Ripped muscles, chiseled jawline, tanned clear skin – Idealized human bodies attack people’s daily lives as billboardstelevision, telephone.

Now, social media has led to a boom in the use of untested things. Potentially Harmful Drugs Claim to Help Achieve Hollywood Looks.

These are a type of synthetic peptides that are injected directly into the body by people without expertise or supervision.

Even though it is not approved by Medsafe, it can be purchased online for “research purposes.”

This comes after experts warned that these drugs are dangerous to use and many are being sold based on unproven claims.

Synthetic peptides are included in some therapeutic drugs, some well-known ones include: weight loss drugs such as Wegovy and Ozempic;.

These drugs are designed to mimic peptides that occur naturally in the human body.

Some can be prescribed by your doctor to combat conditions such as type 2 diabetes and sleep apnea. However, the online market for unregulated peptides used as performance-enhancing drugs is growing.

*Bill, a 25-year-old Southland man, first discovered that he could buy peptides about six months ago.

“I was able to source a local supplier in New Zealand, and from there I was able to source a few different suppliers in China who actually do third-part testing on top of the products they buy.

“I’m not saying it’s 100 percent the safest method. Obviously that’s not a chemist.”

Bill said he used a combination of anabolic steroids and certain peptides to make his muscles look more defined.

He acknowledged that there are risks involved in consuming unregulated substances.

“With 99 percent of the peptides out there, we don’t know for sure how they affect humans, but if we’re lucky, they might affect animals as well.”

Other peptides on the market claim to promote melanin and collagen production.

Kai, a 23-year-old man from Auckland, said the use of peptides was openly talked about at his local gym.

“There’s a trend and everyone is saying peptides are good: take peptides to gain muscle mass, take peptides to improve your skin, take peptides to burn fat, and so on.”

In New Zealand and Australia, it is illegal to advertise unapproved or prescription-only medicines, including on social media.

However, Kai said his social media feed was full of influencers talking about using peptides.

“You look at one clip of Jim, and within the next 10 slides, you get like five slides, and it evolves from there, with more interaction.

“At this point, I’m mostly a substance influencer.”

“There are too many risks.”

Dr David Gerrard, professor emeritus of sports medicine at the University of Otago, said using unapproved drugs was dangerous.

“Don’t go there. There are too many risks anyway without medical supervision to determine what your body normally produces.

“Supplementing it with synthetic forms of the same chemical messenger carries significant risks.”

“They are dangerous.”

Dr Gerrard said many of the peptides being talked about on social media did not mention any adverse effects.

“I think it’s being trivialized by the people who are involved in the process and the market, distributing these drugs and claiming that they will give you new energy, improve your complexion, reduce stress.

“I think the promotion of these inappropriate statements through social media definitely needs to be cracked down on. [want] There are economic and monetary benefits to be gained from distributing these things. ”

Dr Gerrard said athletes had tried using certain peptides to increase red blood cell production in the past, but the results were life-threatening.

“The more red blood cells you have, the more sticker-like your blood becomes, so these athletes were using these drugs in an unsupervised way.

“They ended up having strokes and heart attacks and problems related to circulation to the brain and heart.”

Many peptides are also on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s prohibited list.

“By being tested, young athletes may commit anti-doping rule violations and lose their ability to compete in their sport.”

drug testing gap

Casey Spearin, of drug testing clinic Know Your Stuff, said the amount of performance-enhancing drugs containing peptides is increasing.

“I’ve heard about these kinds of substances probably five or six times in a year. Now I get several inquiries a week in my inbox: ‘Can I test for peptides? Where can I go to get tested?'”

However, Know Your Stuff clinics do not have the technology to test for these types of drugs. Spearlin said when people buy drugs online, they can’t be sure what’s actually in them.

“I’ve talked to people who are interested in importing and selling these types of products, and they’re asking, ‘Can I actually get these products tested and can I know if the products I’m offering are safe?'”

“This is a really big gap, especially given that these products are becoming more and more popular.”

The New Zealand Medicines Foundation also said it was seeing a sharp increase in the number of people requesting trials for peptide medicines.

Since December last year, many peptides have been classified as prescription drugs in New Zealand. This means that selling it for therapeutic purposes is illegal.

Derek Fitzgerald, head of compliance at Medsafe, said many new peptides are experimental, so little is known about their benefits or potential harms.

Peptides imported without a prescription will be seized at the border and destroyed.

*Name has been changed to protect personal information

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