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Diabetes injections are trendy: but do they really help you lose weight?

2023-02-13T04:23:27.655Z


In the USA they have long been in vogue: diabetes injections. But is this just dangerous hype or can it actually be lost?


In the USA they have long been in vogue: diabetes injections.

But is this just dangerous hype or can it actually be lost?

Berlin – Every trend needs its prominent faces.

This also applies to the drugs Ozempic/Wegovy.

They were originally developed for the treatment of diabetes.

They are now used to lose weight.

Tesla boss and Twitter owner Elon Musk also swears by it, as reported by

kreiszeitung.de

.

"Fasting + Ozempic/Wegovy + no tasty food near me" is Musk's new motto.

He is fasting, doesn't have any delicious food around and relies on the medication mentioned at the beginning.

But do these diabetes drugs really promise long-term success when it comes to weight loss?

Time to look behind the facade of the hype.

Drugs for diabetes are supposed to help you lose weight: What's the hype about?

The drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, which were once developed to treat diabetes and named by Elon Musk, contain the active ingredient semaglutide, notes

pharmaceutical expert Martin Allwang in an interview with

bild.de.

They would act like the body's hormone GLP-1, which promotes the release of insulin.

A hormone that in turn lowers blood sugar levels.

"This is released by the stomach after a high-carb meal.

On the one hand, it causes the pancreas to release sugar-lowering insulin,” says Allwang.

In addition, the hormone would convey a "feeling of satiety".

Researchers found out a long time ago that eating dextrose triggers a much stronger insulin response than dextrose given as an injection.

Lizard venom used in patients with type 2 diabetes – those affected had “lost weight”

Now let's go further into the depths of diabetes.

According to Allwang, there had to be something in the stomach that signals the pancreas to take in sugar.

Then you need insulin.

"That's the GLP-1," says the pharmaceutical expert.

By chance, a protein was discovered in the saliva of an American species of lizard that also has the effect of driving insulin release and conveying a satiety signal.

And based on this protein, the active ingredient semaglutid is synthetically produced.

But does it really help with weight loss?

The synthetically produced lizard venom was used in type 2 diabetics to activate the pancreas and thus lower high blood sugar.

And it would have been shown “that the patients lost weight”.

Semaglutide as a means of treating type 2 diabetes - and also suitable for losing weight?

But even in non-diabetics, semaglutide caused significant weight loss in subjects in a British study.

On average, the participants lost more than 15 kilos of their body weight.

The consequence: the semaglutide-containing preparation Wegovy was also approved in the European Union (EU) as a weight loss agent.

The remedy does not magic away kilos, but it helps to maintain a healthier lifestyle.

Pharma expert Martin Allwang in conversation with "bild.de"

But not for everyone.

Because "the drug is only used as a supplement to a calorie-reduced diet and increased physical activity in adult patients," says von Allwang.

The diabetes drug is approved for people “who remain obese despite more exercise and a healthier diet”.

In the beginning there would always be a permanent change in eating habits.

Diabetes medication alone is no guarantee for losing weight - exercise and nutrition are just as important

For Allwang, Elon Musk "with all his stress and anger" is a prominent example that the diabetes drug can work.

But if the Tesla boss had only used the diabetes drug "without eating differently at the same time and possibly moving more, he would not have lost a gram".

In order for the diabetes drug to be used in Germany, further requirements would have to be met by the patients.

This includes a body mass index (BMI) that is greater than 30.

Or greater than 27 if at least one weight-related comorbidity occurs.

However, affected consumers should be careful: Even if the diabetes drug is prescribed by the doctor, the patient will incur high costs.

Since "obesity is not recognized as an illness, the patients pay for it themselves," says Allwang.

And even online you can't get the drug without a prescription.

Finally, the prescription-only provisions would also apply to online pharmacies.

Use and side effects of the remedy for type 2 diabetes

The drug against diabetes, which is approved in Germany and against which vitamin D is also said to help, is injected once a day.

"The patient starts with a low dose and gradually increases it until he's on three milligrams a day.

There are also GLP-1 agonists that are injected once a week to treat diabetes," says von Allwang.

The Downside to the Weight Loss Drug Hype

Approved by the

Food and Drug Administration

(FDA) in 2017, the drug Ozempic (brand name) helps patients with type 2 diabetes control their blood sugar.

But what if there is a shortage as the anti-diabetes drug is also being taken by people who want to lose weight?

According to the US news portal CNN, such a situation would exist in the USA.

Wegovy has been approved as a weight loss drug in the USA since 2021.

We're talking about "a runaway hit" that has been steadily fueled by celebrity mentions.

But bottlenecks arose shortly after Wegovy was marketed.

A Brussels-based company hired to fill the syringes was subpoenaed by the FDA over quality issues.

As a result, the manufacture of the drug was discontinued.

And the bottlenecks that were supposed to be fixed that year continued to exist.

"There have been a number of patients who started [their treatment] on Wegovy and were unable to continue," said Kimberly Gudzune, medical director of the

American Board of Obesity Medicine

(ABOM).

As a result, doctors prescribed Ozempic to treat obesity.

As a result, many of these injectable drugs have become scarce.

And patients who take it for type 2 diabetes suffer from it.

The appropriate injection technique should be explained to those affected beforehand in the local pharmacy.

Because: "As with any drug that is injected, intolerance reactions can occur at the injection site," explains Allwang.

In addition, diabetes patients would complain about side effects ranging from nausea to abdominal pain and vomiting.

According to the experts, this would partly explain the weight-reducing effect.

Diabetes drug "inhibits appetite" - when you stop taking the drug, the effect goes away

What Allwang is important to emphasize: "The remedy inhibits the appetite.

In this respect, it helps with weight loss by supporting the consumption of smaller portions.

Of course, the effect goes away when the drug is discontinued”.

In general, one could say that obesity is a health problem with very poor prospects of improvement.

And: “Anyone who does not manage to fundamentally change their way of life in the long term will remain fat”.

Injections with the drugs Ozempic/Wegovy, which were once developed for the treatment of diabetes, do not help.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2023-02-13

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