Ozempic and Wegovy may improve health from addiction to dementia

Researchers say they have discovered an “eye-opening” effect on the body in the first study to assess how weight loss drugs affect overall human health.

The analysis of nearly 2 million people found that the drug was associated with improved heart health, fewer infections, lower risk of drug abuse, and fewer cases of dementia.

US researchers also warned that the drug was “not without risks” and could increase joint pain and potentially fatal inflammation of the pancreas.

However, the results should be interpreted very carefully.

Weight loss drugs are exploding in popularity, but we still don't fully understand everything they touch in the body.

“This is new territory,” said lead researcher Dr. Ziyad Al Ali, a clinical epidemiologist at the University of Washington.

Initially, they were proven as a treatment for type 2 diabetes. Ozempic and Wegovy then became famous as weight loss was noted as a serious side effect.

The study used data on U.S. veterans with type 2 diabetes, some of whom were given Ozempic, Wigovy, and several other standard drugs, to evaluate their effects on 175 other conditions. Measured.

People taking the new weight loss drug appeared to have significant heart health benefits, with lower levels of heart attacks, strokes, heart failure, and high blood pressure.

It also reduces the risk of substance abuse (such as alcohol, opioids, and cannabis) and reduces schizophrenia, suicidal thoughts, and seizures.

Although this study was short-term and the drug was so new that people took it for only three and a half years, it reported a 12% reduction in Alzheimer's disease.

Liver cancer, muscle pain, and chronic kidney disease were also reduced, and bacterial infections and fever were also significantly reduced.

Conversely, people were more likely to have digestive problems. Feeling sick, tummy ache, stomach inflammation, diverticulitis (painful bulging of the intestines), and hemorrhoids were more common in Ozempic or Wegovy.

data, Published in Nature MedicineI also had low blood pressure, fainting, headaches, trouble sleeping, kidney stones, kidney inflammation, and I started having frequent episodes of various bone and joint pains, including arthritis.

“It was really eye-opening for me to see the different hits in different organ systems,” Dr Alley told BBC News.

The explanation for the drug's seemingly far-reaching effects is both obvious and mysterious.

Losing excess weight will, in turn, improve your health. For example, if you have low levels of sleep apnea, where your breathing stops and starts while you sleep, it may be caused by a loss of weight around your tongue and throat, which can block your airway. It is considered.

But the drug also appears to directly alter the behavior of cells and tissues in the body.

Dr. Aly said, “Obesity has a negative effect on the brain. Obesity has a negative effect on mental health. Obesity has a negative effect on the heart. Obesity can be the root cause of all kinds of diseases.” I am.

Ozempic and Wegovy contain the same active ingredient semaglutide in different doses, mimicking the hormone glucagon-like peptide-1.

GLP-1, released by the intestines after a meal, travels through the blood and attaches to small receptors on the surface of brain cells.

This tells your brain that there is food in your stomach, which is why you feel less hungry after eating.

However, receptors that respond to GLP-1 are found throughout the body, including in the heart and parts of the immune system.

“It's very clear that this class of drugs appears to suppress reward mechanisms. [in the brain so it] It suppresses the urge to seek alcohol, to seek cigarettes, to seek gambling,” Dr. Ally said.

Meanwhile, lower levels of inflammation, which is a wake-up call for the immune system, can have far-reaching health implications.

Dr. Ally said the various health benefits may strengthen the case for some people using the drug.

“When you add in more benefits for people who are actually at risk for these symptoms, it becomes even more positive,” he said.

But for people whose weight isn't affecting their health, “the risks of buying it yourself are probably actually much higher than the benefits.”

However, this study has drawbacks that limit the findings.

Because most of the veterans were white men, effects specific to women, such as increased fertility and the anecdotal phenomenon of unexpected “Ozempic babies” were not included.

And there may be a reason why some patients were prescribed Ozempic or Waygoby rather than other drugs, which could provide another explanation for some of the findings.

Thorough clinical trials have already proven its benefits for heart health, and nausea is a known side effect, but other findings require similarly rigorous testing.

Although Alzheimer's disease develops more than a decade before symptoms appear, this study suggests that taking semaglutide for just a few years may have a preventive effect.

What is a trial? already in progress Find out if this effect is real.

Professor Naveed Sattar from the University of Glasgow said: “Trials like this will bring us ever closer to the truth.”

“Fortunately… some results will be reported within the next one to four years.”

And while the latest findings are “interesting,” they are not strong enough to influence how drugs are prescribed, he said.

Professor Stephen O'Rahilly from the University of Cambridge said the study should be interpreted “with caution” but provided “useful reassurance” about the drug's safety in people with diabetes.

Further studies in other patients were “awaited with interest”.

The “most surprising finding” was an increase in joint pain, since weight loss should reduce pressure on the joints.

However, the fact that some cells of the immune system have GLP-1 receptors means that the effects of these drugs are “somewhat unpredictable,” and some inflammatory diseases may be alleviated. Professor O'Rahilly said, “other things could get worse”.