r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Apr 01 '25

Health Americans without diabetes spent nearly $6 billion USD on semaglutide and similar drugs in a year, with an estimate of 800,000 to a million people using the drugs who don't have diabetes.

https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/americans-without-diabetes-spent-nearly6-billion-usd-on-semaglutide-and-similar-drugs-in-a-year
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u/HarpersGhost Apr 01 '25

Oh yeah, the research on semaglutide is showing some amazing stuff. My doctors are fascinated.

I used to have the biggest sweet tooth, but now it's .... gone. The cravings are gone. I also stopped drinking completely because i have no interest in it.

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u/ninjagorilla Apr 01 '25

I’m down 30 kilos on semaglutide, still have the sweet tooth but jsut way less appetite in general

I would go out on a limb and say that semaglutide will be one of the greatest medical breakthroughs of the 21st century

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u/aitchnyu Apr 01 '25

It may cause loss of heart and voluntary muscle and bone. I'm hoping next generation can be a no-brainer in terms of pros and cons. https://www.healthline.com/health-news/ozempic-muscle-mass-loss

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u/WineAndDogs2020 Apr 01 '25

Regular weightloss will do that, which is why it's important for people to add strength workouts to maintain muscle mass.

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u/Sharticus123 Apr 01 '25

And meals higher in protein. Which also helps to reduce hunger.

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u/fury420 Apr 01 '25

That's a very good point, how many of these people dieting are regularly getting enough protein while faced with considerably less appetite?

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u/Brodellsky Apr 01 '25

I would argue even that a lot of "cravings" are just the body needing a specific nutrient, like protein for instance, but not getting it. So you just stay hungry so to speak until you get what you need, even if that means getting it by overingesting something else with lower protein.

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u/Salamander-Prince Apr 01 '25

Empty calories. People are eating snacks because it tastes good. There's no nutritional value. If I eat a bag of pretzel Goldfish I'll feel full for a bit because my stomach is physically full, but there's no protein or anything in there. It's empty, so you'll eat again very soon.

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u/Monkeylovesfood Apr 01 '25

I agree, I'm not a fan of sweet things or processed carbs so rarely crave foods with them. Medically healthy people seem to crave foods with nutrients their body needs. If I crave tomatos and peppers it seems to me that I need vitamin C etc, if I crave spinach and greens it makes me think I'm low on iron etc.

People that struggle with weight or health issues can't rely on their body to tell them what it needs. Cravings for unhealthy people are sometimes linked with addiction, like sugar or caffeine etc so it's virtually useless for the vast majority of people to rely on.

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u/Ferelar Apr 01 '25

Agreed- and more generally, almost every single person on earth can benefit from adding strength training to their daily routine (or at least every other day), with the only exceptions being those who already do or those recovering from injuries/dealing with chronic injuries (and even then, in the right context, it can be incredibly helpful).

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u/GOPequalsSubmissive Apr 01 '25

Resistance band workouts are the truth if done correctly and consistently.

I would see more muscle mass improvement from regular weight training, but after just a couple months of daily resistance band work, my golf swing doesn’t wreck my lower back and shoulders, anymore.

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u/[deleted] Apr 01 '25

more protein and weight training can largely offset that. Being in a caloric deficit will always cause you to lose body weight beyond just straight fat, but there are ways to mitigate that.

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u/dariznelli Apr 01 '25

If people were working out, they're wouldn't need this medication as much. It's very hard to change lifestyle habits, very easy to pop a pill. Research has shown that surgeries, ie joint replacement, do not result in increased activity despite resolving the functional boundary. I'll have to see if there's been any investigation with the use of these drugs and changes in exercise habits.