If it slows emptying…what is happening to the food in there? Especially if you continue to eat processed food without real nutrients. Yup, magic!

Part 2: Tackling the obesity crisis without drugs
Part 2 of this series explores how a focus on food policy could tackle the obesity crisis.

https://blog.maryannedemasi.com/p/p...&utm_medium=web

Every time I read about the effect of semaglutide on the digestive system I wonder how that extremely slow passage affects the intestinal bacteria.

Drug induced gastroparesis doesn’t sound to me like a solution to anything.

WE wonder about the effects on things like intestinal bacteria…didn't the manufacturers or FDA wonder too.

Here's another I heard this morning from an endocrinologist talking about bone health. Anytime you lose weight rapidly, you lose muscle AND your bone will remodel to carry a lighter load. Could be from WLS, extended time in bed, trip to space….or the Ozempic users who do rapidly lose weight.

MaryAnn Demasi briefly mentioned bone density loss as a "downside", and along with that loss of muscle mass, neither is something easily regained as we age. And what will that do to children.?

Twitter feed is locked down to eliminate most every topic …except nutrition. This means I see interesting science posts from LC doctors I follow, and every story, good and bad, about weight loss drugs! The Ads too.

A new BBC Investigation of the online Black market in Semaglutide , Dangerous knock offs, and the gross side effects that end up in emergency in the UK.

The online black market cashing in on weight loss injection hype https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-67414203

Just saw an add on Quora for lawyers who represent clients who have experienced stomach paralysis from weight loss drugs.


I haven't watched TV in years, but suspect there are probably already plenty of lawyer's ads on TV for semaglutide drug side effects.

Wegovy was only approved by the FDA as a weight loss drug in June 2021 - That's only 2-1/2 years ago.

Ozempic was approved for use in diabetic patients in Dec 2017 - that's barely more than 6 years ago.

The use of those drugs has skyrocketed in the last couple of years - the lawsuits are no doubt just getting started.

The risk of every drug is about side effects. But the ones that won't go away really chill my blood.

I had a horrible allergic reaction to high dose Ibuprofen from a dental procedure recently, and I haven't taken ANY in over a decade. I read papers saying that these new arthritis NSAIDS aren't tested long term because they are so new, but yet get prescribed to be taken daily, for long periods of time.

It took DH a lot of searching to even find allergic reaction information that about this side effect. That's how we knew it was the Ibuprofen.But they didn't make it easy. Which is also kind of scary. This is the kind of thing that made me turn to herbs instead of meds for mamy things.

At least I know my teas have been drunk for years and not done much harm. I can't say the same for many drugs I've been offered, which make the original problem worse in the name of "symptom relief."

I've been saying, "Heck, I'm so old now I remember when cold medicine WORKED."

Thanks again! Lots of shocking info, as well.

Updated last week, the FDA continues to find illegal compounded versions of Semaglutide, and from all the ads I see, they are even more abundant. There haven’t been many reports of adverse effects from the products compounded with salts, but how many cases of black market meds not containing effective medication would be reported? If you paid half price for a cheap illegal knock-off…would you report that it doesn’t work? https://www.fda.gov/drugs/postmarke...-or-weight-loss

Correct. From what I've seen from doctors, a person is often too embarrassed to admit what damfool stunt they tried to pull. They also don't tell anyone.

"If this would be humiliating for me to admit, maybe I shouldn't be doing it?"

Speaking of gut biome, all kinds of things affect it.



My bold because: Well, duh! This whole trend of "being amazed the body actually works" betrays a wrong mindset. Are such high rates of metabolic dysfunction confusing medicine about what is actually the proper function?



Again my bold. But that is some very chewy food for thought.

I see that this is an older thread popping up again. The insane focus on "losing weight without changing your life" is forever marketable. And where there's a gob of money to be made? Well, marketers march in.

I just watched (on Netflix) the film PAINKILLERS. It's about how the Sackler family conspired to market their opioid Oxycontin. Their runaway "success" caused a world of death and family destruction.

Whom did they market to? Doctors. BarbieDoll sales reps with boatloads of "incentives" persuaded doctors to prescribe increasing dosages of a deadly drug. Add to that the pressure of patients in real pain, and you've got a sales avalanche.

