How Weight Loss Is Different on Newer Medications Like Ozempic
[ad_1]
Using medication to lose weight is nothing new, but drugs making headlines these days are in a league of their own.
New data from an Everyday Health survey bears that out. Respondents who tried popular drugs that can lead to weight loss — including tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound), semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy), and liraglutide (Saxenda) — cited them as the best way to lose weight. Those who used them were more likely to lose weight and to lose more than 20 pounds.
The findings come from Everyday Health’s recent survey of more than 3,000 American adults. All the people who took part had attempted to lose weight at some point during the preceding six months.
The survey respondents answered questions about their approaches to weight loss. They shared what worked and what didn’t, their motivations for losing weight, and information about other aspects of their weight loss journey.
RELATED: Everyday Health’s Survey and Special Report: Weight Loss Reframed
Here are some of the top-line survey findings about the weight loss medications.
Key Finding 1: Most Users Believe That Weight Loss Medications Work
While a smaller percentage of survey respondents had tried prescription weight loss drugs, those who did rated them as highly effective. Nine percent of survey respondents had used prescription weight loss drugs Ozempic or Mounjaro, while 4% had used Wegovy or Saxenda. Roughly 3 out of 4 people who used these medicines named them the most effective weight loss tactic.
Experts say that this mirrors their own perception of the drugs. “In our field, I would say they’re revolutionary because they’re functioning so well,” says Kong Chen, PhD, a senior investigator in the metabolic clinical research unit at the National Institutes of Health who is based in Bethesda, Maryland.
Other experts agree.
“Although often there is enthusiasm for new treatments, there are some that have certainly lived up to their expectations, and the GLP-1 medications are one of them,” says Robert Gabbay, MD, PhD, an associate professor of medicine at the Harvard-affiliated Joslin Diabetes Center and the chief scientific and medical officer for the American Diabetes Association who is based in Boston.
The term “GLP-1” refers to glucagon-like peptide 1, which is a hormone released in the gut and brainstem after someone eats. These GLP-1 medications — which include Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound — mimic the action of the body’s GLP-1 hormone, per the Mayo Clinic. The latter two drugs also act upon the glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide hormone.
These effects can support weight loss, research notes.
Key Finding 2: Most Respondents Understand That These Drugs Suppress Appetite
The new weight loss medications were originally intended to change how the body releases insulin in response to eating, per research, but experts now believe that these drugs do their most important work in the brain.
“They appear to work directly on the higher cortical centers that regulate food intake,” says Fatima Cody Stanford, MD, an obesity medicine physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston. This leads to a drop in appetite.
In our survey, among those interested in trying the drugs if prescribed, 76 percent said they were aware that these drugs worked by suppressing appetite.
Ultimately, these drugs promote weight loss in several ways.
“[These new drugs] slow down the emptying of the stomach, and as a result, people are more full and eat less,” Dr. Gabbay says. “In addition, they appear to have some impact on centers in the brain responsible for appetite.”
While it’s possible that the drugs also increase a person’s metabolism and energy expenditure, Dr. Chen says that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Key Finding 3: Many People Aren’t Interested in Trying These Medications
Roughly 93 million Americans — 38 percent of the country’s adult population — are candidates for these drugs based on the criteria used in recent study trials.
And reports from firms that track the sale of medical weight loss drugs say that demand has soared. Throughout the past year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has reported shortages of these medications due to immense demand. Some experts speculate that several factors including celebrity and social media endorsements may have contributed to these shortages, as Harvard Health Publishing notes.
Despite those statistics, less than half of survey respondents said they were interested in trying the new weight loss medications. Even if a doctor prescribed these drugs to them, only about 1 in 3 respondents said they’d be willing to take these drugs.
When asked about their concerns, survey respondents were most likely to say that they worried about regaining weight when going off these drugs.
Experts say that this is a valid concern. “Given that obesity is a chronic disease, it often requires chronic treatment,” Gabbay says. These drugs stop working when a person stops taking them, he adds, so people who want to keep the weight off would likely have to stay on them for the rest of their life.
Key Finding 4: People Are Worried About Side Effects
From pills and powders to stimulants and lipase inhibitors, weight loss drugs of the past showed modest benefits yet severe side effects, research suggests.
The newer drugs are more effective for weight loss, but they also come with side effects that survey respondents expressed worry over.
Many respondents (44 percent) mentioned gastrointestinal (GI) issues as their leading concern. Some also highlighted the potential for long-term side effects of these weight loss drugs. Here again, experts say that these concerns are valid.
Semaglutide, which is taken orally (Rybelsus) or injected (Ozempic, Wegovy), can cause a number of GI symptoms (bloating, constipation, and vomiting) as well as flu-like symptoms (chills and headache), skin rashes, and a host of other side effects, per the Mayo Clinic. Many of these same side effects, particularly the GI issues, are relatively common among people on tirzepatide, too.
Chen mentions some reports, including a research letter, that many people who take these drugs have increased risks for bowel obstructions, inflammation, and other GI side effects. He also says that because these drugs are so new, researchers don’t yet have a good grasp of their long-term effects.
“With any drug, there are going to be side effects, and so patients and their doctors need to weigh the risks against the benefits,” he says.
Other experts agree. “When choosing if these medications are right for you, it’s critical to work with an experienced obesity medicine specialist to fully understand the pros and the cons,” says Sean Hashmi, MD, a lifestyle and obesity specialist at Kaiser Permanente and a member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and Everyday Health’s Health Expert Network in Woodland Hills, California. Working with a primary care physician who is familiar with the drugs is another option if you do not have access to an obesity medicine specialist.
Key Finding 5: The Drugs Were a Difference Maker for People Who Lost Weight
Survey respondents tried a number of tactics to lose weight. There was often a lot of overlap among people who lost weight versus those who maintained or gained weight.
For example, 73 percent of people who lost weight had attempted to consume fewer indulgent or high-calorie foods and drinks. Meanwhile, 67 percent of people who maintained or gained weight had tried the same tactic.
But when it came to weight loss drugs, people who lost weight were twice as likely to have tried these medications than people who maintained or gained weight. In fact, one of the clearest differences between people who lost weight and those who did not was that the people who lost weight were more likely to have tried these medications.
Semaglutide, which has been around for several years now, has been the focus of more than a dozen weight loss clinical trials. A review found that, according to some of the most recent trials, more than 86 percent of people on semaglutide lost 5 percent or more of their body weight.
While there haven’t been as many formal studies on tirzepatide, which is a newer drug, studies have found that patients lost between 8 and 12 percent of their body weight (depending on dose). That’s according to a meta-analysis, a type of research that combines results from two or more studies to identify trends.
“It’s not just hype,” Dr. Stanford says. “Patients on these medications tell me they don’t even have to think about eating less.”
Everyday Health’s Weight Loss Reframed Survey queried 3,144 Americans nationwide ages 18 and older who had tried losing weight in the past six months. The study was fielded between July 10 and August 18, 2023, across demographic groups, genders, and health conditions. Survey recruitment took place via an online portal, in app, and via email. The margin of error for the sample size of 3,144 is +/-1.7 percent at a 95 percent confidence level.
[ad_2]
