Weight-loss drugs: research and articles related to weight, obesity, binge-eating, compulsive eating, and food addiction
Why Ozempic and other weight-loss drugs are more dangerous than you think The Telegraph (April 29, 2024) by Paul Nuki — Magic Pill, Johann Hari’s exploration of the booming market for Wegozy and Ozempic, finds the side-effects to be terrifyingly underexplored. … Like so many who start to research our relationship with food for the first time, Hari is blown away by what he finds, and honest enough to recount it unadorned. Light-bulb moments include his realisation that no one actually knows how the new GLP-1 drugs work to suppress appetite, making their side effects much less predictable … In fact, drawing on evidence that has only recently started emerging … Hari outlines 12 risks associated with the new drugs … more
Ozempic Makes You Lose More Than Fat The Atlantic via msn.com (Feb 2, 2024) by Sarah Zhang — Existing weight-loss drugs can cause muscle loss, but the next generation could allow patients to gain muscle instead. The newest and much-hyped obesity drugs are, at their core, powerful appetite suppressants. When you eat fewer calories than you burn, the body starts scavenging itself, breaking down fat, of course, but also muscle. About a quarter to a third of the weight shed is lean body mass, and most of that is muscle. … more
Many patients keep weight off after stopping anti-obesity meds: study Axios (Jan 24, 2024) by Tina Reed — Most patients on a new class of anti-obesity medications kept at least some of the weight off up to a year after they stopped taking the medication, according to new data from Epic Research. Why it matters: This appears to contradict previous studies that have indicated patients on drugs known as GLP-1 agonists need to stay on them to keep the weight off. … more
What to consider before starting the new weight loss medications CNN (Jan 17, 2024) by Katia Hetter — As prescriptions for popular weight loss drugs have soared, the class of medications known as GLP-1 agonists is changing the way people think about how to lose weight. … more
In the Ozempic Age, Has ‘Craveable’ Lost Its Selling Power? New York Times (Jan 16, 2024) by Kim Severson — The food industry has long touted its products as impossible to resist. But with a spotlight on the perils of compulsive eating, that tactic is getting another look. … more
Why Do GLP-1 Drugs Stop Working, and What to Do About It? Medscape (Jan 12, 2024) by Marilynn Larkin — There’s no question that glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonists represent a major advance in the treatment of obesity for patients with or without diabetes. In clinical trials, participants lost 15%-20% of their body weight, depending on the drug. But studies also have shown that once people stop taking these drugs — either by choice, because of shortage, or lack of access — they regain most, if not all, the weight they lost. Arguably more frustrating is the fact that those who continue on the drug eventually reach a plateau, at which point, the body seemingly stubbornly refuses to lose more weight. … more
Can obesity drugs transform America’s health? Washington Post (Jan 3, 2024) by Lana S. Wen — On the surface, the argument seems simple: More than 4 in 10 Americans have obesity, a chronic medical condition that is second only to smoking as the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. The class of drugs known as GLP-1s appears highly effective in reducing weight and decreasing negative health outcomes including diabetes and heart disease. Therefore, widespread adoption of these drugs must improve the public’s health. The reality is more complicated. …more
These Women Stopped Taking Ozempic and Wegovy, Then Regained More Weight Than They’d Lost: ‘I Was Insatiable’ The Messenger (Jan 2, 2024) by Diane Herbst — New weight loss medications like Wegovy and Mounjaro are meant to be taken long-term, experts say. … A study published in 2022 in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that users of semaglutide, found in Wegovy and the diabetes drug Ozempic, regain around two-thirds of lost weight after stopping the injections. … more
I got a prescription for Ozempic, even though I shouldn’t have qualified. How the rise of for-profit telehealth companies has led to bad medicine Toronto Star (Dec 30, 2023) by Morgan Bocknek — The ease with which I got an Ozempic prescription online is ‘egregious,’ ‘inappropriate’ and even ‘dangerous,’ doctors warn…. more
What happens if you take too much Ozempic or Wegovy? Medical News Today (Dec 21, 2023) by Paul Ian Cross, PhD — Poison control centers across the United States are witnessing a concerning increase in inquiries related to semaglutide, an injectable medication used for diabetes management and weight loss. Reports of inadvertent overdoses have led to hospitalizations in some cases, with symptoms including intense nausea, vomiting and abdominal discomfort. … more
We Know How to Put People on Ozempic. Do We Know How to Get Them Off It? New York Times (Dec 20, 2023) by Jessica Grose — Weight loss drugs like Ozempic were already extremely buzzy before Oprah Winfrey announced last week that she’s taking an unspecified weight-loss drug as a “maintenance tool.” Ozempic, which has the active ingredient semaglutide and was originally approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2017 to treat diabetes, is often described as a weight-reduction miracle. … Even without enough knowledge about the ramifications of long-term use, it seems people may have to stay on semaglutide drugs indefinitely to keep weight off and their blood sugar regulated. There are potentially serious side effects to being on the drug for even brief periods, and there are side effects to coming off it. … more
Tirzepatide enhances weight loss with sustained treatment but discontinuation leads to weight regain ScienceDaily (Dec 11, 2023) – The current class of anti-obesity drugs is proving remarkably effective at removing excess pounds. However, a phase 3 randomized clinical trial found that people who stopped taking the medication regained much of that weight within a year. … more
The weight-loss drug gold rush is getting larger Axios (Dec 5, 2023) by Tina Reed — More drug companies are racing to join what’s been a two-horse race to make blockbuster obesity drugs, snapping up smaller biotechs and vying for a market that could be worth tens of billions in less than a decade. … more
What to know about Zepbound, the newest weight-loss drug Washington Post (Nov 8, 2023) by Teddy Amenabar and Lindsey Bever — Millions of Americans struggling with obesity now have access to a newly approved weight-loss drug — Zepbound — an injectable medication with the same ingredient as the diabetes drug Mounjaro, which has been shown to curb hunger cravings and help shed pounds. … more
The growing market for weight loss drugs Axios.com (Dec 12, 2022) by Tina Reed — A new generation of FDA-approved diabetes drugs that can also help patients lose weight is prompting demand so strong that it’s led to shortages … Why it matters: At least 1 in 3 American adults meets the definition of obese, which can bring an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers, per the CDC … What they’re saying: “We now have a breakthrough class of drugs that can achieve profound weight loss equivalent to bariatric surgery” … more
When psychology trumps anti-obesity drugs ScienceDaily (Sep. 5, 2012) — Patients who fail to lose weight while taking anti-obesity drugs do so because of their beliefs about themselves and about the difficulty of losing weight. more