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Wellness peptide craze: Why people are injecting drugs 'not for human consumption'

1 March 2026ShareSaveAdd as preferred on Google

Ruth Clegg,health and wellbeing reporterand<br>Amy Walker

@katiepeptalks

Katie carefully takes a syringe out of its packet. She pricks the top of a small jar of blue liquid and pulls up the plunger.

She turns and jabs the needle into her bum cheek and gives the camera a big thumbs up, looking pleased.

Katie's been injecting GHK-Cu, a copper peptide, for several weeks now and she's confident it's making a difference to her skin. So much so, she says, the stretch marks she developed after having her two children have almost disappeared.

The only disconcerting thing?

It clearly says "for research purposes only" on the label wrapped around the jar. This peptide is not suitable for human consumption.

Like the growing number of others on social media who film themselves injecting unregulated peptides, Katie is seemingly unfazed by the warning. She believes it's safe.

Peptides are short chains of amino acids, or small proteins, which our bodies naturally produce. They act as messengers, telling our cells what to do, and play vital roles in our skin health, immune system and helping to control our hormones.

"I've done a lot of research into them, and I am exercising caution," says Katie.

"I started super small," she continues. "Just to make sure I didn't notice anything weird."

Katie says it's also made her hair thicker and improved her skin texture.

While GHK-Cu, a peptide that our bodies make, is used topically in skin cream in an attempt to reduce fine lines, it is not considered safe to inject due the lack of scientific research and the risks of triggering a potentially dangerous immune response.

Huang Zhigang/VCG via Getty Images

The peptides "grey market" has been growing across social media, with China a major supplier of the product

Peptides have been used to treat medical conditions for more than a century. Insulin, one of the first peptide hormones to be discovered, helps people with Type 1 diabetes and some with Type 2 manage their blood sugar levels.

But now unregulated peptides have exploded onto the wellbeing market since GLP-1s, weight loss drugs, became mainstream.

GLP-1s are medications that mimic the glucagon-like peptide 1 hormone, a hormone we naturally make in our bodies which helps regulate hunger levels.

While GLP-1s have undergone extensive human trials and are licensed by the MHRA, the UK's medicines watchdog, there is a "grey market" of other peptides emerging.

Grey-market peptides exist in a legal and regulatory middle zone. They are not illegal to buy or own, but they are not approved for human use, so are not subject to the quality controls that govern pharmaceutical manufacturing.

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"We're seeing a perfect storm," GP Dr Mike Mrozinski explains. "The success of regulated GLP-1 drugs has 'normalised' using a needle, lowering the psychological barrier to self-injection.

"And people look at the transformative results of pharmaceutical-grade peptides and wrongly assume that all peptides are inherently safe."

Social media is awash with adverts and videos of influencers injecting themselves with various concoctions of peptides that are sold for research purposes only.

Want to boost muscle mass and speed up recovery? There are claims BPC 157 does just that.

BPC 157 is a synthetic peptide derived from human gastric proteins. Early animal studies suggest possible roles in wound healing and gut protection.

Need to reduce your body's inflammation and improve its metabolic health? Some say TB...