DR MAX PEMBERTON: I took Ozempic to control my appetite and found it had another incredible side-effect – alcohol completely lost its appeal

There is no doubt that new weight loss drugs like Wegovy are revolutionizing our treatment of obesity. After years of failing to help address the obesity epidemic, medicine finally has something to offer patients that appears to be effective.

More drugs are on the way to compete with Wegovy, which contains semaglutide, the same active ingredient found in the type 2 diabetes drug Ozempic, and Mounjaro is already available in some pharmacies.

However, this is not the only thing these medications could help with. There is growing evidence that the group of drugs to which Wegovy and Ozempic belong, called GLP-1 agonists, might also help people with other things, such as reducing alcohol consumption.

I’ve even had first-hand experience of the effect Wegovy has on people’s desire to drink alcohol, while I was drinking it. I’ll explain to you why, as someone who has never been overweight, I ended up taking it.

Several years ago I fell on a cobblestone and broke my foot. It was a complicated fracture and, after five operations and specialist physiotherapy, it still hurt to walk.

My surgeon suggested I try growth hormone injections and I found a doctor who prescribed them. Within weeks, the pain disappeared and I was able to walk without a limp for the first time in two years.

But at a cost. She developed an insatiable appetite. After a meal, I still felt hungry and could eat loaves of bread (yes, plural) as a snack.

The doctor thought this side effect would probably get better with time, but in the meantime I could get an injection to control my hunger. It was semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy. I took it for about eight weeks at a low dose and it worked wonderfully.

But then I noticed something really strange. The medication not only keeps you from feeling hungry (in fact, it makes you feel quite full, even when you’ve eaten very little), but it makes chocolate, cake, and other treats seem, well, less pleasurable. They simply lose their appeal.

And it wasn’t just food: it was also alcohol. I don’t drink much, but even a glass of wine with dinner would go down well. It just didn’t have any appeal. It’s hard to describe, but that little rush of pleasure when you take a sip of alcohol wasn’t there. It was like drinking water.

Since then, several overweight friends have been on Wegovy and reported the same thing happening to them. People who have previously enjoyed a drink may suddenly take it or leave it.

And it’s not just the alcohol. One patient, who used cocaine occasionally, commented that she had noticed that she no longer wanted to touch it at all. And a patient who had a gambling problem told me that taking Wegovy seemed to cure him.

Now, I must emphasize that these are anecdotal reports and that Wegovy is not licensed for use in the treatment of addiction or dependency. However, this effect has certainly made doctors interested that these medications may have a role outside of weight management.

In a series of case studies published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry in November 2023, patients who had a problem with alcohol and had been prescribed Ozempic (which is licensed for diabetes) or Wegovy (which is the same drug but for lose weight), reported that there had been an incidental reduction in his alcohol consumption.

This was so marked that, at follow-up, the patients’ alcohol consumption had changed to the point that they were no longer classified as having an alcohol problem.

So how does something that helps you lose weight also stop you from wanting to drink alcohol? It’s a question that has intrigued doctors and scientists.

We know that these medications not only reduce hunger, but also act on the brain’s reward pathways. This is why foods like cake and chocolate, which stimulate these pathways, may lose their appeal to people taking one of these medications.

But these reward pathways are also involved in many other things, including those related to addiction and compulsive behaviors like gambling.

GLP-1 drugs reduce the release of dopamine, a key chemical in reward pathways, and therefore reduce the excitement people get from previously “rewarding” behaviors, such as binge drinking. I have high hopes for these medications.

For now, however, they are incredibly helpful for those who struggle to control their food intake and are overweight or obese (particularly, I think, those who use food as a “reward”).

I believe these medications are the key to helping people regain their weight and improve their relationship with food.

I am so passionate about this that last week I launched a new company that offers this medication as part of an online weight management program. Patients can complete an online consultation and, if eligible for the program, Wegovy will be sent directly to their door.

Setting up this company has been a true labor of love. There are (rightly) many regulations around prescribing over the internet and we wanted to ensure we fully comply with them. There have been many obstacles to overcome.

But I think it has been worth it, because if we can help people improve their relationship with food, their physical and mental health will also improve.

Many people really struggle to lose weight through diet and exercise alone, but until now we had little else to suggest.

Now, finally, we have something to offer that could make a difference.

Getslimmr.es

The King is said to be finding peace among 5,000 ‘healing yews’ on his Norfolk estate following his cancer diagnosis. Connecting with nature has been shown to help people feel brighter, less anxious, helps them relax, and gives them something to focus on beyond their diagnosis and treatment.

We are not all ADHD like Sheridan

Sheridan Smith, 42, revealed that she just discovered she has ADHD. She joins a long list of celebrities also diagnosed with this disease. She has said that he “helped her make sense of a lot of things” in her life.

I’m happy for Sheridan, but I worry that there is an epidemic of overdiagnosis of this condition. We are quick to pathologize every little idiosyncrasy, to medicalize problems and struggles.

In recent years, the criteria for reaching a diagnosis of many mental health problems, including ADHD, have increasingly expanded. It means that more and more people are being classified as having this condition.

Labeling can have a dramatic effect on how people view themselves and the efforts they make to change their behavior. Too often, a diagnosis means that people feel they no longer need to take responsibility for their actions: labeling them this way takes away their incentive to work to change their lives.

Six in ten people think social media has had a negative effect on British children, a survey has found. Surely the burning question is: have the other four in ten lost their minds?

When looking at the horrendous cases of bullying, harassment, grooming, and tragic suicides thanks to social media, it seems impossible not to conclude that these platforms that promote hate and body shaming have a negative effect on children. That is why I support the campaign to ban smartphones for those under 16 years of age.

There will be resistance from social media companies that make obscene amounts of money getting young people to click and like, but it’s telling that so many Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs are shunning their own children’s smartphones. They are not prepared to take risks with their own children. Only from other people.

Dr. Max prescribes…

Could a smell of steam help cure depression? Scientists proposed this theory after a study on the role of smells in treating bad mood. The researchers asked people to smell aromas, such as cinnamon, coffee, lavender, and vaporizers, and think of an associated memory. This helped people access positive memories and stop negative thoughts.