A well-known physician has cautioned that Ozempic and Wegovy are decreasing patients’ muscles at a “alarming rate” and may increase their risk of health issues in the future.
Although becoming popular in Hollywood, Dr. Peter Attia, a physician in Austin, Texas, cautioned that the medicines were not a “panacea” for weight loss.
He claimed that they caused patients to lose an equal amount of muscle and fat, and that this caused a rise in the patient’s fat-to-muscle ratio, which led to a metabolic “fattening” of the patient.
That follows similar concerns expressed by other doctors to DailyMail.com last month, who warned that patients who rapidly lose muscle run the risk of gaining weight quickly when they stop taking their medications.
Dr. Attia claimed on his podcast, The Drive, that patients receiving the treatment were also losing lean muscle, which could be detrimental to their long-term health.
‘Almost without exception, every patient we have put on this medicine has lost muscle mass,’ he continued in a previous Instagram video. Also, they are losing muscular mass at a rate that worries me.
It is usual to lose some muscle and some fat when someone who weighs 280 pounds drops to 180 pounds, he continued.
But let’s get one thing straight: would it be beneficial to lose 10 pounds of muscle and 10 pounds of fat in order to reduce your weight from 200 to 180?
Actually, only if your initial body fat percentage was greater than 50%. If not, you have lost disproportionately more muscle to fat.
You have really gained weight while losing weight, he continued.
Someone who has a higher fat-to-muscle ratio has a higher risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, frailty, and a host of other health issues.
This is due to the fat’s production of more harmful proteins that promote inflammation in bodily tissue and organs and the constricting of blood vessels, particularly visceral fat that wraps around organs.
Ozempic and Wegovy, which cost $1,000 a month and are administered as weekly injections, function by simulating a hunger hormone in the body to deceive users into believing they are full.
This causes weight loss by reducing calorie intake without making someone feel hungry. Yet, doctors claim that because they are not getting enough protein, patients tend to lose more muscle than fat while taking the medication.
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A high-protein diet and regular resistance training are also required for those who use Wegovy.
They support the preservation of muscle tissue and guarantee that the majority of weight loss experienced by patients using Wegovy is a result of body fat reduction.
“If we have tried every nutritional option and are considering utilising Ozempic, you must first have a [Body muscle to body fat] scan and you must have really clear rules for what happens,” he continued.
“We work closely with patients who are taking these medications to ensure that their protein consumption does not change,” says the doctor.
“Therefore, if you weigh 200 pounds and your goal weight is 180 pounds, you will still be eating 200 grammes of protein per day and working out vigorously as before.”
Long-term muscle loss increases the risk of weakness and decreased movement, which could increase the risk of fractures and falls.
As muscle has a higher metabolic cost than fat, the body is now burning less calories each day.
This suggests that a Wegovy user is likely to gain weight again and gain more if they return to their original diet.
Remi Bader, a plus-size model who reported on TikTok that she gained “twice” the weight she dropped after leaving the Olympics, may have experienced this.
Dr. Attia was also concerned about the number of non-obese patients enrolling in the medication.
He remarked in the video: ‘Even more worrisome to me is the people who are reaching out to me who are actually not overweight whatsoever but are saying “I really want to drop 10 pounds to look nice on my vacation, I should be taking this, right?”.
According to healthcare company Komodo, prescriptions for four weight-loss medications, including Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro, totaled more than five million last year, a threefold increase from the year before.
Although data indicates that a quarter of prescriptions in 2022 were written off-label for persons without type 2 diabetes, the medications are only licenced for use in those with the illness. Texas was the state with the highest prevalence, followed by Florida, California, New York, and Georgia.
