Patients on Ozempic or Wegovy eat MORE calories after stopping medication than they did prior to taking drug, survey finds

• One in five patients currently taking weight loss drugs report eating more
• This goes against the drug's mechanism of suppressing appetite.
• Read more: Millions of patients taking Ozempic are at risk of gaining more weight

One study found that many patients who stopped taking blockbuster weight loss drugs ended up consuming more calories than before.

The Deutsche Bank study surveyed 600 Americans who were currently taking or had previously taken drugs such as Ozempic and Wigovy.

Researchers found that 30% of people who stopped taking the drug reported eating “a little more” or “a lot more” than they did before taking the drug.

This finding is another sign that for many patients, these are lifelong drugs. There have also been reports of rapid weight gain among former users.

The bank conducted the study to determine whether investors should prioritize food and beverage stocks, which have been steadily declining since the GLP-1 boom.

Researchers surveyed 600 adults who were currently taking the drug or had stopped taking it.

Approximately 70% of participants were still taking drugs, and the remaining 30% had stopped using drugs.

Participants were asked whether they consumed “a little more,” “a lot more,” “a little less,” or “a lot less” calories during or after taking Ozempic or Wigoby.

Among those still taking medication, 30% said they “slightly decreased'' the amount they ate, and 22% said they “considerably decreased'' the amount they ate.

Ozempic and Wegovy are brand names for the drug semaglutide, which suppresses appetite and causes weight loss.

This drug binds to the GLP-1 receptor, a protein that keeps the stomach full and triggers hormones in the brain that tell the body to stop eating and avoid cravings.

However, despite this mechanism, some participants currently taking GLP-1 agonists ate more.

“Perhaps surprisingly, 17% of respondents said they were consuming more, and 18% said they were consuming a little more,” the researchers wrote.

“This means a net 18% of people using GLP-1 drugs ate less.”

Additionally, 30% of people who stopped taking the drug said they ate more than they did before taking the drug.

This may be due to the medication no longer suppressing appetite and the patient falling into old habits.

These patients are more likely to regain weight if they take in more calories after stopping the drug.

Experts warn that obese patients who stop taking Ozempic or Wegoby may regain the weight they lost and potentially gain more weight.

2022 Research Published in the Journal diabetes, obesity, metabolismFor example, patients who took semaglutide for 68 weeks reported losing an average of 17.3 percent of their body weight.

When treatment was discontinued, 11.6 percent of the weight lost was regained by week 120, resulting in a net weight loss of just under 6 percent of body weight.

Dr. Ania Jastrebov, an obesity medicine expert at Yale University, said: people: If I have a patient with high blood pressure and I start him on antihypertensive medication and his blood pressure improves, what happens if I stop taking that medication?

“Well, their blood pressure will come back to normal, but we're not surprised. So will the anti-obesity drugs.”