Weight-loss drug Ozempic hailed as 'fountain of youth' as tests suggest it can also 'slow the clock on ageing'
30 August 2024, 23:25
The weight-loss drug Ozempic has been called a "fountain of youth" after tests suggested it could have a much wider use.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
A series of research projects presented at a scientific conference on Friday suggested that the drug, known scientifically as semaglutide, could have "far-reaching benefits beyond what we initially imagined."
Ozempic was shown to reduce the levels of inflammation in the body, regardless of whether the person taking it lost weight.
Inflammation is linked to several serious health conditions, such as cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s - and some researchers believe that Ozempic could be used to treat these.
The drug has already been shown to reduce the risk of dying from heart attacks and strokes by 20%.
Tom Swarbrick debates the use of weight loss jabs
But researchers from Harvard and Yale also believe that the drug could stop kidney disease and heart failure, cut high blood pressure and slash the risk of dying from Covid by a third.
Ozempic is already used in the NHS to combat diabetes, and experts suggested that it should now be treated as a "multi-purpose drug” that "protects against a broad spectrum of health threats"
Harlan Krumholz, a Yale professor, said: "We talk about this epigenetic clock…could this actually slow the clock down?
"Is it a fountain of youth…? I would say if you’re improving someone’s cardiometabolic health substantially, then you are putting them in a position to live longer and better," he said, as reported by the Times.
Ben Kentish reflects on 'what our ancestors would think' on weight loss jabs
Mr Krumholz, who edits a journal that published several of the new papers on Ozempic, said that the fact that the drug reduces inflammation independently of weight loss benefits was important.
He said: "We know that obesity itself can raise your levels of baseline inflammation in your body. These drugs are somehow quieting inflammation, there’s something going on with the immune system.
"The benefit is broad… there’s not a group that doesn’t seem to be benefiting."
Mr Krumholz added: "“This is an anti-obesity medication, but honestly you could just think about it as a health promotion medication".
Caller shares her experience with weight loss jabs
The drugs have several possible side-effects, including some serious issues such as pancreatitis, which can be deadly.
But John Deanfield, a professor of cardiology at University College London, said that the possibilities were "incredibly exciting".
He said: "You might be able to alter the outcome for a whole set of diseases of ageing we’d all like to avoid. They stop being weight-loss drugs, with all of the controversy about lifestyle drugs, and they become drugs that will target diseases."
Meanwhile Professor Bryan Williams, chief scientific and medical officer at the British Heart Foundation, said: "It’s important to remember that they won’t suit everyone.”
He added: "While the pace of research into these relatively new drugs is exciting and the evidence base rapidly evolving, it’s too early to hail them a miracle treatment for heart conditions.
"There remains much more to understand and scientists are still unpicking the mechanisms that are driving the benefits seen in these studies."
