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‘Miracle weight loss drugs’ may be shrinking hearts
Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists such as Ozempic and Wegovy are often considered miracle weight loss medications.
However, there’s a catch…
While the drugs are effective in weight loss, they come with significant side effects that should not be overlooked. These include pancreatitis, gastroparesis, and bowel obstruction, as well as nausea, vomiting, and extreme acid reflux. It’s important to note that the medications could cause a loss of skeletal muscle mass, along with fat mass loss, leading to frailty and a higher likelihood of future weight gain.
As it turns out, those issues may be just the tip of the iceberg.
That’s because, according to the University of Alberta in Canada, in addition to the problems they cause with skeletal muscle, these drugs may also affect the muscles of your heart, causing them to shrink.
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Reduction in cardiac size
Your cardiac muscles play a crucial role in pumping blood that carries oxygen and nutrients to every part of your body, including your brain. This means that anything that affects your heart muscles’ health could have a significant impact on your overall body health, making it a matter of serious concern.
That’s why the findings of this study are of utmost importance. They shed light on the potential risks associated with GLP-1 agonists, providing valuable information for those considering these medications for weight loss.
The researchers gave semaglutide (the ingredient that makes Ozempic effective) to both lean and obese mice with no previous heart problems for 21 days.
In those 21 days, the obese mice lost a whopping 30% of their body weight and an amazing 65% of their fat mass, which sounds incredible.
However, they found that lean mice treated with the drug lost approximately 8% of their skeletal mass over the same time period.
Even more concerning was the fact that both groups showed decreases in overall heart mass and reductions in the individual size of their heart muscle cells.
“Together,” said the researchers, “these data indicate that the reduction in cardiac size induced by semaglutide occurs independent of weight loss.”
Tests in human cells add more weight to the evidence
Of course, while trials in mice are important, we really want to know how these drugs affect our bodies.
To learn the answer, scientists decided to test the effects of semaglutide on human cells. And the results were once again worrisome.
The team discovered that treating human heart muscle cells with the drug significantly reduced their size.
However, the researchers say that it may not be time to panic if you’ve taken a GLP-1 agonist for weight loss because they can’t be certain semaglutide is causing the shrinkage of cardiac muscles or even if this muscle loss is bad.
They do still warn, though, that semaglutide “has the potential to be detrimental in the long term” to cardiac muscle.
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Supporting weight loss safety
The good news is that you don’t have to turn to drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy to drop those unwanted pounds.
In fact, scientific research has already provided two natural options that offer a safer, more natural way to lose weight by leveraging an “Ozempic-like effect.”
The first is beta-glucan, a form of fiber found in oats and barley, that was singled out in a study as being able to control blood sugar and assist in weight loss in mice fed a high-fat diet.
The mice fed beta-glucan also showed increased concentrations of butyrate in their guts, a metabolite made when microbes break down fiber. Butyrate triggers the release of GLP-1, the same protein mimicked by drugs like Ozempic to stimulate insulin release.
Additionally, some nutritional experts call one particular supplement, berberine, “Nature’s Ozempic.”
Of course safest of all is the diet researchers say is a viable option for people who want to control their body weight and improve the quality of their diet to prevent and treat metabolic diseases.
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Sources:
Drugs Like Ozempic May Have a Shrinking Effect on The Heart – Science Alert
Semaglutide Reduces Cardiomyocyte Size and Cardiac Mass in Lean and Obese Mice – ScienceDirect
When wonder drugs lead to pancreatitis, gastroparesis and bowel obstruction – Easy Health Options
By Dr. Adria Schmedthorst
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