Getty ImagesThe first study to assess how weight-loss drugs affect the whole of human health has discovered an “eye-opening” impact on the body, researchers say.The analysis, involving about two million people, linked the drugs to better heart health, fewer infections, a lower risk of drug abuse and fewer cases of dementia.The US researchers also warned the drugs were “not without risk” and seemed to increase joint pain and potentially deadly inflammation in the pancreas.However, the results need very careful interpretation.Weight-loss drugs have exploded in popularity – but a full understanding of everything they touch in the body is still coming together.”This is new territory,” said lead researcher Dr Ziyad al-Aly, clinical epidemiologist at Washington University.Initially, they were a proven treatment for type 2 diabetes. Then, weight loss was noticed as a significant side-effect – and Ozempic and Wegovy became household names.The study used data on US veterans with type 2 diabetes, some of whom were given Ozempic or Wegovy and some more standard drugs – to measure their effect on 175 other illnesses.There appeared to be a significant boon to heart health, with lower levels of heart attacks, stroke, heart failure and high blood pressure, in those taking the new weight-loss drugs.They also cut the risk of substance abuse (including alcohol, opioids and cannabis) as well as reducing schizophrenia, suicidal thoughts and seizures.Despite the study being short, and people taking the drugs for only 3.5 years because of how new they are, it reported a 12% reduction in Alzheimer’s disease.There was also less liver cancer, muscle pain and chronic kidney disease as well as a noted reduction in bacterial infections and fever.On the flip side, people were more likely to have problems in their digestive system. Feeling sick, tummy pain, inflammation in the stomach, diverticulitis (bulges in the intestines that can be painful) and haemorrhoids were more common on Ozempic or Wegovy.’Definitely eye-opening’The data, published in the journal Nature Medicine, also showed low blood pressure, including fainting, headaches, disturbed sleep, kidney stones, inflammation in the kidneys and a range of bone or joint pains, including arthritis, became more frequent.”It was definitely eye-opening for me to see all these different hits in different organ systems,” Dr Aly told BBC News.The explanations for the drugs’ seemingly wide-ranging impact are both obvious and mysterious.Losing excess weight would in turn improve health. For example, lower levels of sleep apnoea – when breathing stops and starts while slumbering – is thought to be down to losing weight around the tongue and throat, which can block the airways.But the drugs also appear to be directly altering the behaviour of cells and tissues in the body.Dr Aly said: “Obesity is bad for the brain. Obesity is bad for mental health. Obesity is bad for the heart. Obesity could be the mother of all ills.”Matt Miller/WashU MedicineOzempic and Wegovy have the same active ingredient, semaglutide, in different doses, and mimic the hormone glucagon-like peptide-1.Released by the gut after eating, GLP-1 travels through the blood and sticks to little receptors on the surface of brains cells. This tells the brain there is food in the stomach and is why people feel less hungry after eating.How …
