From Ozempic butt to stomach issues, Ozempic side effects are a mainstay in headlines. The “Ozempic face” phenomenon continues to emerge as a result of people taking the medication. According to research, it’s a term used to describe the exaggerated volume loss and consequent “advanced facial aging” that may result from taking semaglutide, the class of GLP-1 medications under which Ozempic falls.
Ozempic is a medication that’s designed to be used along with a diet and exercise program to help regulate blood sugar levels in adults with type 2 diabetes, according to Medline Plus. It mimics a protein in your body called glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), Jamie Alan, Ph.D., associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Michigan State University, explained. When you take Ozempic or similar medications, it activates those GLP-1 receptors, increasing insulin to help with blood sugar management.
Although the medication is meant to treat type 2 diabetes, it and similar drugs have shown weight loss as a side effect. “Ozempic allows patients to lose weight mostly by reducing appetite,” Christoph Buettner, M.D., Ph.D., chief of the division of endocrinology at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, said. It does so by affecting the part of the brain that deals with hunger, he adds, and reducing “food noise” or persistent thoughts about food. To read the full story.