Slimming with Ozempic: less praiseworthy than dieting and sports
Kyiv • UNN
Weight loss with Ozempic is valued lower than efforts through diet and exercise. The study showed that society recognizes weight loss with Ozempic less, even in combination with lifestyle changes.
Weight loss with Ozempic is considered less commendable than lifestyle changes, dieting, and physical training. Such results of the study were published by an international team of scientists in the NewScientist publication, UNN reports.
As it turned out, using Ozempic for weight loss, even in combination with lifestyle changes, requires less effort and receives less recognition in society, compared to achieving such a result through diet and exercise.
Details
Ozempic contains the active substance semaglutide, which mimics the appetite-suppressing hormone GLP-1. The drug is widely approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and is also often used in obesity, helping people lose an average of 15 to 20 percent of their body weight.
In popular media and public discourse, Ozempic is often portrayed as a cheat code or a quick way to lose weight, compared to traditional methods
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To better understand how society perceives its use, Bachmakova and her colleagues presented 1,041 people in the United States with fictional characters who, according to legend, were significantly overweight but lost 50 pounds using one of three methods:
- taking Ozempic;
- changing diet and exercising;
- using both weight loss tools at the same time.
On a scale of 0 to 100, respondents rated how much effort they thought the characters put into losing weight. Moreover, higher scores indicated more effort. As a result, weight loss through diet and exercise alone scored an average of 68.4 points. Respondents gave only 59.4 points for weight loss by combining lifestyle changes and using Ozempic. And only 35.7 points were received by the heroes who lost weight only on Ozempic.
Respondents also rated how praiseworthy the weight loss of the fictional characters was. The respondents gave the following scores to all three methods 88.5, 76.1 and 68.5, respectively.
While weight loss through behavioral methods is generally seen as evidence of increased self-discipline and self-control, our results suggest that this perception may not extend to Ozempic users
The results are consistent with previous studies that showed that people perceive bariatric surgery, which reduces the stomach, as a worse way to lose weight, compared to lifestyle changes, said research team member Brian Erp from the National University of Singapore.
Chika Anekwe, a member of the team of scientists from Harvard Medical School, believes that judgments about Ozempic are based on the stigma associated with obesity. "If obesity were accepted by society as a medical condition, then the use of medications to treat it would not differ from taking medications against high blood pressure or any other disease," she explained.
Obesity is a chronic disease, not a character flaw. People suffering from obesity often need individual approaches to achieve and maintain weight loss, including psychological and behavioral aspects of weight control, as well as diet, lifestyle and therapeutic interventions
Let us remind you
The US has warned of counterfeit Ozempic diabetes drugs in the US supply chain, advising to check specific batches and serial numbers.