By Carol Ann Davidson, Tribune News Service

I grew up with kilts, bagpipes, fiddles and Ceilidhs. No, not in bonnie Scotland, but in beautiful Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.

So, when at last I visited Scotland’s Isle of Arran this past September, my guide, the engaging Alex Dickinson of Mogabout Tours, dressed from top to toe in tartan, made me feel right at home. But then, the 167-square-mile Isle, just shy of a population of 5,000, confirmed what I had felt: welcomed with a warmth and a generosity of spirit that was entirely authentic.

Recently anointed an UNESCO Geopark, and nicknamed “Scotland in Miniature,” Arran is an island on the west coast of Scotland anchored in the sheltered waters of the Firth of Clyde, an hour-long ferry ride from the city of Glasgow.

Alex Dickinson of Mogabout Tours on Isle of Arran. (Carol Ann Davidson/Carol Ann Davidson/TNS)

During my visit, Alex didn’t leave a Viking’s stone unturned or a 12th-century shell of Lochranza Castle on the beach unexplored. We hiked up hills carpeted with heather and thistle, viewed panoramic scenes of the sea and green-hued landscape at a vertiginous drop below. A “Fairy Rain,” as the Islanders refer to it, fell gently, laced with the scent of the briny sea.

The Isle of Arran’s 12th-century Lochranza Castle. (Carol Ann Davidson/Carol Ann Davidson/TNS)

Next stop Lochranza Distillery, where a dram or two of the award-winning Arran Single Malt warmed the cockles of our hearts. It’s one of only 12 independent whiskey distilleries in all of Scotland, and a behind-the-scenes tour of the complex process is highly recommended. Apparently, a key to the quality of the product is the water, and as the distillery tour guide told us, “The area is home to the purest water in all of Scotland.”

Brodick Castle ‘portraits’ on the Isle of Arran. (Carol Ann Davidson/Carol Ann Davidson/TNS)

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After our smooth libation, off we drove to the majestic Brodick Castle — the former ancestral home of the dukes of Hamilton and the only island country park in all of Britain. Considered a baronial masterpiece, it’s replete with historic art and artifacts and peppered with stories of scandalous intrigues, the dissolute life of one of the heirs a case in point. I must admit that the massive staircase sporting innumerable taxidermy mounts of antlered deers was a wee bit unsettling. A groaning table in the kitchen was laden with realistic replicas of the abundance and variety of food the Duke and Duchess provided for their elaborate parties. Haggis, the traditional Scottish food, may have been part of their diet. Not mine, mind you. Somehow the thought of eating a pudding containing sheep’s heart, liver and lungs encased in the animals stomach didn’t quite appeal to me. However, for a perfectly illogical reason, local fish and seafood did. So off we went to Mara Fish Bar and Deli in the village of Corrie. Basking in the sun on the deck facing the sea, we feasted on locally sourced hand dived scallops, homemade fish tacos, mounds of crisp French fries, and downed it all with the other national drink, the carbonated soft drink IRN-BRU.

As wonderful as all of this was, I must admit that Bellevue Farm stole my heart.

Harry the calf, at Bellevue Farm. (Carol Ann Davidson/Carol Ann Davidson/TNS)

Specifically, Harry, the calf and, oh yes, Milly, the goat and all five of the alpacas. Not that the rest of the farm’s 60 cows, 200 sheep and 20 goats weren’t a joy, but bottle feeding each one would have been impossible. So a girl has to choose. Harry, the russet-color Highland cow, was irresistible. He sucked on that milk bottle for dear life, pulling me this way and that with every gulp.

But that was exactly what Ailsa and Donald Currie hoped for. Their working farm is a magnet for animal lovers, sustainable farm practices, and literally farm-to-table fare. We humans also were well fed with a hearty meal prepared by Ailsa from the Bellevue community garden.

The cooperative spirit of the islanders was evident when Katie Murchie arrived to greet us. Her family has the only dairy farm on the island, Tigheanfroach, and the Arran Ice Cream they produce is a dream — a fine finish to our lunch.

Cromlix hotel in Stirlingshire countryside. (Carol Ann Davidson/Carol Ann Davidson/TNS)

Bellevue sells its barley to the island’s distilleries. Cooperation and congeniality are keys to a community that knows well how to flourish in partnership.

