JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It's a simple premise for a meal replacement drink: oats, water, lime juice and maybe a dash of cinnamon for flavor. People on social media are calling it 'Oatzempic,' with claims that if you drink this first thing in the morning, you can lose 20 to 40 pounds in two months.
The name is a reference to the injectable, FDA-approved weight loss drug Ozempic. And according to posters online, the oat drink can be just as effective.
THE QUESTION
Can 'Oatzempic' cause weight loss similar to Ozempic?
THE SOURCES
- Registered dietician Sara Riehm at Orlando Health
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
THE ANSWER
No, 'Oatzempic' can't replace Ozempic for weight loss.
WHAT WE FOUND
Riehm said she has seen the Oatzempic trend all over her social media feeds.
"It's definitely gone viral," Riehm told First Coast News.
On the drink itself, she said: "It's a pretty clean drink, if you will. You've only got the oats, the water, the lime juice."
Riehm said although there's nothing about the drink or its ingredients that can hurt anyone, she advises that it's "probably not going to yield the weight loss that is promised."
Unless you're starving yourself and staying in a caloric deficit, the drink alone can do the same things that Ozempic and other drugs like it can do, according to Riehm. These drugs work to suppress your appetite by focusing on hunger centers in your brain, according to the FDA. It can also slow your stomach from emptying, so you don't need a meal as often through the day.
So, Riehm said this claim is false, as the drink itself won't hurt you, and can actually be a part of a healthy diet, but alone won't lead to 20-40 pounds of weight loss in a month. She also added that amount of weight loss in this specific time frame isn't a good thing either.
"I wouldn’t recommend it for anybody actually," Riehm said. "Whether you have that weight to lose or not, when you lose weight that rapidly you’re compromising other systems in the body."
Riehm suggests a good weight loss goal of one to two pounds per week.