{"id":1104692,"date":"2026-07-22T14:26:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T14:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1104692\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T14:26:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T14:26:21","slug":"the-claims-and-evidence-behind-popular-anti-aging-and-wellness-treatments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1104692\/","title":{"rendered":"The claims and evidence behind popular anti-aging and wellness treatments"},"content":{"rendered":"

What are they<\/strong>: Peptides are short chains of amino acids which are the building blocks of the protein in our bodies. They act as signals to tell the body what to do.<\/p>\n

Peptides such as GLP1 medications and insulin are regulated by in Australia, but there has been an explosion in unapproved peptides marketed for a health, wellness and beauty outcomes.<\/p>\n

The claims<\/strong>: On social media, unapproved peptides are promoted for benefits including muscle recovery, muscle building, sleep and focus, glowing skin and hair and even an instant tan.<\/p>\n

People often take multiple peptides together in “stacks”. The most promoted unapproved peptides include BPC-157, TB500, CJC 1295 and GHK-Cu.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Unapproved peptides are promoted for a huge range of benefits but also come with several layers of risk. (ABC News: Patrick Stone)<\/p>\n

The evidence: <\/strong>Unapproved peptides have little, if any, human clinical trial data supporting safety or efficacy.<\/p>\n

The risks: <\/strong>There are two levels of risk with unapproved peptides.<\/p>\n

The first is the health risks associated with the peptides themselves. Endocrinologist Katherine Samaras told Four Corners several popular peptides could affect growth hormones and increase the risk of adverse health outcomes.<\/p>\n

“The big question for me is cancer. We know that they act on cancer pathways,” she said.<\/p>\n

The second level of risk, mainly for peptides from the black market, is that consumers do not know exactly is in the vial they are buying.<\/p>\n

Samples of black market peptides tested for Four Corners in an accredited laboratory showed varying amounts of the peptide, including one containing none of the advertised peptide at all.<\/p>\n

There is also a risk black market peptides contain potential contaminants, including heavy metals.<\/p>\n

Regulatory status: <\/strong>Many people are accessing these peptides via the black market, but in certain circumstances unapproved peptides can be prescribed by healthcare practitioners.<\/p>\n

“There are allowances for doctors to make their own decisions, backed up by robust evidence \u2026 to prescribe unapproved products to their patients,” TGA chief medical adviser Robyn Langham told Four Corners.<\/p>\n

“We don’t regulate clinicians. That job is for AHPRA.”<\/p>\n

AHPRA told Four Corners it was concerned some practitioners may be seeking to exploit health trends by putting profits ahead of patients.<\/p>\n

In a statement, it said the onus was on practitioners to do the right thing and follow good practice, including “only recommending treatments when there is an identified therapeutic need and a reasonable expectation of clinical efficacy and benefit”.<\/p>\n

It is unlawful to advertise or sell unapproved peptides direct to consumers, according to the TGA.<\/p>\n

After the Four Corners investigation, the TGA reiterated that unapproved peptide products posed serious risks to and those unlawfully advertising, importing, manufacturing or supplying them could face serious legal consequences.<\/p>\n

It said consumers considering using a therapeutic good, particularly an unapproved therapeutic good, should first seek advice from a qualified health practitioner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What are they: Peptides are short chains of amino acids which are the building blocks of the protein…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1104693,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4316],"tags":[105,4348,301550,181887,37670,18401,249777,1408,16,15],"class_list":["post-1104692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-infared","tag-iv","tag-peptides","tag-plasma","tag-red-light","tag-therapy","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116964098751146583","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1104692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1104692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1104692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1104693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1104692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1104692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1104692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}