GLP-1 agonists; diabetes drug and now weight loss

[qldfrog]

A new study from Washington University, in St Louis, Missouri, analysed health records of more than 2.4 million people, including 215,000 taking the jabs, to see how the drugs affect the risk of developing 175 different health outcomes.

Data show that the medications reduced the risk of cardiac arrest by 22 per cent, pneumonia by 16 per cent, Alzheimer’s by 12 per cent, bacterial infections by 12 per cent, and alcohol use disorder by 11 per cent.

In total there were 42 health outcomes which were shown to have a lower likelihood in a person who was prescribed a GLP-1 drug.

However, 19 health outcomes were also shown to become more likely, including nausea and vomiting (30 per cent), headaches (10 per cent) and abdominal pain (12 per cent).

The study also uncovered the medications are linked to an increased risk of haemorrhoids, low blood pressure, tendonitis and osteoarthritis.

...“The general message here is that there are two key mechanisms. One is probably related to obesity and the second pathway is reduced inflammation, and things related to reward signalling and impulse control in the brain.”

The study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, found that there was a reduced risk of kidney disease in people taking weight loss jabs, but a higher risk of kidney stones.

“It may be related to the possibility that when people take GLP-1 they eat a whole lot less to lose weight, but they also hydrate themselves less. They drink less water because their stomach shrinks, and they feel full very quickly.

“And maybe, I’m theorising here, perhaps chronic dehydration leads to increased risk of kidney stones.”

Other surprising findings from the study are how GLP-1 drugs make arthritis more likely when a person is lighter and bearing less weight, and also how they could be responsible for making a person less prone to bacterial infections, including sepsis and pneumonia.

Interesting
Which i can crudely summarise as:
the key benefits of not being a fat obese slab of lard.... Or have a thyroid gland deficiency
Now that Trump is back, all these Nazis unPC are crawling around

 

[qldfrog]

Not a good PR

https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/bedridden-amy-schumer-reveals-horror-ozempic-sideeffects/news-story/d0406649ca477ba6f9b961b3f6fccb0d

 

[Dona Ferentes]

"The growing use of GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Wegovy is reshaping consumer demand in grocery stores, particularly when it comes to high-protein, unprocessed foods. These drugs alter the way people experience hunger and taste, leading many to shift from highly processed, salty and sugary foods in favour of lean proteins and fresh produce.

“We’re seeing a meaningful impact on demand for certain food categories, including meat and seafood. Eggs, in particular, have become a go-to option for many GLP-1 users. But this rising demand is colliding with avian flu outbreaks, which have constrained egg production. Hence retailers are struggling to keep shelves stocked.”

- Amanda Oren, vice president of industry strategy for grocery, Relex Solutions, which works with grocers including Coles on supply chain disruptions.
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“I was at a conference in 2024 with the CEOs of all the big gym chains and exercise equipment companies. Back then, there was a lot of scepticism about GLP-1s. This year, the conversation is totally different. Everyone was asking: ‘How do we integrate these medications into our programs? Let’s use them, let’s get people results.’ One thing we’re already seeing is gyms actually changing the way they use space. Ozempic is good for weight loss, but it also means you lose muscle. If you’re on Ozempic, you need to do strength training. Gyms are already taking away cardio machines and giving more floor space to free weights and machines.”

- Shaun Krenz, co-founder and director, AusFitness Expo.
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“Ozempic face has become a real thing. It’s a hollowing due to fat loss that’s basically premature ageing. The skin around the mid-face area appears to be sagging. Suddenly accordion lines appear in the buccal space – your cheek hollow area – every time you smile. Doctors in our practice are resorting to more and more fillers to volumise the face. But the skin is also becoming thinner. When patients come to us and we suspect they’re on it, we’ll query it, but the majority deny it. It’s the 30- to 40-year-old age bracket who are mostly doing it. We’re also having to now resort to using more injectable collagen-building bio-stimulators to firm the skin and bring back some elasticity. These people are making themselves older sooner and are in for a premature-ageing journey. There are a lot of tired-looking faces out there.”

- Joseph Hkeik, aesthetic skin doctor, All Saint Clinic, Double Bay, NSW.
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“The biggest concern is, in Australia and in every Western country really, we are very poor at assessing what we call the post-marketing side effects of drugs, and that basically means side effects that weren’t clear or weren’t reported in the initial drug company-funded studies. If the effect of these drugs is so fundamental in our brain, then along with the beneficial effects, it’s highly plausible that there may also be a risk of negative effects in long-term usage. We don’t know.”

- Nick Coatsworth, former deputy chief medical officer, adviser to health start-up Eucalyptus
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“The common side effects are nausea and if you titrate the dose up very slowly, there is not a great deal. Some people will get terrible diarrhoea and can’t tolerate it all, some people will get constipation but it will be tolerable. All medications can have side effects. For people with diabetes, these medications are a game changer and have been fantastic. It has improved the quality of most of the people’s lives for whom I have prescribed it. These are people for whom there is nothing else.

“But you have a group of people who don’t like the way they look, they are not seriously harmed by their weight, or they are just lazy and they won’t get out and do something constructive for themselves. That [type of use] has to be differentiated from the person stuck at home because their obesity is incapacitating in a multitude of ways.”

- Gary Wittert, University of Adelaide professor of medicine