The Ozempic craze has become a staple in today’s pop culture. It shines as a miracle drug for weight loss, but have you ever stopped to wonder how it actually works? Let’s unpack Ozempic and reveal the magic behind the headlines!
The Ozempic craze has become a staple in today’s pop culture, plastered across news and social media outlets everywhere. The clever “Ozempic” jingle runs rent free in our minds as the drug name continues to infiltrate household conversations, daily memes, and our collective consciousness. But how much do we really know about the magic pill and is it really the key to weight loss that it is portrayed to be?
The first thing we should know is, despite the fact that Ozempic is now a household name, it is not one of a kind.
Ozempic is a brand name for a drug called semaglutide, with other popular brands including Wegovy and Rybelsus1. These brands all contain the same drug, but may differ in the amount, ingredients, and intended use. Each brand has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat either Type II Diabetes or Obesity.
But here’s something that may come as a shock, Ozempic is technically not FDA approved to treat Obesity.
Any use of Ozempic for weight loss is considered something called, “off-label”, meaning the medication is being used for something outside of what the FDA originally approved it for2,3.
While Ozempic has only been FDA approved to help treat Type II Diabetes, it’s been splashed across headlines everywhere for its role in weight loss, and realistically, Ozempic is not the first nor will it be the last medication to be used off-label, so let’s dig in to hype behind Ozempic and weight loss!
Let’s begin with why we care in the first place.
Although societal beauty standards often cast body fat as the ultimate enemy, it is, in fact, essential for survival and overall health.
Fat is a source of energy for our bodies. Our bodies like to store it for us to use later. This stems from how our ancestors used to live, a time where we would have to hunt and gather, and food wasn’t as available as it is today. During those times our bodies learned to store as much energy for later as possible, but because our lifestyle, technology, and access to food have evolved faster than our bodies, we store a lot more fat than we’ll probably need to use in our day to day lives. Then depending on our individual diets, lifestyles, and genetics this storage of fat can increase over time to very high amounts, leading to Obesity4.
Obesity is defined as an excessive accumulation of body fat that can lead to health risks5.
The problem with this accumulation of body fat is that when there’s too much fat it becomes inflammatory, changing how cells communicate, and damaging the organs and cells around it6,7. Since everything in the body is connected, the damage and changes in cell communication can turn into a spiral that leads to different diseases and conditions such as Type II Diabetes, Heart Disease, Sleep Apnea, issues with reproductive health, amongst others5,6,8.
Semaglutide was partially made to help combat this spiral when it starts to happen.
However, note that the key words highlighted above are "excessive" and “lead to health risk”. We are by no means saying all weight gain or fat accumulation is going to lead to a bunch of scary diseases, but rather just painting a picture of why we care about obesity in the first place.
Throughout our brain and body our cells have little signal receivers called receptors on them. We can think of receptors as little light switches on cells, when we flip them on or off they create a signal in the cell telling it what to do.
Semaglutide works by turning on specific receptors called GLP-1 receptors. These receptors can be found on cells in our stomach and in our brain, and a few other places, and are extremely important for telling us whether we’re hungry or full9,10.
Semaglutide can turn on the GLP-1 receptors in our brain which can tell our body that we’re full, reducing hunger, and reducing the rewarding effects of some foods. Semaglutide can also turn on GLP-1 receptors in our stomach that will slow digestion, keeping us full for longer10.
These signals will then lead to us eating less, and ultimately the Ozempic weight loss phenomenon we’re all familiar with!
Let’s not run to our doctors just yet!
While semaglutide may sound great, it’s not without its flaws.Semaglutide works by turning on GLP-1 receptors that are having trouble turning on on their own, which means it’s overriding what our body would naturally do. This is a very effective way to regulate appetite and weight loss, but can come with a downside. Semaglutide should continue to work as promised while we take it, but we may find ourselves facing a weight loss rollercoaster once the medication is stopped10,11.
Overall, when it comes to weight loss, semaglutide tricks our body into thinking it’s full. It tells our brain that we’ve eaten enough and that some foods are less appealing, and tells our body to slow down the digestion. This leads to rapid weight loss, but right when we come off of semaglutide that signal is gone10,11.
Our bodies are no longer getting an external signal telling them that they’re full and all of the regular cravings and hunger may return, except even more so12!
Why more so??
When we gain or lose weight naturally, it happens slowly over a long period of time, and as we gain or lose weight our body gets used to our new weight. It knows how much energy it needs for us to be functional at our new weight and will send signals telling us when and how much to eat to maintain that weight12.
When we lose weight quickly, there’s no time or way for the body to adjust to the new weight, and when that signal is removed the body immediately wants to return to where it was before we lost the weight and it will do everything it can to get back there12.
While semaglutide is effective at what it does, weight loss is not as easy as just losing weight, and any considerations around starting on a semaglutide journey should be thoroughly discussed with a doctor.
It’s also worth noting that semaglutide was intended to be used to treat obesity, a serious medical condition, but is now being used more casually for weight loss, whether medically necessary or not. It’s important to remember to ask ourselves, do we really need to lose weight or are we chasing unrealistic and potentially unhealthy beauty standards?
In addition, like most drugs, there may be side effects. If considering taking semaglutide across any of the brands available please have a thorough discussion about both the drug and any potential side effects you may experience with a health care professional.
Written by: Nahdia Jones, PhD, Edited by: Amanda Varnauskas, MSPH
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