Peptides Bought at a Brooklyn Bodega Were Tested in a Lab. They Weren’t Peptides.

Mr. Green is a bodega on Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn, New York. Near the counter, customers can buy the usual assortment of candy, gum, rolling papers, soda, and other convenience-store items. They can also purchase small vials of injectable peptides. So we did—and sent them to a lab for independent testing.

Peptides for Sale at a Brooklyn Convenience Store

Mr. Green’s is one of several stores making headlines this summer for selling peptides, a wide variety of amino acids marketed for purposes ranging from weight loss to injury recovery. We purchased four varieties for $376.20 from a vendor called INDR Labs. The products included BPC-157, marketed for healing and muscle recovery; NAD+, marketed for cell repair; and retaltortide, marketed for weight loss. The clerk placed the vials in unlabeled paper bags and sent us on our way.

WIRED sent the vials to Finnrick, an Austin-based startup that provides independent peptide testing. Consumers can request testing for purity, common contaminants, and whether a sample contains the stated amount of a substance. Finnrick does not operate its own in-house laboratory; instead, it acts as an intermediary between individuals and independent labs. The company said the results would reveal whether the peptides purchased at the bodega were authentic.

Lab Results: The Vials Contained None of the Labeled Peptides

The results arrived in August. The news was mixed. The samples contained low levels of heavy metals and endotoxins, suggesting they were unlikely to be actively harmful for those reasons. But the bigger problem was that they weren’t peptides.

Testing found that none of the substances contained the active ingredient listed on its label. For example, the vial labeled BPC-157 did not contain BPC-157. A negative result could mean the vial was mislabeled. It could also mean that the product once contained the correct ingredient but degraded beyond recognition.

Peptides can be sensitive to temperature changes and often require refrigeration. Improper storage, including exposure to unsuitable temperatures, can degrade their ingredients.

What was actually inside the vials? Marco Kraus, the chief executive officer of the laboratory that conducted Finnrick’s testing, said it was difficult to determine.

“What we offer is simply a label claim analysis, meaning you send us what you claim it is, and we run it against our standards and verify if it’s the correct compound,” he told WIRED.

Why Peptides Are Becoming So Popular

Peptides have surged in popularity in recent years, with support from figures including US Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and podcaster Joe Rogan. Some of these substances include drugs such as GLP-1 and insulin, while many other popular peptides have not gone through the regulatory approval process for common drugs.

Despite the hype, many of these substances are illegal to sell for human consumption in the United States because they have not passed through the drug-approval process. Evidence supporting their purported benefits is also tenuous.

“Research Use Only” Offers No Guarantee

Mr. Green’s sign says the peptides are for “research use only,” a term that research institutions can use to limit legal liability. But the test results show that the label offers no guarantee about what is actually inside a vial. In some cases, an unknown substance could pose a serious risk to the person injecting or otherwise using it.

Finnrick CEO Raphaël Mazoyer said the sample tested by WIRED appeared to be “just a dud.” Over the past three months, Mazoyer said, the company’s business has grown. Although he cannot say for certain what is driving the results—and is also testing more samples as the company expands—he pointed to the popularity of so-called turnkey services that help almost anyone start a peptide business.

“There are a ton of labels popping up with the same upstream vendors,” he says. Not all peptides Finnrick tests. However, because of the nature of the industry, companies may use the same poor suppliers across different brands.