The number of overweight people has been increasing steadily for years.
Image: © Nilaya Productions
A diabetes remedy for successful weight loss? In America this has been a hype for a long time. In Germany it is spreading. In an interview, a doctor talks about the success and the dangers associated with it.
Professor Schneider, especially in the USA, the diabetes drug with the trade name Ozempic is being praised for weight loss, including by celebrities such as Elon Musk and Kim Kardashian. People share their experiences on social media platforms, also in Germany. The hashtag #Ozempic can be found more than 350 million times in this media. What’s behind the hype?
This drug with the active ingredient semaglutide is a so-called GLP1 agonist. GLP1 agonists have been available from various manufacturers for years, they are actually approved for diabetes patients. In them, they have a positive effect on their metabolism. Among other things, the release of insulin is promoted with the help of these drugs. Patients who take semaglutide for their diabetes have also been seen to lose weight. Manufacturers then carried out studies with a higher dose of semaglutide with patients who do not suffer from diabetes but are very overweight – and it has been shown that they too have benefited from it and lost significant weight. To be honest, this also impressed the professional world. One could say that this was a breakthrough in drug treatment for obesity.
