Culture Craze
Ozempic and Weight Loss: Why It Works for Some but Not for Others
Weight-loss injections like Ozempic and Wegovy have been hailed as game changers, promising dramatic results in the battle against obesity and type 2 diabetes. Yet for every glowing success story, there are people who see only modest or even minimal change. A new study may finally explain why.
More than the medicine
Researchers in Japan followed 92 patients with type 2 diabetes over a year to better understand how GLP-1 medications, the class that includes Ozempic, affect weight loss. While most participants did shed kilos and saw improvements in cholesterol and blood sugar, their results were far from uniform.
The difference, it seems, had less to do with the drug and more to do with why people eat.
Three eating styles, three outcomes
The study looked at three eating behaviours commonly linked to weight gain:
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External eating: eating when food looks or smells appealing, even when not hungry.
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Emotional eating: turning to food during stress, sadness, or boredom.
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Restrained eating: consciously restricting food intake in an effort to slim down.
The findings were striking. People who were prone to external eating responded best, losing more weight and showing stronger improvements in blood sugar than those in the emotional or restrained groups.
By three months, many participants reported less emotional and external eating. However, while external eating kept declining steadily throughout the year, emotional eating eventually crept back to its original levels.
The role of emotions
This suggests that Ozempic may be less effective for people whose overeating is closely tied to emotional struggles such as anxiety or depression. Experts caution that this does not mean the injections cannot work for emotional eaters, only that additional support may be necessary. Therapy, counselling, or behavioural strategies could make the difference between a temporary result and sustainable success.
A wider conversation
The findings offer a timely reminder that tackling weight is about more than a prescription. In South Africa and globally, where the rising popularity of weight-loss injections has made them a social media talking point, the study adds nuance. It suggests that for some people, lasting results may depend on addressing the emotional reasons behind overeating as much as taking the medication itself.
The science is clear: the body responds to medicine, but the mind still matters.
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Source: IOL
Featured Image: Renpho
