Obesity medications are the new panacea in the fight against obesity. But as is often the case with news that seems too good to be true, there is also an important downside to the use of slimming pens: if you stop using the injections, the lost kilos often come back. In line with what previous studies with similar agents already suggest, let toopublished research JAMA We now also see this for the newer drug Mounjaro.
The study (commissioned by Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of the drug) compared users of the obesity drug tirzepatide, brand name Mounjaro. Tirzapatide is a drug that consists of two active substances that mimic intestinal hormones GLP-1 and GIP. The well-known semaglutide (Ozempic) only contains the substance that mimics GLP-1.
The participants took tirzepatide for 36 weeks, which helped them lose at least ten percent of their body weight. Part of that group continued with Mounjaro the following year. Another group, 308 participants, used a placebo injection, without active substance, for a year. After that year, it was measured whether the participants with the placebo version of the obesity drug had gained weight again, and how much.
Blood pressure and cholesterol
In a third of this placebo group, half to three quarters of the lost kilos were regained. 74 participants even returned almost completely to their original weight and one in ten participants was even heavier after that year than before they started taking the obesity medications. Not all participants regained weight: a sixth of participants regained less than a quarter of their lost kilos. The participants who continued to use Mounjaro actually lost further weight.
The researchers focused mainly on one important reason: in severely overweight people who lose a lot of weight, their cardiovascular system generally also improves. Their cholesterol levels, blood pressure and blood sugar drop. But previous studies also show that if you regain more than a quarter of those kilos, the positive effects on the cardiovascular system disappear again. In this study, this also applies to the vast majority of people who stopped their weekly Mounjaro injections.
appeared in the same magazine on Monday a study with a similar outcome: That study looked at the effect of stopping obesity medications on the weight of pregnant women. Women who used a GLP-1 receptor agonist before pregnancy and had to stop taking it because of their pregnancy gained weight during their pregnancy than women who had not used obesity medications.
Misconception
The question that remains is how bad it is to use the drugs for life. For example, is that less serious than the medications that people take for life because of all kinds of diseases caused by obesity, such as high blood pressure? In any case, the idea that you can take weight-loss medications temporarily is called “a misconception” in the editorial of the scientific journal.
Also read
Obesity medicines in the basic package: how would that work out in the Netherlands?
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