Tright here’s no query that the wildly widespread injectable weight-loss medication assist folks drop kilos, decrease heart-disease danger, handle obstructive sleep apnea, and more. However as extra folks use these medication, which goal hormones together with GLP-1, medical doctors are studying extra in regards to the potential downsides, as properly.
Within the newest research published on MedRxiv—a web site that hosts early analysis not but peer reviewed by consultants—scientists in Canada report that utilizing GLP-1 medication can contribute to a better danger of hair loss, particularly amongst ladies.
Dr. Mohit Sodhi, a resident in emergency medication at College of British Columbia, and his colleagues analyzed knowledge from simply over 1,900 individuals who have been prescribed semaglutide and 1,300 who have been prescribed bupropion-naltrexone—an older weight problems remedy generally known as Contrave. Semaglutide is the compound within the medication Ozempic, which treats diabetes, and Wegovy, which treats weight problems. Sodhi centered solely on folks taking Wegovy to deal with chubby or weight problems to keep away from any potential confounding results of diabetes on hair loss.
He and his workforce then in contrast the diagnoses for hair loss in these sufferers’ medical information and located that these prescribed semaglutide had a 50% increased danger of being recognized with a hair-loss situation in comparison with these prescribed Contrave. That danger was twice as excessive for girls as for males.
Learn Extra: The Health Risks and Benefits of Weight-Loss Drugs
Whereas it’s not clear why semaglutide is linked to better hair loss than older weight-loss medication, Sodhi says scientists have some theories. The primary pertains to the physiological stress that the physique goes by means of below the affect of semaglutide. The drug contributes to a better share of body-mass weight reduction in comparison with earlier weight-loss drugs, and accomplishes this extra shortly. “As a result of semaglutide causes better weight reduction and extra speedy weight reduction than Contrave, there may be extra physiologic stress on the physique and subsequently extra hair loss,” he says.
Second, as a result of the drug suppresses urge for food, individuals who take it eat much less and soak up fewer vitamins, significantly protein, which is important for hair development. The gastrointestinal uncomfortable side effects related to the medication, which result in nausea and vomiting, can additional diminish folks’s want to eat and get the nourishment they—and their hair cells—want.
Is the chance sufficient to discourage folks from utilizing these medication to drop some pounds? That depends upon why they’re taking the drugs—whether or not to deal with diabetes or weight problems—and the way a lot of a well being danger these well being situations pose. When you’re making an attempt to handle diabetes, “it’s possible you’ll be extra prepared to simply accept the potential danger of hair loss than somebody who could also be utilizing semaglutide to lose just a few kilos to look good for an occasion,” Sodhi says.
Outcomes like this, and extra research on the longer phrases results of GLP-1 medication, are necessary to serving to folks stability the dangers and advantages of those drugs. “If folks don’t know the potential uncomfortable side effects,” says Sodhi, “then they might be entering into one thing they didn’t join.”
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