A new study has found that one particular weight loss strategy is a whopping five times more effective than Ozempic.
This news comes after the boom of GLP-1 injections has taken the weight loss industry by storm over the last few years.
Plenty of celebrities have jumped on the bandwagon with the likes of Elon Musk, Oprah Winfrey and Kelly Clarkson all openly admitting to taking these types of medication in a bid to lose weight.
Now, a new study has revealed that there is another method to lose weight that has been deemed as even more effective than weight loss jabs.
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A team of researchers from New York University (NYU), compared the effects of weight loss drugs to surgeries such as the gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy.
Through the study, 122,595 patients aged greater than or equal to 18 years old who were on injectable medication for weight loss were compared to 18,136 patients who had either undergone a minimally invasive sleeve gastrectomy or a gastric bypass.
Through the study, the experts found that people who had gone down the surgery route lost an average of 25.7% of their body weight over a course of two years.
This was drastically higher than those patients on GLP-1 medication, who had lost around 5.3% in that time.
NYU surgical resident Avery Brown explained: “Clinical trials show weight loss between 15% and 21% for GLP-1s, but this study suggests that weight loss in the real world is considerably lower even for patients who have active prescriptions for an entire year.
“We know as many as 70% of patients may discontinue treatment within one year. GLP-1 patients may need to adjust their expectations, adhere more closely to treatment or opt for metabolic and bariatric surgery to achieve desired results.”
ASMBS President Ann M Rogers, who was not involved in the study, said: “While both patient groups lose weight, metabolic and bariatric surgery is much more effective and durable.”
This may be down to the fact that not everyone who uses GLP-1 medication, such as Ozempic or Mounjaro, sticks with it.
Karan Chhabra, who is a bariatric surgeon at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, said: “In future studies we will aim to identify what healthcare providers can do to optimize GLP-1 outcomes, identify which patients are better treated with bariatric surgery versus GLP-1s, and determine the role out-of-pocket costs play in treatment success.”