Scientists have found new evidence that drugs similar to Ozempic may help reverse aging — another property added to the long list of off-label uses for the popular diabetes shot, Futurism reports, writes UNN.
Details
In a new article, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, research led by scientist Varun Dwaraka from the TruDiagnostic aging research laboratory in Kentucky, USA, suggests that weekly injections of semaglutide, a GLP-1 drug found in Ozempic and its weight-loss counterpart Wegovy, can reduce a person's "biological age" by up to three years.
The basis of this research, like some others studying the anti-aging properties of the drug, is what is known as "biological age." Unlike chronological age, which indicates how old we are in years, biological age is essentially how old your body feels, and, according to researchers like Dwaraka, they can measure it using certain tools. In this study, biological age was determined using a so-called "epigenetic clock," which measures a person's biological age through DNA methylation, i.e., chemical signals added to or removed from DNA as we age.
At the beginning of the study, the TruDiagnostic team and their scientific partners took initial blood samples from 184 participants with HIV-associated lipohypertrophy — a condition that leads to excessive fat deposition and rapid cellular aging — to measure their biological age. The article states that this cohort, chosen due to "accelerated biological aging characterized by premature onset of age-related diseases, persistent low-grade inflammation, and metabolic disorders," was ideally suited for the experiment.
For 32 weeks, half of the participants received a placebo injection once a week, while the other half received active semaglutide injections. At the end of the study, blood was taken again from the participants, and analysis showed that those who received GLP-1 "became on average 3.1 years biologically younger by the end of the study," Dwaraka told New Scientist.
Not only was a reversal of biological age noted, but, as explained in the study, the group that received active semaglutide showed a slowdown in aging signals in the kidneys, heart, inflammatory systems, and brain — in the latter case, some participants experienced a slowdown in aging of up to five years.
Although the study participants had HIV, Dwaraka insists that similar benefits could easily be observed in people without the virus due to Ozempic's documented ability to improve metabolism and fat distribution, which, as New Scientist notes, can activate molecules that promote aging.
While acknowledging that prescribing semaglutide as an anti-aging drug is "premature," the TruDiagnostic scientist is optimistic about the future.
"Semaglutide may not only slow down the aging process," Dwaraka told New Scientist, "but also partially reverse it in some people."
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