Euan Black’s Post
Teenagers as young as 14 are injecting themselves with peptides bought online from unregulated manufacturers to improve their suntan or promote faster muscle growth in a trend health professionals have called potentially “catastrophic”. Peptides are short strings of amino acids that occur naturally in the body to manage everything from inflammation to blood sugar levels. Many have been synthesised in labs to create approved therapeutic goods like insulin and the weight-loss drug Ozempic, but the experimental peptides widely promoted on social media lack large human trials to support their use and are often bought illegally without a prescription from local gyms, online influencers or directly from Chinese manufacturers. These include BPC-157 for gut conditions and musculoskeletal injuries, the growth-hormone promoter CJC-1295 for faster muscle growth, and melanotan-II, which promises a tan without sun exposure by increasing the production of skin-darkening pigments. Tim Piatkowski, a senior research fellow at the University of Queensland who specialises in image- and performance-enhancing drugs, said peptides were a bigger problem than steroids because they were often marketed as risk-free, and more people were using them. Piatkowski said peptide users often wanted to look a certain way and were sometimes as young as 14. “It really is a young, Westernised ideal body sort of problem,” he said. “On our Steroid QNect hotline, there have been concerned parents and carers calling in and saying, ‘we’ve had peptides delivered to our door, our kids have charged the credit card’,” Piatkowski said, referring to a free and confidential harm minimisation hotline for steroid users. Run by an ex-bodybuilder, the service was set up to provide safety advice to steroid users. “But on that phone line, over the past six months, we’ve seen a drastic rise in people calling for help with peptides ... which is something we’re not really well equipped for in Australia,” Piatkowski said. Full story in The Australian Financial Review below. Thanks to Tim and Tim Jones for sharing their insights. #peptides #fitness https://lnkd.in/gZdvWFBe
‘Catastrophic’: Teenagers as young as 14 buying peptides online afr.com
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