AIBU to worry about SM promotion of injectable peptides

[Glitterella]

So I don’t know if I’ve gone down a SM rabbit hole and my algorithm is working on overdrive but there seems to be a lot of ‘influencers’, supposed medical and health professionals and some ordinary people punting the use of injectable peptides. I’ve done a little bit of research and I understand that they are unregulated and ‘for research purposes’ only but they seem really easy to purchase (largely originating in China I understand).

There seems to be very little conversation about it on here which makes me think maybe I have gone down a rabbit hole. Has anyone got any stories good or bad about this? They seem to be promoting everything from weight loss to skin rejuvenation to anti aging to muscle repair.

They were talking about these on Good morning Britain. They are not for human consumption and should not be taken. I don't know why people risk their lives with this stuff.

You have gone down a rabbit hole, I have never seen this on my SM feeds nor even heard of them (probably will now though).

I have not seen them myself, do you mean poly nucleotides ? I know a doctor that uses them and recommends them but have never used them myself.

What are they? I don’t want to google as I don’t want to break my algorithm more than it already is 🤣

I get ads for all kinds of weird shit. I just ignore them.

I would never buy anything being peddled by an over-filled stranger with false eyelashes on the internet and inject it into myself, but if they target enough vulnerable people some gullible souls will.

The best outcome is that whatever it contains is inert and sterile. The worst doesn't really bear thinking about.

I must have gone down a rabbit hole. Retatrutide, trizepatide, ghkcu, bpc157, cjc1295… then they are being stacked into multiples called Glow and Wolverine.

Its being touted as biohacking and I just thought there would be more info from ‘real’ people given how much of it I seem to be seeing online but maybe MN isn’t its target audience. I’ll keep watching the forums to see if it catches on.

Maybe we are ‘too old’ for the algorithm to try and sell it to us 😂😂😂
my feed is organic dog food, ‘facial yoga’, children’s behaviour, ‘cool mum’ fashion. You can probs guess my age from that 😂

agree it’s nuts and dangerous. The ‘Kardashian’ beauty culture has so much to answer for 🫠

Further down the rabbit hole I go… so retatrutide is aimed at weight loss. It acts in the same way as Semaglutide (Wegovy or Ozempic) but is a triple agonist. One is FDA approved and one isn’t but they do the same thing. One requires a doctors prescription and one requires buying online from a middle man who has got his prefilled pen stock from china. One results in 24% more weight loss than the other (not the regulated one). They are both peptides.

Given the coverage of WLI on here this seems like perfect MN territory.

I posted about the same thing on a weight loss chat and my message was quickly deleted, so I’m not sure what I can say here. But yes, retatrutide (which is the next generation GLP1 drug and expected to be approved soon) and the older WLI drugs are widely available, either directly from China or via European resellers. There are safety risks around not really knowing what you’re getting or being scammed. On the other hand, the direct cost is a tiny fraction of what people are paying through the official channels.

Posts being deleted may be why there isn’t much on MN about it.

Im not advocating for it. I’ve already spent my money on the regulated stuff and lost the weight I needed. Just interested to hear opinions. Obviously the fact that there is no clinical control isn’t great but is it possible that there is benefit in these peptides, is this the precursor to big pharma regulation? Not sure how it works …

“Big pharma” is already regulated. Selling “retatrutide” is illegal. What exactly are you asking?

Is selling retatrutide illegal? Not where I am. Pens state ‘for research control purposes’ and they are available to be purchased.

Im asking if there is evidence of their efficacy will big pharma and the fda seek regulation for them to take it off whatever market they are currently being sold on.

I am in south Africa and they are available everywhere. I believe the same is true in the states and Australia.

I think she means regulation of these drugs specifically ie will they become legal and regulated.

Retratrutide will, but these peptides are generic compounds rather than the actual drug manufactured by the official pharmaceutical company who developed them. There are always illegal drugs on the market. People buy anabolic steroids, cross sex hormones and all sorts illegally online. This is a new iteration.

Also to add. I’m asking questions because I don’t know and would like opinions or evidence.

I’ve just googled. So it is illegal even here in SA because it’s unregulated but that doesn’t seem to stop the sale of it or the availability of it.

Im genuinely interested in how this happens. Do other medications generate a cult online following before they get regulated?

So retatrutide (and trizepatide I assume?) has found itself in grouping of other peptides which are harmless? They are promoting anti aging and skin benefits which seems all well and good but weight loss seems to be the most sought after ‘ailment’ and given how difficult it is for some people to access WLIs this seems pretty attractive albeit dangerous.

This article from the Guardian is actually pretty good about what's happening in Australia currently:
‘Not approved for human use’: the online frenzy for injectable peptides sweeping Australia

Thanks. That is a good article.

I’ve been struggling to find actual evidence of the benefit of these peptides. Retatrutide aside, as it seems that one works and is undergoing some kind of regulation. The other peptides being touted for skin and muscle etc may just be snake oil with a risk.

There seems to be little actual feedback from real people on the benefits or results. It’s all the same kind of media, just the people selling the stuff with link to dodgy sites and Janshik certificates claiming that they have been tested for purity. The most I could find was some accounts of the ‘copper uglies’ after taking Ghu-ck but even then its promoted as something bad that comes before the ‘glow-up’ much like your skin does when using retinol.

Maybe the 25% of voters who I calculate to be 4 people currently can tell me why I’m being unreasonable? Do you have first hand experience of these peptides and their efficacy?

I think there's a mix - approved medicines like tirzepatide, late stage investigational drugs like retatrutide and cagrilintide, and then a bunch of snake-oil adjacent stuff like BPC-157, ipamorelin, MOTS-c, semax etc where the clinical evidence is much weaker. At the risk of sending you further down the rabbit hole, much of the discussion on these takes place on forums like reddit. Obviously take everything with a large pinch of salt, but you can read feedback from real people there.