And at the end of each day, how appealing it was to return to the welcoming and comfortable Douglas Hotel overlooking Brodick Bay. From hearty Scottish breakfasts promoting the island’s cottage producers like Wooley’s oatcakes, and the dinner menu featuring Arran and Ayreshire lamb, beef and venison. And yes, Arran Ice Cream.

Now, Scotland has almost 6 million people, 7 million sheep, 5,000 goats. Where, you may ask, is this narrative thread leading?

Yours truly trying her hand at the Radical Loom in Stirling. (Carol Ann Davidson/Carol Ann Davidson/TNS)

Well, as an amateur crafter of textiles, my west- to east-coast Scotland journey was, in part, in pursuit of the wool and cashmere fabrics for which Scotland is world renowned. Next stop, the village of New Lanark, in South Lanarkshire. It’s a totally charming 18th-century textile mill town on the shore of the Falls of Clyde with a population of 200. Under the guidance of Robert Owen, New Lanark became a model for industrial communities in the 19th and 20th centuries. In 2001 it was anointed one of 6 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Scotland. Tourists from around the world flock to explore its National Nature Reserve, stay in the lovely New Lanark Mill hotel and learn about its history at the Visitor Center, including a well-stocked shop selling woolen products made on-site. The last was the main draw for me. Iain Dickie, the lone textile operator, dazzled me on a private tour of the entire process, starting with harvesting the sheep’s wool, then washing, spinning and dying it as he orchestrated a dizzying number of machines. The end product — skeins — are the foundational threads used in all woolen products. It takes a full month to make a 100-gram skein of wool!

New Lanark’s skeins, ready to be transformed into textiles. (Carol Ann Davidson/Carol Ann Davidson/TNS)

Iain, a rather modest man, revealed with some pride, that he fashioned two wools for the Harry Potter films.

After a scenic train ride across the soft green countryside dotted with sheep, I arrived at Lunan Bay Farm in Angus on the North Sea to spent a day with 150 cashmere goats. Farmers Jillian and Neil McEwan are the guardians of the largest remaining farmed herd of cashmere in the United Kingdom and the only farm of its kind in all of Scotland. The setting is, in a word, spectacular. Their acreage spreads out along the vast sandy beach with an 11th-century castle perched on a nearby hill.

Cashmere goats at Lunan Bay Farm in Angus. (Jayne Watson/Carol Ann Davidson/TNS)

The sun was shining and the goats were bleating. Unlike the more passive sheep, goats are more animated and hierarchical. Feeding a few seemed like a bit of a wrestling match, as the alpha goat was butting its head against any other who tried to yes, butt in. But they all loved a bit of cuddling. Cashmere fiber is the soft down under the thicker outer layer. One goat will yield only 75 grams of pure spinnable cashmere per year!

Fun with Goats in Coats at Lunan Bay Farm. (Carol Ann Davidson/Carol Ann Davidson/TNS)

Giving to the community at large, Jillian and Neil work withschools and colleges offering a Goatgetters project, an outreach farm education, with their goats. And every Easter the popular Goats in Coats Festival features the baby cashmere goats in hand-knitted jumpers. (2026 dates are April 11, 12, 18 and 19.) Get your tickets fast as it is always sells out quickly! But if you can’t go then Jillian and Neil open their farm to guests throughout the year and not only will Jillian’s homemade lunch be served, but their small cashmere shop offers the best-quality cashmere items on the market. I must admit, for a brief moment I considered staying there and becoming a goat whisperer … the day was that divine.

Threads of sheep wool and cashmere invariably find their way into the iconic tartans of Scotland. At last count, the official number of registered tartans rang in at 10,000.

Processing sheep’s wool in New Lanark. (Carol Ann Davidson/Carol Ann Davidson/TNS)

At Radical Weavers in the city of Stirling, I discovered that the Davidson tartan was one of them. In a three-hour workshop, Peter, the 25-year-old master weaver, had me, the novice, pressing levers and throwing the shuttle back and forth to thread the blue, black, green and red fibers into an actual square of tartan. What a thrill!

