Psychology Today | 21.01.2026 08:22
The recent surge in peptide injections is a textbook example of a modern health craze. Crazes differ from fads in that the latter involve an intense but short-term interest in a trivial object or idea. Famous examples include the brief obsession with swallowing live goldfish, which swept college campuses in 1939, the hula-hoop in the late 1950s, and "pet rocks" in the mid-70s. Crazes are more serious and tend to persist longer – often for months and even years. Health crazes are especially common and usually fleeting, like the recent "Apple Diet," which entails eating mostly apples for several days in a row. It "works" because severe caloric restriction induces rapid weight loss, but there are safer and more sustainable ways of achieving this.
