By now, you've probably heard of Ozempic, the weight-loss drug. Do you ever wonder where the scientists find all these amazing medicines? Well, a chemical that eventually led to drugs like Ozempic was initially discovered in Gila Monster spit. You inject it directly into your abdomen. I can't imagine anyone has a problem with that.
Some of you readers may not understand how these new weight loss drugs work in your body, so I thought I'd explain why they are so effective. I recently read extensively about GLP-1 drugs. Both articles were full of big words, some of which I used to know back in medical school. Here, in simple language, is what I learned.
GLP-1RAs are full or near-full agonists with extended pharmacokinetics that simultaneously improve glycemia through incretin potentiation and induce profound weight-loss via integrated gastric and hypothalamic effects, with emerging CV and renal benefits that appear largely class-specific. Dual/triple agonists extend these effects by recruiting additional gut hormone pathways and energy expenditure.
That ought to clear things up. If you still don't quite understand what goes on way down inside your interior when you stick that needle in your stomach, let me give you an example that might help. Imagine you've eaten an entire box of Hostess Ding Dongs after your wife told you not to, because dinner is almost ready. How likely are you to finish that chicken piccata she spent all afternoon fixing?
With the new GLP-1 drugs, you can skip the Ding Dongs and go right to the needle jab. The shot makes you lose your appetite, and you get skinnier through what is essentially starvation. The improvement here is that starvation used to be practically free. With Ozempic, it's $900 a month. Now that's a great deal.
Lately, I've noticed my pants are shrinking, even the "relaxed fit" ones, so I may have to try Ozempic soon. I'm just glad I won't have to do the lamb chop-and-spinach diet again. A friend and I tried this diet one time, after reading about it in People magazine, one of the most authoritative sources of medical information in the entire country. After a week of lamb chops and spinach, as we began to smell like a livestock auction, we both said "Nuts to this" and shared a box of Ding Dongs. These days, with our modern high-tech medicine, we can skip the spinach and go right to the Gila Monster spit.
I have no idea what this new technology will do to the diet industry, but the advertising executives who come up with fancy drug names should pay attention here. What I’m about to tell you is going to sound silly, but it just shows you how even great ideas like the lamb chop and spinach diet can fail when confronted by actual reality.
Back in the 1950's, a certain diet product could be found advertised in every magazine. The ad was for a weight-loss candy called, unfortunately, "Ayds", which is pronounced just like it sounds. It is no longer with us. Maybe that’s why they come up with names like Spravata and Arixtra.
Yes, the entire field of weight loss drugs is advancing at breakneck speed. I hope they get rid of the needle-in-the-stomach part, though. At the pace the science is moving, I suppose someone will soon figure out how to put Ozempic into a piece of candy. Then they can give it a catchy name, like Lizard Lozenges.