Evidence of Scottish textiles was liberally scattered throughout Cromlix, the luxury Victorian Mansion and estate in the secluded Stirlingshire countryside near Dunblane. The owners, Kim and Sir Andy Murray (Scotland’s champion tennis player), have created an oasis of comfort, quiet and beauty, as well as achieving a rare two-key Michelin rating. My dinner served in the airy glasshouse was, without exaggeration one of the best of my well-traveled life. The halibut was perfection itself. The service, superb.

Cozy in canopy at luxurious Cromlix in Stirlingshire countryside. (Carol Ann Davidson/Carol Ann Davidson/TNS)

I slept well in a canopied fourposter bed in a suite that rivaled those of “Downtown Abbey” fame. Cromlix capped an extraordinary time in a country I have for a long time longed to visit.

How does Scotland compare to my beloved Cape Breton? Admirably!

For more information

VisitScotland.com

©2025 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By KELVIN CHAN, Associated Press

Just in time for the busy holiday travel season, iPhone users can now add their passport details to their Apple digital wallets.

The company on Wednesday unveiled its new “Digital ID” system for users to add their U.S. passport information to Apple Wallet, which can be scanned at airport readers if travelers don’t have a Real ID.

Digital ID acceptance “will roll out first in beta” at Transportation Security Administration checkpoints at more than 250 U.S. airports for “in-person identity verification during domestic travel.”

The company warned that Digital ID doesn’t replace a physical passport and can’t be used for international travel and crossing borders.

Apple already allowed people in 12 states and Puerto Rico to add their driver’s license or state ID to Apple Wallet, while TSA already accepts some form of a digital ID in at least 16 states and Puerto Rico.

“You can breeze through more than 250 TSA checkpoints faster and more securely than ever before,” the agency’s website says.

Here’s a guide on how to add your passport:

Setup

Open your iPhone’s Wallet app, tap the plus sign at the top and then tap the Digital ID option on the menu. If that doesn’t work for you, type in “Digital ID” into the app’s search bar.

Grab your passport and follow the instructions. You’ll have to use the camera to scan your passport’s photo page. Next, place your iPhone on the chip embedded on the passport’s back page to authenticate the data.

Finally, you will need to verify your identity, first by taking a selfie and then by carrying out a series of facial and head movements, such as turning your head or closing your eyes.

Once the verification procedures are done, the Digital ID will be added to the Wallet.

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How to use

Using your iPhone to present your Digital ID is similar to using it to make a purchase.

Double-click the phone’s side button, which calls up the Wallet app. On the stack of cards, tap on the Digital ID. When it’s your turn at the TSA kiosk, hold your phone or Apple watch up to the reader.

The machine will take your picture, and then your phone will let you review the information that’s being requested, such as name and date of birth. In order to authenticate those details, you’ll have to use the phone’s face or fingerprint scanner.

What about security?

Apple says your passport data is encrypted and stored on the device, and it can’t see when or where users present their Digital ID or the data that was shown.

The use of a face or fingerprint scan makes sure that only the person who the ID belongs to can release the info.

The company says that iPhone users don’t need to unlock, show, or hand over their device to present their Digital ID.

Where can I use mobile IDs?

More than a dozen states already accept some form of a mobile ID at airport checkpoints, according to TSA.

The list includes: Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Montana, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia, as well as Puerto Rico.

Travelers can go to the TSA website for more details.

Is there a tech topic that you think needs explaining? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your suggestions for future editions of One Tech Tip.

AP Airlines and Travel Writer Rio Yamat contributed.

Out on his farm in Dundee Township, Cliff McConville sees geese landing in the fields where his turkeys and chickens graze. It’s a sight that often unnerves poultry producers, as migratory waterfowl carry and spread a highly infectious strain of bird flu that has been resurging in the United States for the last three years.

So far this year, McConville’s farm and most turkey farms in Illinois — of which there are more than 400 — have not been affected by the disease. Eight farms in the state have reported cases to the federal government, and only two of those were turkey flocks.

“We raise them outdoors,” McConville said of the poultry operations at All Grass Farms in the northwest suburbs. “They’re going to mix with (wild) birds. So we just have to do our best to keep them healthy. … That’s worked for us so far. Knock on wood.”

