In a time when America is experiencing a diabetes health crisis, a class of drugs has recently come along that could be a first step to solving our problems: GLP-1 receptor agonists.
GLP-1 receptor agonists, which are sometimes colloquially referred to as Ozempic (although Ozempic is a brand of the drug), are a class of drugs that help regulate blood sugar, particularly in Type 2 diabetics, and weight management, according to Cleveland Clinic.
GLP-1 receptor agonists may not solve the problem of eating behaviors, but it is an extremely significant breakthrough in pharmaceutical intervention that has not been seen until very recently.
Treating overweight and obesity has been a lingering issue, where average calorie intake has steadily increased since 1977, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.
Additionally, approximately 38% of Americans had prediabetes in 2017-2020 and 11.6% had Type 2 diabetes in 2021, according to a May 2024 CDC report.
Prediabetes is exactly what it sounds like: the condition before diabetes. It is characterized by higher than normal blood sugar levels but the good news is that, unlike most cases of Type 2 diabetes, prediabetes is reversible, according to a webpage from the Mayo Clinic.
The problem with Ozempic, however, is that it does not treat some of the root causes of Type 2 diabetes and prediabetes including eating behaviors.
There is currently no drug that can modify a person’s drive to eat healthier food or exercise more, and weight loss is not actually what Ozempic is used for.
A misconception about Ozempic is that it is supposed to be used as a weight loss drug.
Ozempic is a type of semaglutide that is supposed to be used to regulate insulin for people with Type 2 diabetes but is not approved for weight loss, even though some doctors prescribe it to treat patients for weight gain, according to a July 19, 2023 UC Davis Health article.
In reality, the same company that created semaglutide, which was marketed as Ozempic, created Wegovy, a drug that is used for weight loss that also uses semaglutide, according to the same website.
The way that Wegovy works is that it decreases your appetite, making you less likely to overeat and thus, lose weight, according to the British Heart Foundation.
A cohort study from the American Journal of Public Health looking at approximately 280,000 people found that around 1 in 12 men and 1 in 10 women who were obese and 1 in 8 men and 1 in 7 women who were morbidly obese would succeed in losing 5% of their body weight.
Of the small percentage that did lose 5% of their body weight, by the time 5 years had passed, 78% of them had gained the weight back, according to the same study.
Wegovy was approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration in June 2021, according to a June 4, 2021 FDA news release.
These participants did not take any weight loss medications, but with the recent introduction of this new drug, it may now be possible to get a higher percentage of people who lose their weight to maintain it long-term.
Yes, all it does is make you feel full, and it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are getting nutritious food. However people with Type 2 diabetes or who are overweight or obese may need this intervention to meet their weight loss goals.
There are thousands of people out there who need this drug and they should have access to it.
Symptoms of Type 2 diabetes include blurry vision, thirst, frequent urination, weakness or tiredness and frequent infections, according to Mayo Clinic.
Later on down the line, Type 2 diabetes can cause much worse health outcomes, such as cardiovascular disease, nerve damage, kidney damage, Alzheimer’s disease and depression, according to the same website.
Without the intervention of Ozempic or weight loss drugs like Wegovy, someone’s diabetes could get much worse.
This drug is saving lives by helping diabetics treat symptoms that were not previously treatable until recently.
There is also evidence that some people may have genetic factors that play a role in their appetite, choice of lifestyle and even the way their body converts food into energy, according to the National Health Society.
While genetics are not going to make weight loss impossible, they can certainly make it harder and this is another reason why using pharmaceutical intervention might be necessary in some instances.
There are effective ways to lose weight that don’t involve taking medications, primarily with dieting, but taking weight loss medication can be particularly helpful for people who don’t have time to exercise or change their diet.
An unfortunate hindrance of weight loss drugs is that people usually cannot maintain their new weight if they stop taking the drug, according to a July 19, 2023 article from UC Davis Health.
To maintain this weight loss, it would be necessary for someone to make some kind of change to their diet, or they will just go back to their old weight.
This is where some kind of healthful dieting will have to take over to establish new eating behaviors for the progress of their weight loss. It should be said that those who don’t want to put in the effort to manage their weight when they have the means to do so are not the reason why the drug was made.
These drugs are more likely made for people like mothers who need to losem weight after a pregnancy, or diabetics who need to bring down their weight to better manage their insulin, or people who work a job where they have to sit all day.
Ozempic may not directly address the root cause associated with Type 2 diabetes, but it is a treatment, and people desperately need it.
