A medical expert has issued a crucial advisory regarding the use of Ozempic for weight loss, highlighting a concerning effect on the body.
Ozempic, initially designed as an injectable medication for managing blood sugar levels in individuals with type 2 diabetes, has gained traction in recent years among those seeking to shed pounds.
Approved in 2017 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for diabetic patients, Ozempic functions through its active component, semaglutide, which mimics the body’s GLP-1 hormone that regulates hunger.
The drug is administered weekly, starting at a dosage of 0.25mg and gradually increasing to a maximum of 2mg.
Despite its growing popularity for weight loss, Dr. Annette Bosworth has voiced her concerns regarding its use for this purpose.
In a recent video, Dr. Bosworth commented, “Ozempic should not be allowed for weight loss. Mark my words. Put them in a time capsule and open it in 15 years.”
She explained, “Ozempic has a remarkable weight loss, but what they didn’t focus on is that when these people are losing weight, they are losing muscle mass at a way higher rate than they should.”
She further noted the implications, especially for older individuals: “As you play this forward, especially in elder patients, when you lose that much muscle mass, you cannot gain it back without extreme measures.”
“The chemistry behind how they’re losing that weight is really a starvation weight loss. This is the kind of weight loss that will decrease their immune system, decrease their bone density, decrease their muscle mass, and decrease their longevity.”
Research has explored how medications like Ozempic can impact muscle mass and potentially reduce bone density.
While effective for weight loss, these medications come with notable disadvantages.
Dr. Rekha Kumar, an endocrinologist practicing in New York, shared with Healthline: “[It’s] important to note that a lower body weight does not always mean that a person is healthier. After some weight loss is achieved and a person reaches a plateau, it is important to assess body composition.”
She continued, “Any time people lose weight, one-quarter to one-third of that weight can be muscle, and the faster we lose, the more likely we are to lose muscle. While 20 percent reduction in muscle mass seems normal for someone losing weight, the problem is the length of time in which this muscle loss occurs.”
Dr. Ben Bickman, a scientist and professor at Brigham Young University in Utah, has previously indicated that muscle loss might result from the drug’s use.
“You have a substantial amount of lean mass that’s getting lost as the person is losing weight. To make that clear, for every ten pounds of weight loss, only six is fat – four of it is coming from non-fat sources like muscle and bone,” he explained to Thomas DeLauer.
In a statement to UNILD, Novo Nordisk shared: “In clinical trials for Wegovy, Ozempic or Rybelsus, we did not specifically study the medicine’s impact on muscle mass.”
“In a sub-study of 140 patients with a BMI of 40 or less conducted as part of the STEP 1 trial, dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) analyses suggested that treatment with Wegovy was accompanied by reductions in both fat mass and lean body mass, with a greater reduction in fat mass than lean body mass.”
“We recommend that any patients experiencing side effects while taking Wegovy, Ozempic or Rybelsus contact their healthcare provider.”