But larger turkey-producing states have been hit hard in the past couple of months. Nearly 2 million turkeys have been affected by bird flu across the country since August, accounting for roughly 24% of all new cases in commercial and backyard flocks, even though turkeys only account for approximately 2% of the U.S. poultry inventory.

According to experts, the disease — combined with a drop of almost 10% in turkey meat production from last year, rising labor costs and lower overall consumer demand throughout the year — is triggering higher prices for wholesale and fresh turkeys just ahead of the holiday season. Frozen turkeys are not likely to be as affected.

More than a third of those recent cases came from Minnesota, where, as of Friday, more than 716,000 commercial turkeys have been infected or exposed to the virus since August and over 1 million since the start of the year. Minnesota, which sells a lot of its turkey to Illinois and other states, led the country in production last year with 32 million birds.

It’s not the first time this year that bird flu has disrupted the economy. Following an outbreak last winter, egg prices hit a record high in March. Like turkeys, cases are surging again in egg-laying chickens, with approximately 5.8 million commercial egg layers affected by the disease this fall. Even so, the price of eggs continues to decline from March’s record highs — settling at a nearly 12-month low in September. More recent data on egg prices is unavailable because of the government shutdown.

Since 2022, over 183 million commercial birds have died or been killed in the country as this highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza affects poultry flocks across all 50 states. It has no treatment and continues to be spread by wild birds, causing outbreaks during migratory seasons as they return to their seasonal homes.

“The Upper Midwest, in general, is experiencing a very active highly pathogenic avian influenza season,” said Michelle Kromm, a doctor of veterinary medicine specializing in poultry and public health based in Minnesota. “I think we’re kind of toward the tail end of that activity” this fall.

Search or click on the map to see how many cases have been reported in each state.

Even though outbreaks this season appear to be subsiding, spring migration will bring renewed challenges for the poultry industry, especially as it grapples with the recent deaths of turkey breeder hens, which can have longer-term implications.

“Every breeder bird represented multiple turkeys … that are no longer being produced, and it takes a long time to adjust that supply chain,” said Jada Thompson, associate professor of agricultural economics at the University of Arkansas, whose research focuses on livestock health and the poultry industry.

Changes to the turkey market

Experts say customers buying conventional frozen turkeys for their Thanksgiving meal might not feel much of an impact on their wallets because a lot of the meat being sold by large retailers was bought before the fall spike in bird flu. Those who prefer to buy their turkey fresh for the holiday, however, might run into higher prices and fewer available options.

Wholesale costs have shot up 81% from 2024.

“That’s a huge jump,” said David Anderson, professor of agricultural economics at Texas A&M University.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest weekly national turkey market report, wholesale prices for whole turkeys were $1.77 per pound last week comparedwith 98 cents per pound at the same time last year.

In the lead-up to Thanksgiving and Christmas, wholesale costs aren’t expected to come down. 

According to agricultural experts, bird flu has been a persistent challenge unlike other temporary market disruptions such as supply chain issues, which often resolve within months. As a result, price forecasts remain raised on “relatively tight supplies,” according to a September report from the USDA’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates.

As a result of those tight supplies in the domestic market, the United States is buying more from foreign suppliers, with turkey imports jumping roughly 9% month-over-month and more than 33% year-over-year, according to a Tribune analysis of the latest available USDA trade data from July.

On top of that, President Donald Trump’s trade war could be contributing to higher prices domestically. Currently, Canada is the sole country that exports turkeys to the United States, and with its general tariff rate set at 35% for goods not exempt under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, import costs are spiking as well.

“Then you have retail prices,” Anderson said.

Grocery stores have marketing strategies and holiday specials that will probably keep prices lower — and most big chains, he said, contracted their turkeys eight or 10 months ago.

“So their contract price is most likely much lower than what we’re seeing in the wholesale spot market,” Anderson said.

In recent weeks, many stores have started to share their holiday deals and discounts.

According to the latest USDA weekly retail turkey feature activity report, retail prices for frozen conventional whole turkeys are averaging 98 cents per pound — or about 80 cents per pound cheaper than the wholesale market.

