Below are the citation and extracts of an editorial. Self-injection of peptides - which are not licensed for use in humans - is increasing especially in the United States and is driven by 'anecdotal claims amplified by celebrities, influencers, and online fitness communities'
Citation and extracts below. Full text: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(26)00220-8/fulltext
CITATION: Editorial, Volume 10, Issue 10, p687, October 2026
Protect young people from the peptide boom
The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health
'Initially experimented with as lifestyle supplements in fitness and wellness circles, peptides have been gaining popularity among ordinary people seeking alternative self-help therapies for health and longevity. From skin and gut health to brain health, injury recovery, weight loss, and mood, the promises seem limitless. The popularity of peptides is driven less by clinical data than by anecdotal claims amplified by celebrities, influencers, and online fitness communities. Direct-to-consumer sellers are capitalising on appearance culture and the desire to meet societal ideals of youthfulness, muscularity, intelligence, and endurance. Young people are not being spared...
'Adolescent health experts have warned the use of injectable peptides by young people is an emerging clinical and public health issue...
'Adolescence and young adulthood are crucial times of identity and social development; it is also when body dissatisfaction, pathological exercise patterns, and disordered eating commonly develop or worsen. Today's young people face intense pressure to conform with unrealistic body ideals, and clinicians are seeing a direct link with increasingly pervasive muscle dysmorphia among young people. Legitimising peptides could fuel an aggressive for-profit market based on those same appearance and performance ideals, amplifying unrealistic standards of physicality, normalising substance use, and ultimately intensifying young people's risk-taking behaviours. What these compounds do during the rapid development that characterises puberty is totally unknown...'
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org