Ozempic Could Be Much less Efficient for Emotional Eaters, Research Suggests

GLP-1 agonists—so-called “wonder medicine” like Ozempic or Wegovy that assist people decrease blood sugar ranges and shed weight, amongst different issues—yield vital outcomes for some sufferers, however not all. Individuals’s motivations to overeat might play a task on this, in response to a brand new examine.

To analyze why some individuals don’t profit from GLP-1 agonists as a lot as others, researchers noticed 92 contributors with sort 2 diabetes in Japan throughout their first yr of taking GLP-1 medicine. Their results, printed in the present day in Frontiers in Scientific Diabetes and Healthcare, recommend that individuals who overeat attributable to exterior causes—such because the sight or odor of scrumptious meals—had higher possibilities of responding nicely to the medicine in the long run than individuals who overeat for emotional causes.

Who will profit most from GLP-1 medicine?

“Pre-treatment evaluation of consuming habits patterns might assist predict who will profit most from GLP-1 receptor agonist remedy,” Daisuke Yabe, senior writer of the examine and a professor of diabetes, endocrinology, and diet at Kyoto College, mentioned in a Frontiers assertion. “GLP-1 receptor agonists are efficient for people who expertise weight acquire or elevated blood glucose ranges attributable to overeating triggered by exterior stimuli. Nonetheless, their effectiveness is much less anticipated in instances the place emotional consuming is the first trigger.”

The group revealed this by gathering information on the contributors’ physique weight and composition, food regimen, and data equivalent to blood glucose, levels of cholesterol, and relationship with meals originally of the therapy, three months after, and one yr after. They targeted on emotional consuming (consuming in response to adverse feelings), exterior consuming (consuming as a result of the meals seems to be good), and restrained consuming (controlling one’s food regimen to shed weight). Whereas it might sound contradictory, extreme restrained consuming can really end in disordered consuming, in response to the researchers.

Over the yr, the contributors skilled a statistically vital lack of physique weight and lowered levels of cholesterol and physique fats share with out altering skeletal muscle mass. Whereas blood glucose ranges ameliorated, the development wasn’t statistically vital. There have been, nonetheless, some variations relying on consuming behaviors. Three months after the beginning of the therapy, contributors reported extra restrained consuming and fewer exterior or emotional consuming. By the top of the yr, although, contributors had returned to their authentic restrained and emotional consuming habits.

“One attainable clarification is that emotional consuming is extra strongly influenced by psychological elements which will not be instantly addressed by GLP-1 receptor agonist remedy,” mentioned Takehiro Kato, second writer of the article and a researcher from Gifu College, “People with outstanding emotional consuming tendencies might require extra behavioral or psychological help.”

Exterior consuming lessened over the yr of therapy

Contributors reported decreased exterior consuming all through your complete yr, and people that claimed excessive ranges of exterior consuming originally of the therapy noticed the best advantages in blood glucose ranges and weight reduction. Alternatively, the group didn’t determine any affiliation between emotional or restrained consuming scores originally and drug advantages by the 12-month mark.

“Whereas our examine suggests a possible affiliation between exterior consuming habits and therapy response to GLP-1 receptor agonists, these findings stay preliminary,” defined Yabe. What’s extra, the group’s examine was observational, and contributors self-reported data, which means the researchers revealed a possible affiliation, not a causation.

“Additional proof is important earlier than they are often applied in scientific follow. Ought to future large-scale or randomized managed trials validate this relationship, incorporating easy behavioral assessments might change into a worthwhile part in optimizing therapy methods,” Yabe concluded.