You may have heard about it in the news—a new pharmaceutical sweeping the world known as Ozempic. Unlike many drugs that rush across the headlines, Ozempic is an example of a medical discovery that holds great promise for millions of sufferers of two chronic conditions: type-2 diabetes and obesity. As it becomes increasingly widespread, it’s fast attracting attention on platforms such as TikTok.
What’s in a name, though? What exactly does Ozempic do – and what do students completing FNP programs need to know about it? Let’s delve into the world of a new type of medication – the humble semaglutide. From several decades of development to its rapid proliferation as a medical darling, let’s discover how this humble drug may just kickstart a new generation of treatments.
The Obesity Epidemic
To first understand the appeal of a drug like Ozempic, we need to take a step back – to truly understand the scale and scope of the problem at hand. Obesity is certainly not a new phenomenon – having existed as a medical condition for decades. However, in the last two decades, the American waistline has continued to grow, particularly as it becomes more difficult to procure healthy food at an affordable price. Recent data indicates that more than forty percent of the U.S. population is considered obese.
Obesity comes with its own challenges – with many obese people suffering from additional conditions, such as an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Type-2 diabetes, in particular, can be closely linked to obesity – with many studies noting a dramatically increased risk of becoming diabetic the more overweight a person is.
While diet and lifestyle changes can help a person reduce weight, they can be difficult to achieve, even for the most determined overweight person. Recent data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture highlighted just how substantial the problem is – some fifty-four million Americans lack access to healthy food, according to data published in 2021.
With the cost of insulin rising dramatically in the U.S. in the past two decades, a toxic cycle has emerged – where people unable to acquire healthy foods end up with poor dietary habits, which then lead to obesity and other conditions.
Ozempic – A Pharmaceutical Solution
Obesity has a substantial cost to the U.S. economy – whether it’s through the increased costs of providing healthcare, lost working hours as a result of illness, or reduced productivity due to a lack of mobility. With the costs of obesity totaling hundreds of billions of dollars per year, there’s a recognition that something needs to be done to help tackle obesity and reduce its impacts on the community.
One such proposition that often comes to mind is the idea of a wonder drug—something brought to market that has a significant, positive impact. Is it possible to have a simple treatment taken regularly that can achieve what’s needed (weight loss) without significant side effects?
Ozempic is essentially the brand name of a drug called semaglutide, produced by the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, Europe’s largest pharmaceutical company by market cap. It has been in production for some time; however, demand has continued to outstrip supply, particularly as the product’s effects have become well-known.
Does The Data Stack Up?
Semaglutide works by mimicking a type of hormone that is released in the gut when eating, giving patients the feeling that they’re full and, therefore, not hungry. It’s been used as a treatment for type-2 diabetes for some time, as this interaction can help the body produce insulin naturally – reducing the need for injections.
In recent years, researchers have discovered that increased doses of semaglutide can have an additional effect – when used alongside a healthy diet and lifestyle, semaglutide has been shown to be an effective weight loss drug.
Research is still being done to validate the effectiveness of semaglutide as a long-term weight loss solution. Some nations, such as Australia, have yet to approve semaglutide as a weight loss drug, limiting its on-label use to diabetes treatment only. At an early stage, however, semaglutide’s effects hold promise.
Tackling America’s Biggest Challenge
For many, obesity can be a source of great embarrassment and shame. As Ozempic has come to light, however, the conversation about weight loss has changed – no longer is it just about eating healthy and going for a run – instead, it’s about finding a solution that works for your individual use case.
In the media, a number of celebrities have come out as Ozempic users, and the impact is often visible. For many, it’s the success of losing a little weight and feeling more empowered and confident about one’s own body that makes a huge difference.
How do we begin to tackle weight loss on a nationwide scale? The answer may be more complicated than we realize—while Ozempic is effective, it can’t replace good eating habits. To tackle America’s obesity epidemic, lawmakers must look beyond a simple pharmaceutical solution.
Take, for example, the nearly fifty million Americans who turned to food programs to support their families in the past year. Poor-quality food is one of the many factors that can lead to obesity, highlighting the need to tackle more than just the people who are currently suffering from the effects of obesity.
While Ozempic and other drugs promise the potential to transform millions of lives for the better, it’s important to understand that to truly drive change; more will need to be done than simply handing out medications.
A proverb that often floats around the internet deals with the notion of learning to fish. As the proverb goes, Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime. Could we apply those same lessons to tackling to obesity pandemic? What could be teach the people to help avoid the mistakes of the past and help this and the next generation of Americans to eat and live healthy lives?
Whatever the case may be, while Ozempic holds promise – it’s just one part of a broader strategy required to tackle obesity. The challenge now is how legislators and health authorities choose to tackle the problem at hand.
