Health reporter explains why non-diabetics are using lifesaving medication for weight loss
The latest diet craze is proving to be a serious health risk for diabetics.
While most weight loss methods can sometimes be questionable and hazardous, the newest trick involves using medication that is actually meant to be used exclusively by type 2 diabetics.
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Ozempic is the medication in question and it has been prescribed to almost everyone, from celebrities to socialites to help them lose weight by working largely as an appetite suppressant. Chelsea Handler is one of the few celebs who has come forward and admitted that she had used the drug while others like Kim and Khloe Kardashian have denied using the medication to lose weight.
According to the New York Post, "Semaglutide “is a hormone that is produced while we eat; it tells the brain that we are full,” Dr. Saunders, cofounder of Intellihealth, a company focused on medicated management of obesity, told The Post. “It helps people to feel less hungry, to feel full faster, and to stay full longer. But it does so when we actually are less full” than would be the norm."
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But, like most medications, this drug is not without its negative side effects.
Dermatologist Dr. Paul Jarrod Frank has coined the term "Ozempic face" to describe the deflation and sagging that can occur to a visage after weight loss.
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Unfortunately, the sudden spark in use by the rich and famous has led to a shortage in the United States of America which means real patients with diabetes, who are in desperate need of the medication, have not been able to get their hands on it.
Rob Forbes and Rozanne McKenzie spoke about this worrying weight loss phenomenon and the response they received was heartbreaking.
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Main image courtesy of iStock/Davizro