The average retail price is also roughly the same as a year ago despite the strain on inventory.

“If they (grocery stores) contracted months and months ago, before prices took off, then that explains it a little bit,” Anderson said.

Typically, the retail price for fresh turkey is higher. According to the latest data, the price of a conventional fresh whole turkey averages about $1.71 per pound nationwide.

And as Turkey Day approaches, the price tag on fresh birds is only increasing.

The average retail price for a whole turkey jumped 12.5% in the second week of November.

“A fresh turkey was going to be harvested pretty close to now, so that it shows up at the store and it has not been frozen or anything. So those are much more related to production right now, which is being hit by bird flu,” he said. “I think that really hits the more fresh, specialty market — probably more than the frozen turkeys that some of us are looking for.”

McConville’s turkeys, for instance, are fresh, pasture-raised and organic, and they sell for $7.95 a pound, which is about the same as the farm’s pricing has been in the past few years. 

All Grass Farms raised about 700 turkeys this year — making it a good year, given that more survived than usually do past the young stage. So, even though processing costs went up, the farm has been able to shoulder some of that and remain profitable with the same pricing thanks to its high supply.

Employee Wyatt Mullenaux feeds the bronze turkeys, Nov. 14, 2025, at All Grass Farms in Dundee. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune)

The farm always sells out of fresh turkeys in November, he said, the freshest of which they harvest as late as the Monday before Thanksgiving.

“I feel like demand is pretty strong, but it’s not super high,” McConville said. “At least my feeling is not that it’s overwhelming.”

After all, what customers are willing to pay varies. 

Some want fresh, such as those raised and sold by McConville and Wanda Farms in Harvard, whose turkeys go for $10 per pound.

“When we’re selling our product on the marketplace, it’s definitely a lot more expensive than if you found a basic turkey at your local grocery store,” said Joe Wanda, owner of the northern Illinois farm. “And that’s just because we’re providing a way better quality turkey that’s going to be just so much better when you cook it up because of the environment that it’s raised (in).”

A bronze turkey hen feeds on Nov. 14, 2025, at All Grass Farms in Dundee. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune)

Other customers would rather stick to more affordable, frozen turkeys: Anderson’s family bought their Thanksgiving turkey last weekend at 87 cents per pound at the local grocery store.

“And I thought, ‘Dang, that’s kind of a good deal,’” the economist said.

Wave after wave of challenges

The recurring market pressures of the bird flu follow the seasonal migration of the waterfowl that carry the disease, both “in the fall and vice versa in the spring,” Kromm said. 

As the migratory birds start to “bunch up” or congregate ahead of their travels south, “they swap bugs,” Kromm said — increasing the circulation of the virus.

“This particular strain of influenza continues to be very unique in the fact that it’s sticking around,” Kromm said. It was first detected in spring 2022, and wild birds are still carrying it around with “spillover events” into domestic poultry.

Turkey producers specifically continue to be badly hit by the bird flu. It’s like standing in the middle of the ocean and getting hit by a wave, Thompson, from the University of Arkansas, said.

“So every time you get hit, and you think, ‘I’m recovering,’ you get hit by another wave,” Thompson said.

Because of their growth cycle, the turkey population is also still recovering from losses in the late spring. Many producers raise turkeys throughout the year to stockpile for Thanksgiving, and commercially raised hens, which are preferred for eating, take 16 to 18 weeks to reach maturity and be ready for harvest, said Wanda, the Harvard-based farmer.

The latest surge followed a steep drop-off throughout the summer.

From August to September, the number of birds affected by avian flu in the U.S. jumped a jaw-dropping 6,700%. In August, new cases were reported in only three states — representing less than 57,000 birds. By September, there were confirmed outbreaks in nearly 30 flocks across 10 states, with more than 3.8 million birds affected, according to USDA data.

In October, cases were even more widespread: Nearly 4 million birds were infected or exposed to the virus in 20 states.

A new normal

When birds test positive for avian flu, they are culled, as the USDA has a so-called stamping-out policy, meaning there’s zero tolerance for domestic poultry flocks affected with the virus. So all infected and exposed birds in a flock have to be culled. 

