One of the recurring themes we’ve covered here at PJ Media is the fact that the GLP-1 agonist class of drugs, which includes Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro, only work for weight loss so long as the mark patient takes them in perpetuity — because, as we’ll see explained here by corporate state media, “chronic disease requires chronic treatment.”
Why wouldn’t Novo Nordisk or any of these pharmaceutical giants advertise that these products only work in the short-term, and result in rebound weight gain (plus a bevy of devastating side effects like seizing up the intestines) after discontinued use?
Related: ‘Ozempic Face’ Destroying the Hollywood Beautiful People?
Via NPR (emphasis added):
More and more people who started taking the new GLP-1 agonist drugs are now confronting the realities of their limitations; medications like Wegovy and Mounjaro tend to help with sustained weight loss only while people are on them. But because of cost, for example, negative side effects, or supply shortages, many people are having to transition off of them — while trying not to regain the weight…
[Jonathan Meyers] isn’t confident he could keep those distracting thoughts at bay in the long run, without pharmacological support.
And so far, clinical data seem to back up Meyers’ suspicions. One early study showed patients regained two-thirds of the weight lost within the first year of stopping. New analysis showed 17% of people able to maintain 80% of their weight loss after stopping. And while experts say lifestyle choices like food and activity must be the cornerstone of all lasting weight loss plans, they also recognize those changes alone are often not enough for patients with obesity.
In other words: Chronic disease requires chronic treatment, no different than kidney disease, or high cholesterol. The new obesity treatments act on the various hormonal and metabolic drivers of obesity.
The answer is obvious, via NPR (emphasis added): “That potential for weight regain is a major deterrent with these medicines. A poll from the health research organization KFF last year found only 14% of people remained interested in treatment, after hearing that weight tends to return after stopping.”
Meanwhile, neoliberal rag The Atlantic, albeit a bit late to the party, has taken to celebrating the GLP-1 drugs as a near-“miracle,” in so many words essentially claiming they will cure Parkinson’s and sleep apnea as a virtual panacea.
Via The Atlantic (emphasis added):
There’s no such thing as a miracle cure for obesity, but the latest weight-loss drugs seem to come pretty close. People who take Ozempic or other weekly shots belonging to a class known as GLP-1 agonists, after the gut hormone they mimic, can lose a fifth or more of their body weight in a year. Incessant “food noise” fueling the urge to eat suddenly goes silent.
In recent months, the mystique of these drugs has only grown. Both semaglutide (sold under the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro and Zepbound) were initially developed for diabetes and then repurposed for weight loss. But they apparently can do so much more than that. Studies showing the heart benefits of semaglutide have already led the FDA to approve Wegovy as a way to reduce the risk of major cardiac events, including stroke, heart attack, and death, in certain patients. The drug has also shown clear benefits for sleep apnea, kidney disease, liver disease—and can potentially help with fertility issues, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, colorectal cancer, alcohol overuse, and even nail-biting. These days, a new use for GLP-1s seems to emerge every week.
With each new breakthrough, GLP-1s look more and more like the Swiss Army knife of medications.
Where do we begin to address these claims?
Sleep apnea and fertility issues, and other issues listed as above are strongly correlated with obesity, so even if we take at face value that people with sleep apnea see improvements on Ozempic, that is very likely because of the weight loss, which could be achieved in healthier and more sustainable fashion without these drugs anyway.
Continuing:
GLP-1s improve health outcomes through three mechanisms, Daniel Drucker, a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto who co-discovered GLP-1 in the 1980s, told me. (Both Drucker and Seeley have consulted with GLP-1 manufacturers, as have many prominent obesity researchers.) The first mechanism involves the main functions of the drug: controlling blood sugar and inducing weight loss…
A second mechanism that could explain some of these health effects is that the drugs act directly on certain organs…
GLP-1s likely spur wide-ranging effects across the body through a third, more generalized process: reducing inflammation.
Now, it’s entirely feasible to control blood sugar and reduce systemic inflammation the old-fashioned way: eating responsibly and sleeping at regular hours and taking the stairs from time to time. As for the third “miracle” mechanism, it stands to reason that tapping the GLP-1 receptor sites over and over and over with a deluge of fake hormonal stimuli is going to have negative downstream effects, the extent of which are just being discovered.
