Patients arrive at his clinic day after day with the consequences of self-experimentation. Prof Channa Jayasena, consultant in reproductive endocrinology and andrology at Hammersmith and St Mary's hospitals, has watched the problem escalate.
"It feels that we're in the wild west and it feels like we've rapidly arrived in a situation of lawlessness when it comes to people normalising the administration of potentially very powerful and sometimes untested peptides and products that could have devastating consequences for their health," he said.
The warning lands as online marketplaces flood with compounds once confined to niche gym circles. Fitness influencers now sell anabolic steroids, prescription-only medicines and unregulated experimental peptides through Telegram channels. What began as fringe gym culture has spread. Men and women, dissatisfied with their bodies and bombarded by before-and-after images, increasingly reach for quick fixes.
Anabolic steroids alone triple the risk of death. Many experimental peptides originate from China without standard quality controls. Contamination risks run high. Users inject these substances directly into their veins. Jayasena does not soften the reality.
"People are buying this stuff and injecting it into their veins. This is atrocious, and this could lead to deaths. Someone's going to die."
Prof Susan Backhouse captured the wider shift: "We have this broader normalisation of enhancement."
This expansion did not happen in isolation. It mirrors a cultural drift away from traditional, evidence-based health practices toward unproven fads pushed by social media. Young people prove especially vulnerable. Online influencers promise wellness or performance gains with little regard for long-term harm. The result is a grey market that slips between regulators. The MHRA oversees licensed medicines. The Advertising Standards Authority holds narrower scope. Gaps remain.