“That killing, or what we would call depopulation in the industry, is a really important disease control step, because the birds — especially turkeys, to be honest — they’re pretty sensitive to infection,” Kromm said. “Viruses, being what they are, they require living organisms in order to replicate.”

The government usually purchases the birds that have tested positive from producers to kill them, and sometimes offers financial assistance to clean up barns and farms.

“But that typically doesn’t make everybody whole, and so, cash-flow-wise, it can get to be a big challenge” for producers, Kromm explained.

Biosecurity measures became a “normal course of business” for big commercial poultry operations after the last outbreak in late 2014.

The measures are “pathogen-agnostic,” she said, meaning they protect poultry from a variety of viruses, bacteria and other kinds of germs. “Many of the steps are just best practices for keeping birds healthy, no matter whether we’re worried about highly pathogenic avian influenza or not.”

“So a lot of the regulatory structure and expectations preceded this outbreak,” Kromm said.

But the strain is so contagious that it’s been more difficult to contain with standard precautions.

Now, under the new administration and after mass firings across federal agencies that also affected the USDA — whose Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service unit has lost over 1,300 employees since January — new, less experienced staffers are conducting biosecurity audits, Kromm said.

“You have folks coming out to audit a turkey farm that have never been to a poultry farm, or maybe never even been on a livestock operation. And so they’re coming through with a rubric and having a conversation and checking boxes,” Kromm said. “Sometimes that doesn’t go that well. … There’s a little bit more tension now, I would say.”

She said, however, that she understands the government’s emphasis on accountability and making sure everyone is doing their part to keep the animals safe.

“Ultimately, it’s taxpayers that foot the bill when these flocks break with (bird flu),” Kromm said.

Under Trump, the USDA announced in February it was investing $100 million for vaccine research to curb avian influenza. But vaccinating chickens and turkeys in the United States could affect trade, as importing countries fear asymptomatic birds can still spread infection internationally.

“(The) discussion largely hinges on export markets,” Kromm said. “So those conversations have to be had with trade partners.”

But it can be frustrating for smaller turkey producers who would rather be able to vaccinate their flocks than worry about being able to export their products.

Still, it is exciting to see research and conversation for a vaccine cautiously move forward, Kromm said.

“Because that is a tool that could be helpful in managing this disease,” she said. “Not a cure-all — we think about it similar to COVID vaccines. So it’s an added layer of protection, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t still get COVID, right?”

Bronze turkeys roam a fenced grassy area after being fed Nov. 14, 2025, at All Grass Farms in Dundee. All Grass Farms has about 300 bronze turkeys that get moved throughout the property to feed in different locations. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune)

In the meantime, small farmers in Illinois such as Wanda and McConville have learned to live with the uncertainty, especially when their turkeys spend most of their time outdoors. 

While Thanksgiving turkey sales boost their operations, they rely on other sources of income year-round, including beef cattle, broiler chickens and pasture-raised pork.

“We just recognize this is the risk of being a farmer,” Wanda said, “that there are external factors of disease that, potentially, we could get. We just, I guess, gotta pray that we don’t get it. And thankfully — knock on wood — we have not been affected by it.”

adperez@chicagotribune.comcmalon@chicagotribune.com

By MATTHEW PERRONE

WASHINGTON (AP) — Unapproved peptide drugs have become a trendy new hack among wellness influencers, fitness coaches and celebrities, pitched as a way to build muscle, shed pounds and look younger.

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Online stores will offer injectable vials for $300 to $600 each. Longevity and wellness clinics offer in-office evaluations and injections, sometimes with membership fees of thousands of dollars per month.

But many of the products have never been extensively studied in humans, raising concerns that they could cause allergic reactions, metabolic problems and other dangerous side effects.

Here’s a closer look at the science, the hype and the potential risks surrounding the trend.

What are peptides?

Within the human body, peptides are short chains of amino acids that perform essential functions.

Insulin, for example, controls blood sugar levels and helps break down foods into energy. Likewise the popular weight loss drugs, GLP-1s — short for glucagon-like peptides — are based on a hormone found in the intestines that helps regulate blood sugar.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved both substances as drugs. But there are many more peptides that have never been approved by regulators as safe and effective, though some have shown interesting study results in rodents and other animals.

