GLP-1 patches are being pushed on TikTok Shop, despite the platform’s ban on selling weight-loss products.
Recent posts flagged by Olivia Little of Media Matters promise weight loss, reduced appetite, and fewer cravings—without the cost of injections. One caption reads: “Don’t waste your $$ on the [shot emoji].” Another creator wrote, “See yall in a month with no waist [hourglass emoji].”
Many of the flagged videos include shoppable links, enabling direct in-app purchases. That runs counter to TikTok’s prohibited products policy, which bans items that claim to aid in “weight management, fat reduction, or similar goals.” (Fast Company has reached out to TikTok for comment.)
Supplement makers have rushed to cash in on the GLP-1 hype, flooding the market with pills, powders, and patches branded with the name but containing no actual GLP-1 agonist drugs. Experts say they don’t compare to prescription medications like semaglutide or tirzepatide.
“Consumer ‘GLP-1 patches’ sold through social platforms are unregulated and have no credible clinical evidence showing they deliver therapeutic GLP-1 drug levels,” Dr. Castel Santana, medical director at 10X Health, tells Fast Company.
“Established GLP-1 receptor agonists given by prescription—for example, weekly semaglutide or tirzepatide injections—have been tested in large randomized clinical trials and produce substantial, measurable weight loss and metabolic benefits,” he continues. “By contrast, the patches on social platforms often lack ingredient transparency, dosing controls, and regulatory oversight.”
Unlike pharmaceuticals, supplements aren’t required to undergo Food and Drug Administration approval or rigorous safety and efficacy testing.
Kind Patches, the most popular GLP-1 patch brand identified by Media Matters, claims its product provides “weight management and appetite control” with ingredients like berberine, chromium, pomegranate, and L-glutamine extract.
“The biological mechanism they imply, berberine ‘boosts GLP-1,’ has limited supporting evidence at ingredient level, typically with oral administration and modest effects—not proof that a consumer adhesive patch will produce clinically meaningful GLP-1 activation,” Santana says. (Fast Company has reached out to Kind Patches for comment.)
That hasn’t slowed demand: Media Matters found more than 364,000 single packs and nearly 98,000 triple packs sold on TikTok Shop.
With an army of ambassadors promising quick fixes and collecting commissions, the pitch is simple: Stick on a patch and lose weight in months. The science, however, says otherwise.
No comments