Now, this isn’t to say that these peptides reap no benefits; they may very well be providing people with exactly what they asked for. But at some point, we have to decide as a collective if these potential results are worth the risk.
The problem arises when you give the public unregulated access to these experimental injections without any knowledge of the consequences and expect them to behave responsibly. This is not just careless, but negligent.
Even just taking a look at social media, you will see that so many of the participants in this trend are young adults, injecting themselves because society has made them so fearful of the natural processes of aging.
Unfortunately, this is not a new phenomenon. The anti-aging narrative is a tale as old as time; however, in this re-run, it’s become much more technically advanced and peptides are the hero nobody asked for
The solution to society’s mission to create new insecurities and find a way to monetize fabricated solutions is to resist. Resist the celebrities raving about their glowing skin. Resist the influencer trying to sell you shady vials. Resist the self-loathing they so desperately want to exploit. Instead, love yourself, because you do not need a peptide to be perfect.
