More about the new weight loss drugs

 On January 15th, 2023, I posted an article about a new weight loss drug called Wegovy. I had learned about it on the TV show, 60 Minutes. (Wegovy and a similar drug called Ozempic are modified diabetes drugs.) Because the show used terms such as “highly effective,” “safe,” and “impressive,” a nonprofit group called Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has filed a formal complaint saying that the program segment essentially meets the definition of an advertisement. I have to admit, the show did make the drug appear impressive and my blog post didn’t question the program’s message.

But here are a couple of things to consider: in the first place, because the drugs are new, long-term effects are not known. Secondly, to keep the weight off, you have to keep taking them—that is, injecting them—for life. Otherwise, you just regain the weight you’ve lost, as is the case with most weight loss efforts. (One woman, who stopped the medication, reported that she was insatiable. "I'm hungry all the time.")

Wegovy and Ozempic, are the first to manipulate one of the hormonal regulatory systems that govern appetite. They work by mimicking the hormone glucagon-like-peptide, which is produced in the gut, and which tells the brain when you’ve had enough to eat. The ability to sense fullness and hunger varies among us and is the result of genetic differences in brain circuits that control appetite.

One woman who has injected Ozempic for nine months reports that she planned to stay on the drug for life because it “shut off the intrusive constant thoughts about food” that had consumed her mental space since childhood. In taking this drug, she realized that her overeating wasn’t lack of willpower but was the product of her physiology. Good to know.

Scientists admit that they have very little understanding of how the new medicines affect other regulatory mechanisms that depend on the crosstalk between the gut and the brain. With so many people trying the new drugs, I guess they’ll find out—sooner or later. 

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