A new U of A study shows that drugs like Ozempic may not just be causing people to lose weight — they may be causing the heart to lose muscle.

U of A researchers urge caution about the unknown unintended negative health consequences of trendy anti-obesity medications.

Trendy weight-loss drugs making headlines for shrinking waistlines may also be shrinking the human heart and other muscles, according to a new University of Alberta study whose authors say should serve as a “cautionary tale” about possible long-term health effects of these drugs.

https://www.sciencealert.com/drugs-like-ozempic-may-have-a-shrinking-effect-on-the-heart

Given these results, the authors admit it is tempting to speculate that semaglutide is responsible for cardiac shrinkage and atrophy. "However," they note, "we do not observe any changes in recognized markers of atrophy."

The means they cannot be certain semaglutide is causing the atrophy of cardiac muscles, or even if this loss of muscle is a bad thing. In some cases, it could possibly confer benefits.

Nevertheless, the findings among mice and human cells suggest that semaglutide "has the potential to be detrimental in the long term" to heart muscles.

https://www.ualberta.ca/en/agriculture-life-environment-sciences/news/2024/october/no-free-lunches-when-it-comes-to-popular-weight-loss-drugs.html

Upwards of 40 per cent of the weight lost by people using weight-loss drugs is muscle, according to a group of health researchers who are sounding the alarm about the unintended negative health consequences of trendy over-the-counter weight loss medications.

This substantial muscle loss can be largely attributed to the magnitude of weight loss, rather than by an independent effect of GLP-1 receptor agonists, although this hypothesis must be tested. By comparison, non-pharmacological caloric restriction studies with smaller magnitudes of weight loss result in 10–30% FFM losses.