Ozempic and other similar weight loss drugs have taken over the health world, providing millions of people with a quick and easy way to lose weight, yet a new study has identified one major consequence that people are likely to encounter over a year after they stop taking the jabs.
While they might have initially been intended to combat diabetes, GLP-1 injectors such as Ozempic or Mounjaro have transformed over the last few years into the most effective weight loss treatment that medicine can offer.
Rather gruesome simulations have shown how they work once they're inside your body, but they broadly slow down your digestion and lessen your hunger in order to get you to eat less, which has proven to be incredibly efficient at shedding the pounds.
It's not a treatment that's exclusive to celebrities and the ultra rich either, as millions of people across the United States have taken up the jabs — and the numbers are there to prove the impact it is making on obesity numbers.
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However, a groundbreaking new study into the long-term effects of these drugs has highlighted one alarming side effect, and it'll only take effect once you actually stop the treatment.
Unlike odd side effect like bad breath, dental issues, and even disrupted bowel movements, this new downside tends to occur around a year after the drug has already done its work, and could render all that progress redundant.
As shared by LADbible, the study published in the BMJ indicated that those who have used weight-loss injections could end up putting weight back on at a rate of around four times faster than people who have lost it through 'traditional' measures such as regular exercise or diet changes.
It's almost as if the weight can be regained as fast as it as lost, as while Ozempic can make you drop pounds with incredible speed, the study revealed that patients can put it back on as quickly as 0.8 kilograms per month.
Within just a year and a half you run the risk of returning to the weight you were at before starting these weight loss drugs, as this rapid regain was observed across the study which involved over 9,300 participants.
"Obesity is a chronic relapsing condition, and I think one would expect that these treatments need to be continued for life, just in the same way as blood pressure medication," explained Dr Susan Jebb, an Oxford University professor and one of the leading researchers in the study.
It might make some think twice about opting for these jabs if continued use is required – especially considering the existing side effects – as while it does provide a quick solution, it might not be for everyone.
As to why this tends to happen, pharmaceutical expert Aaron Arman suggests that it's to do with the healthy habits that people don't develop while on weight loss drugs, especially compared to more traditional weight loss methods.
"These medicines work by regulating appetite, digestion, and glucose control, so suddenly stopping them removes those protective effects and can make it harder to re-establish healthy routines," he explains.
"Patients who pause their medication may also experience stronger side effects when restarting, as the body needs time to adjust to the medication again."