If you spend much time on the internet, there’s a good chance you will soon (if you haven’t already) come across someone trying to sell you peptides.
Driving the news: Enhanced Games, the Peter Thiel-backed company behind a planned “steroid Olympics” that would allow athletes to use performance-enhancing substances, says it will start selling injectable peptides.
The announcement came after U.S. health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he was a “big fan” of peptides and planned to deregulate them.
Catch up: If you don’t work in Silicon Valley or do competitive bodybuilding, there’s a good chance you’re unfamiliar with peptides, which are short chains of amino acids that regulate hormones.
Peptide enthusiasts say that injecting certain types can have all sorts of positive effects, from healing injuries to improving social skills to building muscle.
Why it matters: Businesses of varying degrees of shadiness are popping up to serve the growing demand for peptides and other experimental drugs embraced by “biohackers” who have embraced a DIY approach to optimizing their health and fitness.
Peptides are heavily promoted by influencers on social media and easily purchased on websites that promote them “for research purposes only,” skirting laws against selling unauthorized drugs for human consumption.
One website The Peak reviewed was promoted on TikTok by Canadian fitness influencers offering discount codes, and featured reviews touting the “results” achieved by customers.
Our take: People forking over cash for magical elixirs and potions is nothing new, but peptides have at least a veneer of scientific rigour (and marketing power) behind them that sets them apart from the snake oils of a bygone era. Of course, we aren’t scientists, and have no idea what their effects will be (if any). What’s concerning is that neither do most of the people using them.—TS