Shocking, but I guess not surprising given how fat Americans are.
You mean side effects, etc? The article mentions gastrointestinal issues. I’m sure you could search and find some good information. What I wonder is how does this effect you long-term? I guess we’ll find out in a few years because it seems a lot of people are taking the drugs.
My concern would be that their bodies no longer become capable of suppressing appetite. They become totally reliant on the medication. Obviously, the pharmaceutical companies would love that.
I guess the argument could be made they’re already not suppressing appetite is why they’re so fat and on these things.
My friend has been gaining weight after 2 months on Ozempic.
I don’t get it.
These drugs stop your craving for food by mimicking the presence of the “biomarkers” that signal you have already eaten or are satisfied. But they do not stop you from eating. So your friend could eat out of habit, like most of us who established such habits as we grew up.
Ask your friend if they have dropped a meal (or 2). Their GLP-1 will certainly help that. And if they are consuming less times, they should make sure what they do eat (and how much if it) isn’t counter-productive.
So, you can certainly gain weight while on these drugs. You just have to make an effort to do it. Many of us are making the opposite effort, because we are paying a lot of money out-of-pocket for them. That is a strong incentive to change eating habits, too (Maybe ask your friend if they are paying for their GLP-1 regimen, or if an insurer or family member is doing it for them)
Is there any health cost to GLP -1 drugs?
I think the biggest side-effect is vomiting, which you can imagine may be related to forcing yourself to eat when you are already full.
Maybe look up the long-term impact of these drugs on your liver. Given that the main effects of weight loss on the liver are reductions in fat and improvements in metabolism, you are likely going to address your liver’s problems for some time before the toxicity kicks in
Below is what AI points about about GLP-1s and liver toxicity
GLP-1 receptor agonists (such as semaglutide and tirzepatide) are generally considered hepatoprotective and are associated with improved liver health. However, rare cases of liver toxicity have been reported.
Hepatotoxicity Risk Profile
Rarity of Injury: Clinically apparent liver injury is extremely rare. In large clinical trials, elevations in liver enzymes were no more common with GLP-1 therapy than with placebos.
Hepatoprotective Effects: For most patients, these drugs actually reduce liver fat and lower serum aminotransferase (ALT/AST) levels. In August 2025, the FDA granted accelerated approval to semaglutide for treating Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatohepatitis (MASH) based on its ability to resolve liver inflammation.
Idiosyncratic Liver Injury: There have been isolated case reports of idiosyncratic drug-induced liver injury (DILI) where patients developed jaundice or hepatitis shortly after starting treatment. These injuries typically resolve once the medication is discontinued.
Of course, but my concern is the possibility of doing it naturally will go forever.
In general I think these appetite suppressing medications are a good thing. Better than the cost of obesity.
Its amazing that all it does is suppress your appetite.
How about just learn to do that yourself, you know. Have some discipline then you do not need to pay for the drug and risk its side effects.. which i have heard also include muscle loss.
I know one person who took it here in Taiwan. When she went off it she put the weight back on. No surprises there as she didn’t put any effort into actually building good habits and learning something about diet.. not to mention exercise
I think everyone’s given up on that solution.
They could do it, but they can’t do it. That seems to be the accepted view now, and right on cue in steps Big Pharma,
The recommendeded solution has always been ‘more willpower’. Doesn’t work either for majority of people.
Indeed. The appetite suppressing drugs will be a lower cost to health care systems than dealing with obesity, which no developed country has managed to do to date. My hope is other tax payers won’t have to pay for them, though. Presumably the amount of money obese people save on consuming less food should cover the cost of the drugs, so they should pay for them. Overall, a massive win for the pharmaceutical companies. The potential market is over a third of the population of most developed countries,
Poor wording. It works, and it isn’t difficult. People are just not willing to make the commitment, lifestyle changes and educate themselves.
It works, and it isn’t difficult, but it doesn’t work, and apparently it’s really difficult. Net result is a third of the population are clinically obese and telling them they shouldn’t be hasn’t worked. How to pay for the costs of this obesity is the issue.
EDIT: I don’t want to pay for it.
No, eating healthy and exercising works. Its absurd to say it doesn’t.
Maybe i should say the soloution is straight forward instead of ‘easy’.
None the less, its going to require a real lifestyle change unless you plan to rely on a drug your whole life.
Yes, it does. But it hasn’t for almost 40% of the population. Why is irrelevant. Maybe they can’t do it, more likely they won’t do it, but they don’t do it. Telling them to do it hasn’t worked. Managing the costs associated with them not doing it is the issue.
Yep, it’s simple, but obviously not easy for most. Eat healthier, eat a little less, exercise more.
C’mon, Rick it most definitely and most obviously does NOT work and it IS difficult for most.
Docs have been telling people to lose weight and get more exercise for hundreds of years. Said people have tried to lose weight and it works for a little bit and then it doesn’t work for most of them.
Pharmaceutical intervention that prevents a massive host of other diseases is a good thing in my book .
You see the idea of willpower is kinda dumb. People are animals and our willpower is to eat more not eat less. Our hormones are telling us to do it, our brain is telling us to do it, unconsciously. Going against our ‘willpower’ is not in our nature.
Imagine you told people not to breath, not to have sex, not to sleep…ain’t gonna work either folks.
My small animal brain tells me to punch my stupid neighbor. My willpower is so weak XD
I have no choice, so sorry^^
In a video game only of course. Guys calm down.
‘Will power hard, take drugs instead, dont try’ Mate I hope you are not passing down this kind of wisdom to your kids.
I dont think being responsible for your own health is any harder than committing to taking a drug, which has side effects, which is not a cure anyway as drugs almost never are.
However, the evidence proves you wrong. Being responsible for one’s own health is clearly harder than committing to taking a drug for the majority of people. 74% of Americans are overweight, for example.
I agree that in an ideal world will power would work, but it hasn’t. Who pays for the people who are clinically obese and are likely to require expensive medical treatment is the issue. Obesity is likely to take down health systems if left unchecked. As long as people with lower will power than I pay for their own weight loss drugs, I’m OK.