Tag: weight loss drugs

The Ever-Expanding Market for Rapid Weight Loss Is a Disaster in the Making

Via Mercola

Story at-a-glance

  • Eli Lilly, the maker of the weight loss drugs Zepbound and Mounjaro, has launched a telehealth platform to connect patients with prescribers, thereby making it easier for patients to get the drugs
  • Some doctors and health care experts rightfully worry that allowing patients to obtain drugs directly from the drugmaker will make it easier than ever for drug companies to target patients without regard for whether their drug may be the right one given the patient’s health history
  • Many novel drugs that offer dramatic weight loss must be taken for life. Once you stop taking them, the extra weight comes back. The problem with lifelong use of these drugs, however, is that their side effects can be life threatening. Serious side effects of Wegovy, Ozempic, Saxenda and Victoza include stomach paralysis, pancreatitis and bowel obstructions
  • The active ingredient in Wegovy, Ozempic, Saxenda and Victoza is semaglutide, a glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist (meaning, it boosts GLP-1). GLP-1 agonist drugs radically slow the passage of food through your stomach, thereby making you feel fuller longer
  • A far safer way to boost GLP-1 is to colonize your gut with Akkermansia muciniphila, a bacterium that naturally secretes a GLP-1-inducing protein. Akkermansia-boosting strategies include supplementing with specific probiotics and prebiotics, eating more fiber, increasing FODMAPs (including fructose and lactose), boosting intake of black tea, red wine grape extract, cranberry extract and Concord grape, and avoiding alcohol and high-fat diets (60% fat or higher)

It’s bad enough that drug companies are allowed to market prescription drugs directly to consumers via all sorts of media, but now Eli Lilly is taking it a step further still.

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As Demand for Weight-Loss Drugs Skyrockets, Experts Raise Questions About Serious Side Effects

Guest Post by Angelo DePalma, Ph.D.

Weight-loss drugs originally approved for treating diabetes are expensive, often not covered by insurance, and associated with side effects including gastrointestinal problems and thyroid cancer.

Diabetes drugs re-purposed for obesity have revolutionized medicalized weight loss but at a price, according to JAMA Medical News.

In addition to common, mild-to-moderate digestive issues, clinicians are now observing more serious gastrointestinal side effects plus self-harm behavior, anesthesia complications, serious vision problems and cancer cases among people taking GLP-1 agonists, either to lower their blood sugar or lose weight.

Because the drugs are so widely prescribed these relatively rare complications involve enough patients to concern prescribers, according to some medical experts.

Despite gastrointestinal side effects, demand for weight-loss drugs growing

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