Semaglutide is a new medication on the horizon which has been in the news because in trials it showed amazing weight loss. (10-20% in a big trial of patients with BMI over 30) and health benefits. Woo hoo!
But what is Semaglutide?
I had to look it up.
Semaglutide increases the production of insulin. It also enhances growth of the cells in the pancreas where insulin is produced. Semaglutide is a glucagon like peptide 1 receptor agonist.
Hmm. This is super interesting. Insulin insulin insulin. This seems to be a big focus in the weight loss arena.
As many of you know, I love the book the Obesity Code, which focuses on weight loss being an issue of insulin resistance. Many anti aging advocates use metformin, which helps make you more sensitive to insulin. Intermittent fasting tries to help make you more sensitive to insulin. Insulin resistance drives fat deposition. So making your body more response to insulin seems to be a game changer here.
What are the brand names for Semaglutide?
- Ozempic – injectable
- Rybelsus- oral
When searching about this new semaglutide thing, I found it isn’t totally new. This has been used in diabetics for a little while. I saw it splashed around with a medicine called “trulicity.” Trulicity is similar to Ozempic in that it is a glucagon peptide agonist, but Trulicity is dulaglutide, and Ozempic is semaglutide. They function similarly, and in trials Ozempic was found to be slightly better, though the trial was done by the makers of Ozempic.
So what does this mean for the general population?
Semaglutide (or Dulaglutide) is not being recommended to people to lose weight. Yet. The studies are promising, but we need more information. The studies were done for an entire year, and we don’t know what it looks like when people get off the medication. Also the medicine is an injectable, and it isn’t available as a generic so likely $$$.
But it is exciting news. As I referenced above, insulin seems to be a key to weight. And if there is a pill which can help with weight loss (and help improve all the things the study showed- BMI, blood pressure, HbA1c, cholesterol), it is a great advance.