It's not very often that a brand name becomes so ubiquitous that it becomes the default generic name for that product category. In the pharmaceutical world, that name right now is Ozempic – one of a new class of GLP-1 drugs that has become a household name, thanks to its purported weight loss benefits. Everyone, whether it's Hollywood celebrities or schoolyard mums and young professionals, now seem to be chasing Ozempic for its weight loss benefits.
But what exactly is Ozempic, and importantly – how does it influence your feelings about food?
Ozempic is the name of a popular injectable prescription medication manufactured by pharma giant Nova Nordisk, indicated for people with Type 2 diabetes – as it helps to reduce blood sugar levels. In current practice, it’s also being prescribed to individuals for health-related weight loss.
The drug is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist. This means it is meant to reduce a person's appetite by mimicking the effects of the naturally occurring hormone GLP-1, which is released in the gut after eating. And Ozempic has as good as become synonymous with GLP-1 drugs for many people in the non-medical world.
"Ozempic made me feel less hungry"
Dr Emma Beckett, a food and nutrition scientist, understands Ozempic like few other people. As well as being an expert on how Ozempic changes a person’s relationship with food, she has first-hand experience of taking the controversial drug.
“I am a food nutrition scientist and have five degrees on related subjects,” says Dr Beckett, food and nutrition scientist at Food IQ global and adjunct senior lecturer at UNSW. “I know what to eat for good health. I have just always been a larger person. I am what the fat community refers to as ‘small fat’.”
Dr Beckett, who has a family history of cardiovascular disease, tells SBS that when Ozempic came out she was intrigued by its scientific workings as a weight loss drug. "I thought ‘let’s see how it works’. So I actually tried Ozempic quite early on [around three years ago]."
She says she took Ozempic for around four months. During that time, the injections made her "feel less hungry". In that sense, Ozempic did the job it was created to do.
“Ozempic impacts that part of the brain that tells us that we're hungry," Dr Beckett explains. "It slows down how quickly the food we eat moves through our gastrointestinal tract. This helps to make us feel fuller for longer. Ozempic also impacts our insulin signalling pathways. Insulin gets released after we've eaten to help our body utilise energy.”
Studies confirm that Ozempic also changes our eating behaviour by reducing the food noise that influence a person's eating habits. People who take the GLP-1 agonist become more in tune with their hunger and satiety and less influenced by emotional, situational, and external sensory cues.
Ozempic impacts that part of the brain that tells us that we're hungry.
Dr Beckett says she lost a small amount of weight while taking GLP-1 and didn’t encounter any major physical side-effects like vomiting.
However, she did experience one major impact which counts as a negative. “Ozempic reduced my diet quality and didn't improve my relationship with food at all.”
She reports that a lack of appetite reduced her interest in eating fruits, vegetables and whole grain foods. Her dairy and protein consumption also declined while on Ozempic. She also felt "numb" and indifferent about food.
Drugs like Ozempic can suppress appetite. Credit: Plan Shooting 2 / Imazins/Getty Images/ImaZinS RF
“I started thinking, 'this drug may make me slimmer over time but at what cost?’ I wondered if I was trading off a heart attack for brittle bones because my diet quality was declining,” Dr Beckett says. She has since stopped taking Ozempic after the first few months, and has not returned to taking the medication since.
What are the side effects of Ozempic?
Media reports are awash with stories of Ozempic successes, failures and side-effect horrors where people suffer pancreatitis, kidney failure, hypoglycemia and vision loss after taking the drug.
Victorian-based GP, Dr Michael Mrozinski says there's no way to predict how Ozempic will make you feel or work on your body until you start taking it.
“Weight loss is really just a trial and error because, genetically, everybody's response to food is different,” Dr Mrozinski says. “In people with obesity, we know that there is a dysregulation of specific hormones like GLP-1 and how they interact with the brain. What will work for one person to lose weight will certainly not work for someone else because our brains, bodies and hormones are all so different.”
He explains that a person’s response to Ozempic and the side-effects experienced may have to do with genetic variations in receptors related to hormones. “These genetic variations are the reasons why some people maintain a healthy weight range and other people are obese in the first place.
“So when people take Ozempic, some will lose a small amount of weight and won’t get any side effects, while others will be ‘hyper-responders’ who get really good weight loss benefits but also experience a lot of side effects.”
How Ozempic should be used
Dr Beckett agrees that drugs like Ozempic will work for a proportion of the population if used holistically and 'correctly'. There's just no way of knowing who it will work for, or how, in advance.
She warns that some people who take Ozempic may lose interest in consuming the dishes of their culture and crave bland foods. “Food isn't just fuel," she says. "A person’s diet should be quality as well as quantity. Everyone deserves to enjoy the food on their plate and maintain their cultural connection to it, whether it's a person who is of a higher or lower weight.”
“To use Ozempic 'correctly', you need to take the drug and access dietary, social and cultural support at the same time, so you can maintain or develop a positive relationship with the foods you eat – and not just focus on the amount of foods that you eat,” she says.
Dr Mrozinski also says that correct use should always go hand-in-hand with quality medical and dietetic supervision. He also stresses that Ozempic should not be prescribed to people who are a healthy weight or underweight.
You need to take the drug and access dietary, social and cultural support at the same time.
“I'm sure there are some people who still manage to get access to it who shouldn't,” Dr Mrozinski says. “I certainly wouldn't be prescribing it for anyone who was just wanting to lose a little bit weight for a holiday or upcoming event. That’s just inappropriate.”
According to Dr Mrozinski, currently in Australia, Ozempic may be prescribed by a doctor if a person is overweight or obese due to biological, genetic or health factors and at risk of developing type 2 diabetes or other life-threatening medical issues in the future.
Evidence shows that when combined with dietary changes and exercise, Ozempic can be used to lower the risk of heart attack, stroke, or death in patients with type 2 diabetes, obesity and heart or blood vessel disease.
“I don’t want people to view Ozempic as just a weight loss medication,” says Dr Mrozinski. “If you think like that, you may put the weight back on again once you stop taking it. I want people to view Ozempic as an opportunity to holistically change their diet and lifestyle, with support.
It's important to develop a healthy relationship with food. Source: Getty / Getty Images
Most importantly, Dr Mrozinski wants everyone who takes Ozempic to learn how to be more in tune with their body.
“If Ozempic completely suppresses your appetite and you're not eating much, you’re going to experience nutritional deficiencies and other side-effects. So listen to your body and work with your doctor and a dietitian to determine the right dose for you that helps you to lose weight slowly.
“That will always be the healthier and more sustainable way to move forward.”
