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Weight loss drugs like Ozempic could help alcoholics give up drinking, study finds
A new study has found that drugs like Ozempic, which were originally designed for people with type 2 diabetes before gaining popularity for weight loss, could treat alcohol addiction too.
Around 2.6 million deaths per year are attributable to alcohol consumption, the World Health Organization (WHO reveals, so this is a revolutionary discovery which could help to reduce alcoholism worldwide.
Ozempic could help treat alcohol addiction
The study by researchers at Loyola University Chicago used data from over 100 million patients, gathered via 136 different United States health systems from January 2014 to September 2022.
They identified 817,309 patients with a history of Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) and 503,747 patients with a history of Opioid Use Disorder, some of which were taking GIP/GLP-1 medication. This is the active ingredient inside drugs like Ozempic, and the patients were being prescribed it for either type 2 diabetes or obesity.
AUD is when a person is drinking so excessively that it causes distress and harm, MedlinePlus explains. It can range from mild to severe but is usually characterized by craving alcohol, not being able to stop and a negative emotional state.
The study found that patients with GIP/GLP-1 prescriptions demonstrated “significantly lower rates” of opioid overdose and alcohol intoxication. In fact, those taking Ozempic had a 50% lower rate of alcohol intoxication and a 40% lower rate of opioid overdose compared to those not taking the medication.
Alcohol intoxication is the same as alcohol poisoning or being very drunk, referring to the behavior and physical effects that occur after a person drinks an extreme amount of alcohol including confusion, passing out, vomiting, severely slurred speech, seizures, trouble breathing, a loss of coordination and a slow heart rate.
It concluded that these medications “appear to be associated with lower rates of opioid overdose and alcohol intoxication”.
The report comes after another study suggested reducing the size of a pint of beer to combat alcohol consumption.
Why Ozempic could reduce substance abuse
The report explains that the medication interacts with a region of the brain called the mesolimbic system to reduce appetite and make you feel more full after eating. This system “overlaps with the brain processes that govern addictive behaviors” so could “alter the reward-response pathways associated with substance use”.
No amount is safe and alcohol causes 31 different diseases including cancers, liver diseases, heart diseases and mental health conditions, the WHO reveals.
The latest world data from 2019 estimates that 474,000 deaths from cardiovascular diseases were caused by alcohol that year as well as 401,000 cancer deaths. It also�causes other injuries including falls, drowning, burns, sexual assault and suicide, and poses significant risks to other people through road traffic accidents.
People with AUD usually find it extremely difficult to give up alcohol, so the new discovery could mark an important step forward in the treatment of alcoholism.
