Emily Schoch | Staff Writer
As Ozempic surges in popularity beyond its original use as a diabetes medication, its reputation as a powerful weight loss tool is stirring excitement — and controversy.
The injectable drug has sparked questions about safety, accessibility and potential misuse. Medical experts warn that while Ozempic may offer rapid results, it’s crucial to understand the risks and realities behind its use for weight management.
Stanley Wilfong, senior lecturer and program coordinator for nutrition sciences at Baylor said the drug reduces weight by suppressing hunger.
After people eat, the hormone glucagon-like peptide-1, or GLP-1, is released to help regulate blood sugar, appetite and digestion. Ozempic is a GLP-1RA, meaning it is an agonist which mimics the actions of GLP-1 but in a greater fashion. It decreases the amount of sugar the liver produces, slowing down digestion and reducing appetite.
Wilfong introduced a new term — “food-noise” — a psychological concept that is referring to the constant thought of food. It is shown that when people go on Ozempic, “food-noise” goes away, suppressing appetite.
“Ozempic doesn’t cause you to burn more calories,” Wilfong said. “It’s just suppressing your hunger, but also your appetite, because of reducing that food noise.”
Wilfong said weight loss doesn’t always mean losing fat. In this case, Ozempic not only reduces fat but also muscle, making it easier to gain weight back after getting off of the medication.
“People that lose weight really rapidly with Ozempic lose about 20% to 40% of lean body mass muscle. So that tells you 60% to 80% is fat you’re losing,” Wilfong said. “Nobody wants to do that because it’s the lean body mass that drives your metabolic rate up and the lower the lean body mass you have, the fewer calories you need.”
If someone chooses to stop taking Ozempic, they will likely gain more weight back than they had before due to the loss of muscle mass.
“Their metabolism is slowed down because they don’t have as much lean muscle mass, and they tend to gain that weight back,” Wilfong said.
Leigh Greathouse, associate professor of nutrition sciences at Baylor, said having more muscle mass results in having a higher metabolism, allowing individuals to consume more calories without weight gain.
“The more muscle you carry, the higher your metabolism is. And that’s why these male athletes, they eat like 3000 to 9000 calories a day. They’re carrying a heck of a lot of muscle mass,” Greathouse said. “They’re expending it.”
Wilfong said some patients who experience negative side effects from Ozempic are hesitant to tell their healthcare provider due to the fear of being taken off of the drug, resulting in gaining their undesired weight back.
“Some side effects include nausea and vomiting. And some folks don’t like to talk to their doctor about it because they’re losing weight and they’re scared to death of being taken off of it,” Wilfong said.
Obesity is a condition that demands constant monitoring and upkeep as well as attention to diet and exercise, according to an article by the Associated Press. While drugs like these can help patients to manage weight, they should not be used as a quick fix, Dr. Andres Acosta, an obesity researcher at the Mayo Clinic, told the AP.
“I don’t think they should be used in intermittent fashion. It’s not approved for that. They don’t work like that,” Acosta said.
