The medications Ozempic and Wegovy have been all over the news for helping people lose weight — and researchers are now studying the potential impact they could have on alcoholism and other addictive behaviors.
“We're seeing a decrease in impulsive behaviors from patients,” said Dr. Rocio Salas-Whalen, an endocrinologist. “Initially it was for food, but we're seeing it for other types of impulses like alcohol, tobacco.”
The medications work by suppressing a person's appetite and essentially rewiring the reward system in our brain for food and other cravings, such as for alcohol, Salas-Whalen explained.
“Let’s say you're going to have a glass of wine and you’re anticipating you're going to feel relaxed and be social. The medication curbs that down, so anything that you're reaching for as a sort of reward or anticipating a reward, it stops it, so it changes the behavior,” she said.
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Woman on weight-loss drug describes reduced desire for alcohol, online shopping
Alexandria, Virginia, mom Lisa Robillard first took weight-loss medication as part of a clinical trial. She was responding to chronic obesity, which she dealt with starting in childhood. On the medication, she lost 60 pounds, began to leave food on her plate and noticed her drinking habits change too.
“I just don't have that desire. I will have a glass of wine, and where I may have had two or three, one is [now] fine or a half of a glass is fine. Something in my head says, ‘That's good. You've had enough,’” she said.
Health
Robillard, 56, said she also noticed her online shopping habits change.
“I’ll put it on my wish list and then I’ll forget about it and come back in a week and be like, ‘Yeah actually I don’t need that,’” she said. “The compulsive nature of my personality and my behavior has changed.”
Online, other people who take Ozempic or Wegovy have said that alcohol grosses them out, or that they’ve lost the desire to smoke or gamble. The headline of an article in The Atlantic asked, “Did Scientists Accidentally Invent an Anti-addiction Drug?”
The answer is still unclear.
What researchers are learning about weight-loss drugs and addictive behavior
At the National Institutes of Health, researchers found the active compound in Ozempic and Wegovy reduced alcohol consumption in rats.
“Those particular medications can decrease the seeking of alcohol. However, I must say, we don't know anything about how this works in humans, and humans are a lot more complicated than laboratory rodents,” Dr. Domenica Rubino explained.
Scientists at the UNC School of Medicine are taking a deeper dive with humans, studying this class of drugs and their potential effectiveness as a treatment for alcohol addiction as part of an ongoing clinical trial.
Doctors including Rubino caution that weight-loss drugs should not be used for off-label purposes.
“If you have problems with alcohol or gambling or addictive behavior, you need to get professional help and not just try to seek out these medicines. We have to study these things so people are safe,” she said.
In a statement for News4, Novo Nordisk, which makes Ozempic and Wegovy, said the medications are not indicated for the treatment of addiction-related illnesses. They said they’re not currently studying these drugs for substance-use disorders or addiction-related illnesses.
But other researchers are. At UNC, scientists said they’re in two phase 2 clinical trials: one related to alcohol and another related to cigarettes.
