A Fly In The Ointment: What Peptides Influencer's Aren't Telling You

The focus of BrainHealth.news is brain/neurocognitive health and cognitive enhancement science news. After investigating peptides specific to our interests such as Selank, Semax, Dihexa and Pinealon, I realized each deserves its own report. This first missive in a peptides series, provides background. With more to come.

Have you ever seen a movie without knowing anything about it before strapping in for the ride? I mean nothing. Not one clue. I have, and it amplified the horror times 10.

The Fly was David Cronenberg’s 1986 requiem for Seth Brundle, played by Jeff Goldblum as, you guessed it, the Very Smart Guy.

The plotline is simple. Our main character is a genius who builds a teleportation machine. And it works! Cool. A heroic adventure story, I guess? Eager to test his invention, he uses himself as the “guinea pig”, the animal experiment.

Teleportation, if we suspend disbelief like a good audience, disassembles an organism in one chamber and reassembles it in the other. But Seth didn’t know he wasn’t alone when he transported himself, and the fly. What started as two organisms, became one.

Soon after, Seth notices changes in himself. Special powers. He has more energy than he’d ever imagined. His powers of perception are off the charts. Never one for conflict previously, he gets in a bar fight with someone far outmatching him and wins decisively. This is amazing. Does he become a superhero? Flyman?

As the changes continue, they take a turn. First, a random skin growth. Then his skin thickens and gnarls. The superhero adventure story ends and the horror story (that I didn’t know I was watching) begins when his teeth start falling out, in to a bloody sink. The ultimate anxiety nightmare.

Because I didn’t see it coming, I felt Seth’s horror as he watched himself transform in to the first human-fly hybrid. And I felt his horror as we both realized it at the same time.

You know where this is going. The Fly is a “just enough science to be dangerous” allegory for the peptide plotline unfolding before us. People are volunteering to be their own animal trials. And we don’t exactly know what kind of story we’re watching, yet.

In the film industry it’s called science fiction. It should be in the health, wellness and biohacking industries, too.

Don’t get too far ahead of me. I’m not saying no one is benefitting from self-injecting synthetic peptides. I’m sharing some of the credible risks of injecting ourselves with unproven compounds. Because we don’t know what the true risks are, yet.

The main thing to keep in mind about our body, like life generally, is that it is a highly complex system. A system of systems, of systems of systems. So many layers of systems interacting so dynamically, that its complexity is exponential. For most of us, incomprehensible.

The point being, reserving just enough self-awareness and humility to recognize our own limitations will serve us well here. Especially with our long-term health, where we normally require PhDs to inform us. Because PhDs require proof.

When we introduce something our body normally makes, like a vitamin (D, K, B +), a hormone (insulin, melatonin +) or a peptide (ghrelin, leptin, PYY), the response of the body is often, “alright then, I don’t need to make that for you anymore.” Peptide receptor desensitization can also happen if we’re not careful.

On the other side, socioeconomic performance pressures in society are set against the insane cost of healthcare, and trust in established institutions falling to historical lows. “Social” (ad-delivery) platforms, designed to be more seductive than our brains can resist, arrive with the allure of a quick-cure elixir. New distribution of an old proposition.

Testimonial evidence is evidence. But it’s not a high standard of proof for a potentially life-altering decision. In law, we have “habeas corpus” (we have the body). That makes a case. Circumstantial evidence isn’t no evidence. But decisions made on it alone raise the risk of convicting, and possibly executing, the wrong person.

I’m not against synthetic peptide or other injectables. Some, like retatrutide, show proof of great benefits. I’m just against them potentially harming you some day based on the “witness” testimony of TikTok influencers. Or a placebo effect.

Even if you implicitly trust an influencer promoting peptide injectables, most post for an affiliate commission. That’s the motive, a secret one, behind their alluring close up.

U.S. customs data indicates synthetic peptides imported from China reached $328m in Q1-3 2025.¹ Up from $164m in the same period for 2024. A 45% annual growth rate. Proponents say the normalization of self-administered peptide injections could grow to a $1 trillion industry in the coming years.

Peptides in the US, primarily manufactured in China, are legally reclassified as "new drugs" for lab, non-human animal testing. (Section 201 of the FD&C Act). Let’s inject them and find out what we’re [expletive’ing] around with. At least no mice were harmed.

We’re rushing headlong in to this adventure because FDA enforcement is slack under the current administration. FDA warning letters go slow and incur no fine, intentionally. Push comes to shove, sellers can move and rebrand before an injunction.

Laissez-faire (unregulated) capitalism is why the Pure Food and Drugs Act passed 240 to 17 in 1906, and FDA formed in 1930. Apparently, long ago enough to forget why.

We’re only as sick as our secrets, or our willful ignorance, as they say in AA. But we don’t have an addiction problem. Right?

Where are my Purdue Pharma opioids again?

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