For decades, people have struggled to lose weight and to maintain a healthy weight for a wide variety of reasons.
There are an equal number of reasons that the regimen of exercise and caloric intake doesn’t work for everyone who wants to lose, as well.
Drugs like Ozempic, which help people lose weight by curbing their appetite, have become extremely popular over the past couple of years.
Now, users are reporting the drug is making it easier to say no to cigarettes and alcohol, too.
A new survey from investment firm Morgan Stanley shows that people taking the drugs, collectively known as glucagon-like-peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists, are also reporting lower rates of smoking and alcohol consumption.
This suggests that the way the drug controls food cravings could work on other substances as well.
The firm polled 300 people, 40% of whom said they smoked cigarettes weekly before beginning a GLP-1 drug.
That number dropped to 24% after treatment began. E-cigarette usage was also cut in half, from 30% to 16%.
The effect looks to be even more dramatic when it comes to alcohol, with more than half of respondents claiming to drink less after beginning a medication.
14%-18% said they’d stopped drinking entirely.
No one knows why GLP-1 drugs seem to help people with cravings, but of course, doctors like Lorenzo Leggio have a few theories.
“The mechanism in the brain that regulates overeating overlaps with those responsible for the development and maintenance of addiction, including alcohol disorder.”
Casey Arnold, a patient taking GLP-1 drugs, said she was floored by her experience.
“It was totally opposite of when I tried to quit in my previous years. I was shocked at how calm I was, compared to how I used to think about quitting.”
Currently, they’re only approved for diabetes, weight loss, and to help mitigate the risk of heart disease and stroke.
It seems like their off-label use is only going to increase.
And with good reason.
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