Why are peptides so popular right now?

Synthesized peptides are not new. Some doctors have prescribed them for decades off-label, or for unapproved uses, in patients with gastric ulcers, nervous system disorders and other conditions.

In recent years, peptides have become a focus for wellness gurus and other public figures with large online followings. That’s driven interest in using obscure peptides for unsubstantiated uses like healing injuries, improving complexion and even extending life. Peptides in this group include an alphabet soup of injectable compounds, including BPC-157, thymosin alpha, GHK-Copper and many more. Some are banned by sports regulators as doping substances.

Experts who have studied the field are particularly concerned that some people are combining multiple peptides.

“These influencers are often advocating taking a stack of peptides each month, so it could be two, three, four different peptides,” said Dr. Eric Topol of Scripps Research Translational Institute. “This is really what I consider dangerous.”

Interest in the trend is being amplified by celebrities.

Joe Rogan has repeatedly talked about using BPC-157 to recover from injuries. Jennifer Aniston has talked about using weekly peptide injections to improve her skin and currently serves as a paid spokesperson for a company selling peptide-enriched supplements.

“If any celebrity is using a peptide, and they’re saying this is what worked for me, then of course it’s going to be more mainstream and people are going to be looking into it,” said Kay Robins, a clinical nurse and operator of Pure Alchemy Wellness, a clinic outside of San Diego that sells peptide infusions and injections.

Robins says she no longer offers BPC-157 and other peptides that have been targeted by the FDA.

How are peptides regulated by the FDA?

Most of the unproven peptides promoted online are technically being sold illegally.

Any substance that is injected to produce a health benefit or prevent a medical condition is classified as a drug, which cannot be sold without FDA approval.

In this image taken from video, an IV infusion is administered at Pure Alchemy Wellness, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025, in Chula Vista, Calif. (AP Photo/Javier Arciga)

The agency considers many peptides to be biologics, the most complicated and potentially high-risk type of drugs, requiring extra precautions in their manufacture and storage. In recent years, the agency has added more than two dozen peptides to a list of substances that should not be produced by pharmacies due to safety risks.

Some companies market their peptides as dietary supplements, particularly those sold as pills, gummies or powders.

While dietary supplements are less tightly regulated than drugs, the FDA still requires them to only contain ingredients found on a list of approved substances. Most peptides are not on that list and therefore are ineligible to be sold as supplements.

Experts generally agree that consuming peptides by mouth likely has little or no effect, since they will dissolve in the gut.

Who is making these peptides?

Most of the injectable peptides sold in the U.S. are produced by compounding pharmacies, which custom-mix medications that aren’t available from drug manufacturers. Pharmacies are regulated at the state level and are generally not subject to the same scrutiny as companies overseen by FDA.

In recent years, compounding pharmacies have jumped into the market for blockbuster GLP-1 drugs. Under FDA regulations, compounding pharmacies can produce their own versions of a prescription drug when there’s a shortage.

Earlier this year the FDA determined that the shortage of GLP-1s had ended, meaning compounders were expected to halt production. But many have continued making custom versions of the drugs — adding extra ingredients like vitamin B, which they say benefits patients.

“There had never been the monetary incentive to push the envelope of what is legally permissible with compounding before,” said Nathaniel Lacktman, a lawyer specializing in FDA-related issues. “The dollars weren’t there.”

Some of the industry’s new production capacity has gone into producing unapproved peptides, such as BPC-157.

The trend recently caught the attention of the FDA, which has added more than two dozen peptides to an interim list of substances that should not be compounded due to safety concerns.

What’s the connection between peptides and the MAHA movement?

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is among those who have touted the potential benefits of peptides. He has repeatedly vowed to end “FDA’s war” on peptides, which have become popular among many followers of his Make America Healthy Again movement.

Some of Kennedy’s friends and associates are also prominent marketers of peptides, including self-described “biohacker” Gary Brecka and functional medicine physician and author Dr. Mark Hyman.

Some in the peptide field expect Kennedy to roll back FDA’s restrictions on the industry, which could include releasing a list of peptides that the agency will no longer try to keep off the market.

AP video journalist Javier Arciga contributed to this story from San Diego

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