This is news out of London. They did a global trial with thousands of participants. The study? To see if a drug, Semaglutide, can help you lose weight.
The study was out of the centre for obesity research at UCL. It involved 2,000 people in 16 countries. Participants had to be overweight. Your BMI had to be over 30, or if you had a weight related issue, BMI over 27.
They were given 2.4 mg of semaglutide a week by injection under the skin. This was a controlled trial, with others getting a placebo shot. They were also enrolled in face to face or phone counselling sessions from dieticians. They had to adhere to a reduced calorie diet (500 kcal deficit) and increase physical activity(150 minutes a week). They even received incentives like kettleballs and food scales when they reached milestones.
The study lasted 68 weeks.
Findings?
- Those on semaglutide, the average weight loss was 15,3 kg (around 33 pounds)
- Those on semaglutide had a reduction of BMI of 5.54
- Placebo had an average weight loss of 2.6kg, and a BMI reduction of .92.
- Per the lead investigator, “75% of people who received semaglutide lost more than 10% of their body weight, and 33% lost more than 20%. This really is a game changer.”
- They saw health benefits in those with weight loss: reductions in waist circumference, BMI, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, HbA1c, fasting plasma glucose, C-reactive protein, and fasting lipid levels.
- They reported higher quality of life.
- Side effects: Were mostly GI symptoms like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation. 4.5% discontinued the trial.
The hope is these patients can achieve weight loss through medication and not need to go through weight loss surgery.
My thoughts?
We always talk about if we could only take a pill for weight loss. “I’ll take that cheesecake with and order of semaglutide please?”
These findings are encouraging. Lowering BMI caused objective improvement to health parameters like blood sugar levels, cholesterol levels, and blood pressure. This will help all these people be healthier as they age. And to do this without a major surgery which can affect absorption and have other issues is amazing.
As with all things, this is new and we need to look at the big picture. Yes, it seems to do amazing things with weight loss and the things I listed above. But what is its underbelly? Radiation was used in the past to treat acne. It worked beautifully. Then 20 years later, all those patients had horrible skin cancers because of the radiation.
So we must ask questions. There is a question as to what are the side effects? What happens when you discontinue the drug? Can you continue it indefinitely? Can there be other issues- does it affect pancreas health? bone health? absorption of vitamins? cancer rates?
As they enter Phase III trials, more data will be known. Super exciting though to be sure.