{"id":748200,"date":"2026-06-20T05:26:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T05:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/748200\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T05:26:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T05:26:12","slug":"peptides-dangerous-health-trend-leaves-six-aussies-hospitalised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/748200\/","title":{"rendered":"Peptides: Dangerous health trend leaves six Aussies hospitalised"},"content":{"rendered":"

A health<\/a> alert has been issued after six Victorians<\/a> developed liver damage after using an unapproved peptide.<\/p>\n

Since January this year six cases of acute liver injury have been detected in Victoria by people who have used the unapproved peptide product labelled as Retatrutide.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Since January 2026, there have been six cases of acute liver injury in Victoria in people who have used an unapproved peptide product, labelled as Retatrutide.\u00a0Victorian Health Department<\/p>\n

The experimental peptide is being clinically trialled for obesity and diabetes management and is not approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) \u00a0or any other international regulatory agencies. \u00a0<\/p>\n

But health officials believe versions of the product, which may be counterfeit, are being sold online under labels Retatrutide, Reta, R-10 and R-20.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t think this particular drug is safe to use at the moment,\u201d Victoria\u2019s Chief Health Officer Dr Caroline McElnay said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know what\u2019s in it, so people are taking a risk that if they buy it and they use it, that it could contain contaminants. It may not be what they think it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

The health department is investigating whether contaminants in the products used by affected patients may have worsened the impact on their livers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis particular situation we\u2019re more concerned about contamination of the product, but we don\u2019t yet know that so we\u2019ve put out an alert just to warn people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Victorian Chief Health Officer Dr Caroline McElnay warned the community not to buy or use the unapproved peptide product Retatrutide.\u00a09News<\/p>\n

People who have bought Retatrutide should not use the product and should throw it out safely, McElnay warned.<\/p>\n

Anyone who develops unusual symptoms including tiredness, abdominal pain, itchy skin, dark urine, yellow eyes or skin and easy bruising after using the products should seek medical attention.<\/p>\n

Similar cases been reported in other states, the Department said.<\/p>\n

The TGA last month issued a warning about the risks of using unapproved peptides ordered online.<\/p>\n

Peptides are short chains of amino acids, which are organic compounds found in proteins, that can mimic or stimulate natural biological processes.<\/p>\n

In Australia, most peptides, such as GLP-1s and insulin, are prescribed medications and should only be taken under the guidance of a healthcare professional.<\/p>\n

Yet unapproved peptides have recently exploded in popularity on social media for their supposed aesthetic and health benefits, leading to stark health warnings.<\/p>\n

The TGA warns unapproved peptides carry signficant health risks including contamination, infection, local tissue damage and potentially life-threatening reactions.<\/p>\n

The Victorian Poisons Information Centre can be contacted 24\/7 on 13 11 26 to provide more information about poisons and what to do in suspected cases of poisonings linked to this product.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur key message for Retatrutide is do not buy this product, do not use this product,\u201d McElnay said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A health alert has been issued after six Victorians developed liver damage after using an unapproved peptide. Since…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":748201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-748200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=748200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/748201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=748200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=748200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=748200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}