The study involved 48 men and women who were given either ozempic or a placebo for nine weeks. The researchers aimed to assess how alcohol cravings would change over the course of the experiment. A week before the start of treatment, the participants were offered alcoholic beverages - they could refuse alcohol at any time. Every day throughout the experiment, the volunteers recorded the amount and type of alcohol they drank, as well as the number of cigarettes they smoked. The findings were published on the website of the University of Southern California.
Ozempic was given at the lowest dose, but even then it was more effective than other anti-alcoholism drugs. In the first month of the experiment, alcohol cravings were reduced by 30% (in the placebo group, 2%), and in the second month, almost 40% of participants reported that they no longer consumed alcohol in large quantities. Notably, the effect was reflected in smoking, although not as strongly.
"The initial findings are very promising, but longer term studies with a larger sample of participants are needed to assess the effect and safety in the long term," the authors said.
It is worth clarifying that self-prescribing Ozempic without consulting a doctor is contraindicated. This drug and its analogues have many other positive "side effects", such as reduced risks of dementia and heart failure, but there are also negative ones - sudden loss of vision, vascular pathologies, and others.