Doctors are human last I checked. These days they are the pivot-point for every money-driven pitch on the planet: insurance companies, drug companies, desperate patients (with money) convinced that a drug will solve their problems, and the doctors' own desire to earn a luxury life (who wouldn't?)

Money, money, money. Follow the money.

Nobody ever made a dime out of advice like, "Shop the periphery of the grocery store."

End of rant.

Since I know at least a couple of people who are using the semaglutide drugs, I can assure you that they believe they ARE changing their life - primarily by losing weight though.

It still hasn't truly caught up with their mindsets that it's possible to circumvent losing weight while on the drug (the one gained several pounds over Christmas by eating "irresistible" cookies and candy - although this result was blamed on not increasing the dosage during December). There's also complete denial that without the drug they no longer have control of their eating and WILL regain the weight - as happened with the diabetic who discontinued the ozempic for a few weeks due to an odd rash that may or may not have been a side effect of the drug.

There's a mental disconnect between how the $1,000+/month drug alters their appetite and thoughts about food, and the lifetime diet mindset of being expected to exercise self control to lose weight.

Essentially, while they believe that the drug causes them to lose interest in food, what I'm seeing is that in reality they're actually more obsessed with food than ever before. They're constantly sharing new recipes all the time for more tasty, tempting, and "exotic" flavor combinations, speculating on what the pasta shape in this recipe tastes like (it tastes like pasta - the only difference is the shape), and could they maybe substitute another shape of pasta since it's hard to find the pasta shape specified in the recipe. Or oooh, what an exotic sounding spice the recipe calls for, I wonder what it tastes like? (and google shows that it's just combination of common spices - you don't need to spend $12 for a small bottle of that specific spice combo - just mix it up from what you already have on hand)

If it doesn't really matter at all to them what they eat while the drug is controlling their appetite (due to drug induced loss of interest in eating), why are they so obsessed with new recipes, and new flavor combinations? Why would they want to get used to eating foods that are even more tempting to them than the recipes they usually make? At least if you're eating your old standby recipes, maybe you'll (theoretically) get used to eating smaller portions of those.

And the big question I always have: once you stop the drug because you've either reached your goal weight, or the insurance company decides you're not losing enough weight to warrant such an expensive diet drug, or you develop a side effect that requires you to stop using the drug - what happens then?

Assuming that the drug hasn't caused irreversible damage, nothing will change in their lives after stopping the drug - except that their appetite and weight will come roaring back.

I feel like I'm watching a slow motion train wreck. (Just like when so many did Kimkins, and HCG)

This evening (Wednesday) I listened to a Jan.17th Atlantic Magazine online essay by Sarah Zhang titled "The Ozempic Plateau." The writer referenced findings showing that every form of weight loss, including bariatric surgery, slows and stops short of an ideal goal.

Weight loss drug makers are avidly investigating ways of combining drugs, increasing dosage, and devising other strategies to smash through plateaus--in order to keep selling their "new, improved" drugs. Ongoing research into how the drugs actually work (hormones? intestinal flora? etc.) is part of the story.

Losing weight to prevent diabetes, heart disease, joint and bone deterioration, and other chronic disease processes is important. I hope the hysteria to lose weight for "beautification" will not suck up all the supplies of the helpful drugs.

So do I. Especially when I know I can eat real food and then, not have to exercise self control. It's totally possible to lose our taste for junk. Here's a recent dramatic example of how this "sense" is working for me:

DH and I got sick at the same time over the holidays. I found a pulled pork with good ingredients and tried it. It was suspiciously good, I realized, a few coconut wraps later. This was giving me cravings and yet, it no longer tasted as good as the cravings insisted. Suspicions aroused, I re-read the label, and found the asterisk this time. The BBQ sauce was apparently half ketchup and half brown sugar. No wonder.

My food has to work as food should. As in, I'm not getting hit by the flavor truck. (I'm wondering also if the food obsession is the body's way of saying it is starving?) Maybe I've developed an aversion to that warning sign.

When carefully nurtured and respected, it will serve me well

Barb, that might be something useful for the FDA to know Before these drugs were approved, and are now being tested on children.

To me, there is a big problem with their impact on muscle mass and then, bone density. Maryanne Demasi in part 1:


The 2% reduction in bone density seems low considering how much can in lost with a few weeks in bed. Might be worth checking that again as thousands of people now take the drug can we could easily see before/after bone density scans.