JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It’s one of the biggest weight loss trends currently on the market: Ozempic.
While celebrities and others have posted dropping pounds in just weeks, First Coast News sat down with a weight loss expert, Dr. Chris Thompson with Bariendo, about how the drug works.
"It's mimicking a peptide that's made in your intestines," Thompson said. "And this is a naturally occurring peptide that helps you to produce more insulin essentially in response to a meal, and then it controls your blood sugar.
While the medication is effective for losing weight when combined with diet and exercise, the side effects can be lifelong.
“People are eight times more likely to have optic neuropathy and blindness, you know, things along those lines, bowel obstruction,” Thompson told First Coast News. "The longer they're on, if they're not really adhering to lifestyle modification, hitting the gym doing resistance training aggressively, when they come off the medicine, they're going to be much more likely to put that weight back on very quickly,” said Dr. Thompson."
Emphasizing one thing social media has not highlighted with Ozempic are symptoms like loss of bone density and muscle damage. The drug that was initially intended to treat type two diabetes is unique to other weight loss initiatives not only because of the demand, but due to its popularity online.
"Even though it has its risk, it does seem to work," Thompson said. "So, you have an audience that's really interested in waiting for this. And then, you know, now we have social media, which you know, wasn't around as active a decade ago. We have the celebrity endorsements for it."
Thompson adds that patients on Ozempic will have to take it for the rest of their lives to keep off the weight, getting injections every week that aren’t typically covered by insurance.
"It's about $1,300 a month," he said. "So, it's a very expensive medication. And now that, you know, there's kind of this groundswell saying it should be available for everyone."
Bariendo offers more education about Ozempic and alternative weight loss solutions which you can learn more about here.