What you need to know
- Two popular diabetes and weight loss drugs among some may be linked to reduced risk of mental, cognitive and addiction conditions.
- The study authors and independent experts caution against making definitive claims, or basing new treatments on the observational study, but the findings are considered statistically relevant.
A major analysis of more than 1.2 million medical records has found popular diabetes and drugs, including Ozempic and , may also reduce the risk of other health issues.
Researchers at the Veterans’ Affairs St. Louis Health Care System, US, said the drugs could be linked to a “modest” risk reduction for alcohol, cannabis, opioid and other stimulant use disorders.
They also found that the drugs lowered risk of suicidal ideation and attempted or intentional self-harm by 10%; by 18%, and dementia and by 8% and 12%, respectively.
The research applies to a class of drugs called Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP1-RAs). Ozempic and Wegovy are the most well-known drugs belonging to this class, containing the active ingredient semaglutide.
Other GLP1-RA include the compounds dulaglutide and liraglutide.
These contain active ingredients such as semaglutide and dulaglutide and are considered an advancement in the treatment of overweight and obesity.
“GLP-1RA drugs act on receptors that are expressed in brain areas involved in impulse control, reward and addiction — potentially explaining their effectiveness in curbing appetite and addiction disorders,” said the study’s lead author Ziyad Al-Aly.
But there is a downside: Al-Aly’s team found known side-effects such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea showed up in medical records associated with GLP-1RA use. In rare cases, impaired pancreatic and kidney function also occurred.
How do drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy work?
While celebrities spoke about Ozempic as a weight-loss elixir in 2023, when the drug broke its way into the mainstream, it remains a medication specifically designed to treat chronic conditions.
That means, whether for diabetes or weight management, it isn’t a simple “one-and-done” treatment, it requires lifelong use to maintain the desired health outcome.
For weight loss, it is also prescribed with a regimen of diet and exercise.
Taken daily or weekly, GLP-1RAs replicate the effect of the body’s own GLP-1 hormones by binding to specific receptors in the brain and triggering insulin secretion in the pancreas.
This results in the lowering of the blood’s glucose levels, the desired outcome of diabetes treatments. It also slows the emptying of the intestines — it literally delays you going to the toilet — thus reducing appetite.
Are diabetes drugs magic health pills?
While a nutritious diet and regular exercise are accepted as ways to deliver other positive health outcomes and basic physiological requirements, effective medicated weight loss therapy may be required for people with specific health requirements.
his new study suggests there are a number of benefits from taking these drugs, but it doesn’t directly say that the use of the drug causes positive health benefits — it merely shows the drugs may potentially contribute to positive outcomes.
“This is an observational study, not a randomized trial, and the authors caution against basing treatment recommendations on these data, without further confirmation,” said David Henry, a former clinical pharmacologist and evidence-based practice researcher from Bond University, Australia, who was not involved in the study.
“Such reticence is justified. Flawed observational studies of another diabetes drug, metformin, concluded erroneously that the drug prevented cancer. Analysis of data from randomized trials disproved that theory.”
And because the analysis was performed on veterans’ medical records, it disproportionately applies to predominantly white men, a limitation acknowledged by the researchers.
Of the 1.2 million records used for the study, nearly 4 in 5 belonged to white people, about 95% were men and 80% were aged over 60.
Edited by: Zulfikar Abbany
Primary source
Mapping the effectiveness and risks of GLP-1 receptor agonists. Published by Yan Xie, Yaeyoung Choi and Ziyad Al-Aly in Nature Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024-03412-w
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