Ozempic and Similar Drugs May Offer Health Benefits Beyond Weight Loss, Including Reduced Alcohol Cravings

• Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and similar medications for type 2 diabetes and weight loss may also help with other conditions
• The drugs are thought to improve heart disease, kidney health, infertility and even addictive urges
• But some of these conditions improve with weight loss regardless of medication, experts say

Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro can offer serious health benefits beyond weight loss.

GLP-1 drugs are associated with a reduced risk of heart disease, kidney disease, and Alzheimer’s disease, as well as increased fertility and reduced cravings for alcohol. However, dr. Armando E. Castro-Tié, system vice president, surgery, for Northwell Health, tells PEOPLE that some conditions improved by obesity drugs are related to weight loss, not the drugs themselves.

“Diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, all of those things — they can improve, but that’s because of weight loss,” Castro-Tié tells PEOPLE. “The common channel here is weight loss that leads to improvement in all of these things.”

Below are some of the conditions that anti-obesity drugs can improve:

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Heart disease

GLP-1 drugs appear to be good for the heart. Medicare has announced it will cover Wegovy’s heart disease drug semaglutide – not weight loss – after a clinical trial showed it reduced the risk of heart problems for overweight people by 20%. And a large, well-known study showed that in patients with type 2 diabetes who were at high cardiovascular risk, the rate of cardiovascular death, heart attack, or stroke was significantly lower among patients receiving semaglutide than among those receiving placebo.

As Castro-Tié explains, “A common goal in treating individuals who struggle with their weight is to get them to lose that excess weight so that their bodies don’t have to work as hard. Their hearts don’t have to work anymore.”

Kidney health

According to the results published in New England Journal of Medicine. They are less likely to need dialysis or a kidney transplant, less likely to lose half of their kidney function, and less likely to die from kidney-related or cardiovascular problems.

Alzheimer’s disease

A recent study linked semaglutide to a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease in people with type 2 diabetes. But it’s too early to say Ozempic can help Alzheimer’s, Castro-Tié tells PEOPLE.

“We need to do some randomized control studies to make sure that B is happening because of A. It’s certainly worth investigating,” he says, adding that it’s time for “meaningful and well-designed research” to determine whether Ozempic can slow progression from diseases.

Fertility

“Ozempic babies” are making headlines because women who said they struggled with infertility are now getting pregnant while taking the drug. But, as dr. Iman Saleh, OB/GYN, and director of obesity medicine at Northwell’s Department of Bariatrics, told PEOPLE it’s because of the weight loss — not just the drugs. “Even if it’s 5 lb., 10 lb. weight loss, it can actually make patients continue to ovulate and become pregnant.”

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Polycystic ovary syndrome

Symptoms of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) may improve while taking tirzepatide. Known under the brand name Mounjaro, it is prescribed unspecified to help with symptoms of PCOS, a hormonal condition that causes irregular periods, excessive hair growth, acne, weight gain and infertility. While weight loss can certainly affect hormone levels, the drug’s effect on insulin is the driving force behind symptom improvement.

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Addiction to alcohol and drugs

In the same way that GLP-1 drugs reduce food cravings, they also appear to reduce drug and alcohol cravings. A study in a journal Addiction found that alcohol-dependent people who took Ozempic or similar drugs had a 50% lower rate of alcohol consumption than those who did not. And people with opioid use disorder who took medication had a 40% lower rate of opioid overdose.

“Some patients report having less desire to drink alcohol,” Ania Jastreboff, MD, PhD, an obesity doctor at Yale University who was not involved in the study, told PEOPLE. In fact, Novo Nordisk, the maker of Ozempic, has announced plans to research whether the drug can affect a person’s desire for alcohol.

However, Castro-Tié says the drug could have the opposite effect for some people. “Patients aren’t able to eat a lot of food, but they’re looking for other ways to get that high, they’re looking for other ways to get serotonin,” he says. “Sometimes that addiction carries over to something else.”

He adds: “It speaks to the importance of making sure we surround our patients with the care – not just medical, clinical but also the mental health care and social support they need.”

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Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education