Revolutionary medicine
The world is struggling with the obesity epidemic. From 1975 to 2016, the number of people suffering from this disease more than tripled. This disease in Russia suffering Up to 30% of the working population and another 25% are overweight.
Obesity is not only an unaesthetic appearance but also a loss of health. This significantly increases the risk of diseases such as hypertension, cancer, diabetes, stroke, coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction, atherosclerosis, liver and kidney damage. In addition, obese people have problems with reproductive function, are more likely to become disabled, and have significantly shorter lives.
Recently, an injectable slimming drug, ozempic, appeared in the arsenal of doctors, it is used to treat patients with type 2 diabetes.
The principle of action is as follows: the substance imitates the action of a hormone produced by the body when eating and which helps the pancreas to produce insulin when glucose levels are high. This keeps you feeling full for longer. In addition, the drug affects the nutritional center in the hypothalamus, leading to a serious decrease in appetite and, as a result, rapid weight loss.
However, last year the popular drug left the Russian market, but was quickly replaced by domestic analogues Semavik and Quincenta. According to endocrinologist Marina Berkovskaya, Associate Professor of the Department of Endocrinology at Sechenov University of the Russian Ministry of Health, both drugs are based on the same active ingredient (semaglutide) and work similarly to Ozempic.
“This group of drugs is not new; the first glucagon-like peptide type 1 receptor agonists came to market around 2007. These drugs are glucose-lowering drugs and are used to treat type 2 diabetes, but as new data emerged it became clear that they had another additional effect: weight loss.” loss. Since most patients with type 2 diabetes are truly obese, doctors really appreciated this additional effect,” Berkovskaya told socialbites.ca.
Preparations based on semaglutide are truly an absolutely revolutionary solution. “Obesity is a serious problem for modern healthcare, and these drugs can combat it effectively.”
– says the head of the Center for Cardiology and Therapy of the National Clinical Center No. 3 of the Scientific Surgical Center of Russia. Akkadian BV Petrovsky, cardiologist and nutritionist Konstantin Ivanov.
But the expert is still extremely cautious about Russian analogues.
“We must give our drugs a chance, but we must also treat them with extreme caution, as should be done according to the classical methods of evidence-based medicine. Of course, their biggest advantage is their low cost, but time will have to pass before we can objectively and fully evaluate these drugs in studies,” Ivanov explained.
The advantage of semaglutide-based drugs is that they do not cause hypoglycemia, that is, they do not reduce the glucose level below normal in a patient without diabetes. Therefore, they were later used to treat obesity. This group of medications also reduces the likelihood of complications of diabetes, such as cardiovascular events, kidney damage, and eye damage.
However, not everything is so rosy – drugs based on semaglutide still have side effects, endocrinologist, candidate of medical sciences at the Central Medical Clinic CMD FBUN Rospotrebnadzor Central Epidemiological Research Institute Natalya Tanygina shared with socialbites.ca.
Depression, withdrawal symptoms and cancer
Natalya Tanygina points out that the drug based on semaglutide does not help everyone.
“The average result in serious comparative studies is minus 5 kg. “If you have a friend who is losing weight, think about how many people the drug would not have to help for the average result to be that way,” he says.
According to Tanygina, not everyone can achieve even a 10% weight loss. Also, the drug has side effects from the gastrointestinal tract. These include nausea, vomiting, belching, diarrhea, constipation and increased gas formation. In addition, the use of the drug is not recommended if there is a risk of developing pancreatitis. Tanygina also says that it should be taken into account that the treatment period will be quite long.
“For example, nausea tends to go away, but pancreatitis is more serious. People suffering from long-term use are not uncommon, and this should not be ignored,” says Tanygina.
The peculiarity of these drugs, according to Berkovskaya, is that they have almost no side effects or contraindications that are dangerous to physical health. However, taking them may negatively affect your mental state.
“The problem with these drugs is that they are started to be used for weight loss by people who do not have an indication for use. However, there are some nuances here, and one of them is the potential for depression. Let’s put it this way: a person has problems with eating behavior, and for him food was a way to relax, get pleasure, and now he stops enjoying food because of drugs. We took away the only joy in his life. The result is depression. There is also a small risk of suicidal behavior in patients. Therefore, these drugs cannot be taken without a doctor’s prescription, which must take into account all factors,” said Berkovskaya, noting that similar cases have occurred in her own experience.
Another problem is withdrawal syndrome, Ivanov said.
Unfortunately, there is no data yet on the effects of long-term use of such drugs, but the expert suggests that the drugs only work as long as the patient takes them, if he suddenly stops taking them and cannot change his eating habits. If you change your lifestyle while taking them, you will start gaining weight again after six months to a year.
“It is also important to pay attention to thyroid cancer risks. According to a study from Ozempic in mice, taking the drug may increase the risk of this cancer. This has not been confirmed in humans, but it is important to treat the drug with caution,” Ivanov noted.
How else can you lose weight
According to Berkovskaya, in addition to Ozempic and its analogues, there are other more effective drugs in the world. For example, munjaro (tirzepatid).
“This is a dual agonist of gastrointestinal hormones involved in the regulation of human eating behavior. It has proven to be even more effective in the treatment of diabetes and obesity. New molecules are also being studied today. For example, retatrutide is already a triple agonist drug, but it is only in the third phase of research. So far “The data show that the impact of weight loss is comparable to bariatric surgery.” remarked Berkovskaya.
As Tanygina notes, despite all the contraindications and side effects, such drugs can have a good effect when used correctly. But for this you need to prepare carefully.
“It is necessary to exclude hormonal causes of obesity. This is especially important for women who are postpartum or over 45. Assess the condition of the pancreas, choose a suitable diet that you can continue even after stopping the drug. It is best to do this with an endocrinologist. Who knows, maybe during the counseling process he will be able to choose an alternative and less dangerous method of treatment,” noted Tanygina.
Ivanov notes that taking such drugs will not solve the main problem – poor lifestyle, so the most effective method to combat obesity is to change lifestyle and eating habits.
“You cannot take a magic pill and suddenly change. When we talk about a problem such as obesity, the safest and most effective way is to live a healthy lifestyle, eat right and increase physical activity. However, it is also worth noting that sometimes the feeling of satiety comes too late due to genetic disruption of the leptin receptor. Bariatric “This is where surgery comes to the rescue, and this is what will help us cope with obesity. But without correcting the lifestyle, this method will not work,” concluded Ivanov.