Dr. Sanjay Gupta: Is Ozempic Right for You?
From WWSG exclusive thought leader, Dr. Sanjay Gupta:
Over the past year, the question has been coming in from everywhere — from my patients and family members, from colleagues and passengers I chatted with on airplanes: Is Ozempic right for me? Or, any of the blockbuster weight loss and diabetes drugs that recently caught the world’s attention? While filming my new documentary about the drugs, it became clear that many people have at least considered taking GLP-1 medications, drawn to the possibility of steadier blood sugar, better heart health and especially weight loss.
Even though obesity is now one of the most widespread diseases in the developed world, there is still much debate about how it is diagnosed and what exactly causes it. Some experts question whether it is even a disease at all.
However, there is no question that obesity is linked to all sorts of other diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, cancer, heart disease and stroke, to name a few. However, that doesn’t mean the link always exists for everyone or that obesity was by itself the culprit. After all, there are plenty of people who have obesity but don’t have any evidence of heart disease or diabetes. Their blood pressure is normal, and they take no medications. There are no abnormalities in their blood work or impairments in their normal physical function. Their only disease is an elevated BMI — too much weight for their height. But, the extra weight puts people on a trajectory towards developing other diseases.
There is little doubt that for most people, regular exercise and eating right is still the best strategy for weight loss and overall health. High-fiber diets, for example tend to release more natural GLP-1. Among people who took GLP-1 medications and stopped, those most likely to keep the weight off had incorporated lifestyle changes in a meaningful way.
Most people do regain weight after stopping the medications, but importantly, not all people and not all the weight. For those able to keep weight off, these medications weren’t a lifelong solution, but rather a burst of motivation to help reverse their obesity trajectory.
There is still a lot of work to do in better defining and assessing obesity. In the meantime, however, these medications might finally provide a lifeline for those who have truly struggled for too long.
Read more about what I learned in my year-long investigation here and watch my documentary “Is Ozempic Right For You?” premiering this Sunday, November 17, at 8 p.m. on CNN.