New research suggests that the diabetes drug and popular weight loss treatment semaglutide, sold as Ozempic and Wegovy, is linked with a significantly lower risk of dementia — possibly adding to the drug's large list of surprising and unexpected benefits.
The study, published in the journal eClinicalMedicine, involved analyzing the medical records of more than 100,000 patients in the US. It found that semaglutide users who took the drug for at least a year had a stunning 48 percent lower dementia risk than patients that took sitagliptin, an older diabetes drug.
What's more, the study also found that semaglutide users had a 28 percent lower chance of smoking than those who took glipizide, another diabetes drug. This would seemingly back up the many anecdotal accounts by semaglutide users who claimed that it helped them kick their smoking and drinking habits.
The researchers say that these findings are a rebuff to concerns that semaglutide caused worrying neurological and psychiatric problems, like increased suicidal ideation — while adding some additional shine to its image as a veritable miracle drug capable of treating a congeries of conditions.
"Our results suggest that semaglutide use could extend beyond managing diabetes, potentially offering unexpected benefits in the treatment and prevention of cognitive decline and substance misuse," said study lead author Riccardo De Giorgi, a clinical lecturer at the University of Oxford, said in a statement about the work.
But because the study only looked at data among diabetes patients, the findings don't necessarily apply to those without the disease — at least not without further studies.
Another caveat? This wasn't a clinical trial, but merely an analysis based on existing patient data.
"Our study is observational and these results should therefore be replicated in a randomized controlled trial to confirm and extend our findings," said coauthor Max Taquet, also a clinical lecturer at Oxford, in the same statement. "Nevertheless, they are good news for patients with psychiatric disorders, who are at an increased risk of diabetes."
The drug's whirlwind popularity has led to fears being raised among users and some doctors that it could have severe side effects that we haven't yet identified, with fishy counterfeits adding to the scare. A few findings have been mildly alarming, like a possible link to blindness, but nothing catastrophic has emerged yet.
That hasn't stopped much of the optimism around semaglutide, however, especially as a growing body of evidence suggests that the drug could have benefits in protecting against Alzheimer's disease, a possibility that its manufacturer Novo Nordisk is studying.
The jury's out on whether semaglutide is this miracle panacea that the hype sometimes makes it out to be — but the literature continues to cast a flattering light on it.
More on semaglutide: Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders Demands Drug Companies Cut Price of Ozempic and Other New Weight Loss Drugs
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