Can weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy help people quit smoking?

Can weight loss drugs help people stop smoking?

A new study has found that semaglutide – the ingredient found in both Ozempic and Wegovy –  may help people kick the nicotine habit.

But what do we know about the study? And could it really help?

Let’s take a closer look:

What do we know about the study?

The study was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

As per Sky News, the researchers were from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institutes of Health, and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in the United States.

As per The Independent, researchers looked at 223,000 people including those with type 2 diabetes, those who used tobacco and people who are on anti-diabetes medication.

More from Explainers

How ChatGPT is becoming everyone’s BFF and why that’s dangerous This Week in Explainers: How recovering from Gen-Z protests is a Himalayan task for Nepal

The study found that smokers who had type 2 diabetes who took semaglutide were less likely to require medical care linked to their smoking.

Around 6,000 of respondents used semaglutide while the others took other diabetes medication.

Researchers also looked at electronic health data from the respondents during a follow up over a year.

They checked if respondents sought treatment for tobacco use or were prescribed medicine or counselling to quit smoking.

The study found that those using semaglutide were at a lower risk of needing medical care with regard to tobacco addiction than those using diabetes medications.

Impact Shorts

More Shorts

Ghaziabad woman dead, pilgrims attacked in bus… How Nepal’s Gen-Z protests turned into a living hell for Indian tourists

Were bodyguards involved in Charlie Kirk’s shooting? The many conspiracies surrounding the killing

Results were seen within 30 days of semaglutide being prescribed, as per Sky News.

“Semaglutide was associated with reduced smoking cessation medication prescriptions and counselling,” the researchers wrote.

“Similar findings were observed in patients with and without a diagnosis of obesity. “These findings suggest the need for clinical trials to evaluate semaglutide’s potential for TUD treatment.”

As per The Independent, researchers said similar outcomes were also observed in those subpopulations who were obese.

This comes as after a slew of reports which indicate that those who take semaglutide could find themselves less in need of nicotine.

This is possibly because drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy deal with the brain’s reward centres.

Ozempic in particular has been shown to decrease the abrupt surge of dopamine – the feel-good hormone  linked to alcohol, nicotine and even gambling addictions.

As Dr Tamika Henry, founder of the California-based Unlimited Health Institute, explained to CBS News, “When we think about the reward centers, it releases dopamine, which is our feel-good hormone. So what happens is, when you do a certain activity, dopamine surges - and you’re like, ‘Oh, I want to keep doing that,’ whether that’s indulging in alcohol, nicotine or even gambling."

“How Ozempic works is, it decreases the surge of dopamine, and therefore the desire for that particular activity is decreased,” she added.

But Henry also warned that taking such medication could have unexpected and negative side-effects.

“As you’re thinking about decreasing an addiction, yes, you want to do that, but is there also going to be some association with nausea? Are you also going to have problems with heartburn, fatigue?” Henry said.

“The other thing is taking a medication is just part of it. You need to start to do the other things that help you along the way. Because if the medication is removed, then what happens?”

The researchers also cautioned that the study has its limitations.

They cited documentation bias and missing data on whether participants are now smoking, as per The Independent.

With inputs from agencies