Here’s a sad jab of the truth.
More evidence is coming out that pricey semaglutides like Ozempic and Wegovy — diabetes medications lauded for secondary weight loss capabilities through appetite suppression — aren’t necessarily helping as many people shed pounds as previously thought.
“There was appetite suppression the first 1½ months but it’s kind of just fallen off after that,” Nashville, Tennessee, resident Melissa Traeger, 40, told the Wall Street Journal regarding her lack of success on the medication type, also known as GLP-1s.
At first, the 300-pound Traeger quickly dropped 10 pounds, but the next five came more stagnantly — and then she said no more weight was lost.
Another man, Anthony Esposito, 68, of Austin, Texas, saw no success on either Ozempic or Wegovy, just feelings of sickness while he took them.
“It did not budge the needle,” he said.
Traeger and Esposito are among many frustrated users, according to the Journal, which also cited a trial that showed only about 14% of patients cut more than 5% of bodyweight, while only one-third lost 10% of it.
Another report published on Epic Research saw that 17.7% of semaglutide users regained all of their weight — if not more — upon stopping.
Doctors have also observed many “non-responders” — about 10% to 15% of people who lose 5% or less of their body weight.
“There’s going to be extreme variability in how people respond,” Dr. Eduardo Grunvald, an obesity-medicine physician at UC San Diego Health, told the Journal.
Grunvald added that issues of weight gain may go beyond something in hormones that the drugs imitate to regulate appetite. He also said that peoples’ other medical issues may play a factor, such as how those with Type 2 diabetes typically lose less than those without the disease.
The doctor added that prior exercise and eating habits before starting the drugs are also highly influential factors.
Those who have made healthy lifestyle changes and already lost weight likely don’t get that much added bonus from the medications.
People who have struggled with obesity for a lifetime may additionally have a genetic mutation that prevents the drugs’ potency, according to Dr. Steven Heymsfield of Louisiana State University’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center.
He added that those who can metabolize drugs quickly also might not see much out of them in this case.
Taking other medications as well, especially antipsychotics or antidepressants, can be associated with weight gain as a side effect.
“You could have some other drug interactions that prevent the effect of the GLP-1 drugs from working,” Heymsfield told the Journal.
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