HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - The Alabama Board of Medical Examiners is telling doctors to stay away from non-FDA-approved peptides as the supplements gain popularity on social media.
Peptide-related searches hit 10.1 million in January 2026, according to Google. Millions of hashtags on TikTok have accompanied the trend.
“In general, a peptide is just a string of amino acids, which are building blocks of proteins,” said Dr. Ian McKeag with UAB’s sports medicine team.
McKeag said the board’s warning was smart.
“It’s frustrating for some of those not in the medical community,” he said. “It’s not that it’s not safe, it’s just that it’s not at medical grade quality.”
The warning drew hundreds of comments from people opposed to the guidance.
There are currently over 80 FDA-approved peptides. Some carry brand names like Ozempic or Wegovy, while others include Teriparatide or Tesamorelin. The peptides come with promises of weight loss, hair growth, muscle building and tan skin.
Peptides are not steroids. Steroids synthetically create hormones, while peptides help the body build more of what is already present.
Scott Pope, a bodybuilder, began using peptides 20 years ago after discovering his testosterone levels were dangerously low.
“I felt really tired, lethargic all the time. No matter how well I ate, my results started diminishing,” Pope said.
He said he was concerned about fertility.
“Finding out that, oh, I may not be able to have kids was another huge concern,” Pope said.
After his doctor prescribed supplements including peptides, Pope said his condition improved. He now has an eight-year-old and a seven-year-old.
Pope was skeptical about the new warning.
“Different doctors have different opinions based on the studies that they’ve seen,” he said. “When anything is new, it’s scary. There’s a lot of different peptides now than what there was 10 years ago.”
McKeag said he is not recommending peptides to patients.
“I’m not recommending them to any of my patients right now,” he said. “This is so understudied that this point that we’re just going to say blanket statement, let’s not do it. You don’t know some of these risks until it’s way too late.”
Both McKeag and Pope agreed on one point.
“One of the biggest misconceptions is just that it’s okay to just take without consulting with a doctor first,” Pope said.
Dozens of foreign websites are selling “research-only” peptides. Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly sent a statement saying it has tried to take a stand against these websites.
“Retatrutide has not been approved anywhere in the world, and it is legally available only to participants inLilly’s clinical trials. Anyone purporting to sell retatrutide to consumers is breaking the law. We have referred dozens of black-market retatrutide sellers to regulators and law enforcement and call on them to take decisive action to fight this urgent threat to public health.”- Eli Lilly Spokesperson
Pope’s Gym,24e, is offering a way to buy approved peptides in Huntsville.
“The alternative, which is you going your own route and trying to do this on your own or through some third-party website,” Pope said.
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