In March of this year, a survey by independent medical resource center The Intake found that 15% of Americans have personally used the Type 2 diabetes drug Ozempic for losing weight.

The same medication in a different dose is approved for weight loss under the brand name Wegovy. It hit around 135,000 new prescriptions per week in May 2023, and has kept growing according to Barclays Research.

Despite the fact that millions of people rely on these GLP-1 receptor agonist medications, a lot of information about their benefits and risks only came out after they became available. It's important to understand what's been discovered:

1. The benefits for both weight loss and diabetes management plateau after a while, and almost all people need to keep taking the medication to retain the benefits they've achieved. (Three of my 40-or-so patients on Ozempic — or Mounjaro, a GIP and GLP-1 receptor agonist — have been able to stop taking them without regaining weight.)

2. These medications seem to decrease alcohol and opioid dependency/addiction.

3. The Food and Drug Administration now requires semaglutide (Ozempic) to carry a warning label about the risk for a blocked intestine (ileus), which causes cramps, severe constipation, swelling, vomiting, and lack of appetite. Wegovy already had a warning that gastrointestinal disorders can include acute and necrotizing pancreatitis, sometimes resulting in death. 

These medications have many benefits, but I urge you to also adopt a plant-based diet and enjoy resistance training (to prevent excess loss of muscle mass as you shed pounds), good sleep habits, and stress reduction.