In yet another potential triumph for the popular weight loss drug, scientists have found that semaglutide may be able to help people struggling with alcoholism.
Published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, this new study out of the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University is the latest in a string of studies that look at potential broader applications for the drug, which is found in the trendy-yet-controversial weight loss drug Wegovy and the diabetes medication Ozempic.
As UO declares in a press release about the study, it's the first to look at whether semaglutide can also help patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD), better known colloquially as alcoholism.
Taking a look at the outcomes for six patients — which, yes, is a very small sample size — who used semaglutide for weight loss, the team led by OSU's Kyle Simmons and OU's Jesse Richards found that all six experienced a "significant reduction" in symptoms. Although neither the press release nor the study outlines which symptoms were relieved following semaglutide use, the DSM-5 describes AUD on a spectrum from mild to severe, with criteria ranging from getting ill from drinking or increased alcohol tolerance to getting into risky or dangerous situations or finding oneself unable to stop thinking about booze.
Notably, many of AUD's symptoms are related to craving control, which seems to be the most significant and most curious side effect of semaglutide. The drug belongs to a class of drugs known as glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonists, which appear to mimic the feeling of being satiated, thereby seemingly suppressing appetite, too.
Along with helping people manage cravings for food, there's been increasing buzz from patients who have reported that taking semaglutide for weight loss or diabetes has, fascinatingly, helped them break addictions to all kinds of things, from shopping to alcohol.
In an interview with the Tulsa World newspaper, Richards, an obesity medicine expert, said that he'd heard a striking amount of anecdotes about people feeling less of an urge to drink when taking semaglutide.
"That’s one of the big things that brought this up," he said. "People were spontaneously reporting this."
One of his patients who had previously been able to throw back an entire case of beer in the span of a few hours said that when he began taking semaglutide, his craving for beer all but disappeared, Richards told the newspaper.
"That was the first one that really made me sit up and take notice," the pharmacologist said.
While this study is obviously far from conclusive proof that semaglutide can help people looking to curb their drinking, it's intriguing for a small sample size — and as such, another feather in semaglutide's cap.
More on semaglutide: Walmart Spies on Ozempic Patients' Shopping Habits, Finds They're Buying Less Food
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