Host Jimmy Kimmel told the audience of the 95th annual Academy Awards, “Everybody looks so great. When I look around this room, I can’t help but wonder ‘Is Ozempic right for me?’"
As the new year arrives with the regular resolutions to get fit, Jimmy’s joke may hit closer to home. The diabetes drug has become increasingly popular since the FDA approved it, and other semaglutides, in 2021. So what is a semaglutide? And could it be right for you?
Semaglutide slows the movement of food through the stomach and may decrease appetite by increasing a hormone called GLP-1. When your gut makes GLP-1, you break it down really quickly and as soon as it stops making it, you don’t feel satisfied anymore. The newer GLP-1 injections last a week. So, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, you feel like you just ate.
However, if a person loses weight on an anti-obesity medication and stops it, most of the clinical studies have shown that they’ll regain at least two-thirds of the lost weight within 12 months. This is especially true if they were relying on the medication and not practicing healthy eating and physical activity. Also, most insurance plans do not cover these medications for weight loss, making them very expensive for the average consumer. This may tempt people to use compounded generic versions of the drugs, but the FDA warns you are more likely to experience negative side effects and adverse events from these drugs.
Resources:
https://www.uclahealth.org/news/semaglutide-weight-loss-what-you-need-know
https://www.webmd.com/diabetes/news/20230531/fda-warns-people-avoid-compounded-semaglutide-medicines
