{"id":199389,"date":"2025-06-20T08:30:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T08:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/199389\/"},"modified":"2025-06-20T08:30:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T08:30:09","slug":"one-weight-loss-strategy-is-5x-more-effective-than-ozempic-trials-show-sciencealert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/199389\/","title":{"rendered":"One Weight Loss Strategy Is 5x More Effective Than Ozempic, Trials Show : ScienceAlert"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ozempic<\/a> and other semaglutide<\/a> medications have been working wonders in terms of shedding pounds for many people<\/a>, but a new study shows that they’re still not as effective as surgery when it comes to weight loss \u2013 and it’s not even close.<\/p>\n

Researchers from New York University (NYU) compared sleeve gastrectomy<\/a> and gastric bypass<\/a> operations against semaglutide or tirzepatide. These drugs are known as glucagon-like peptide-1<\/a> (GLP-1) receptor agonists, because of the way they mimic the natural GLP-1 hormone, which controls appetite<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Using health records, the team matched people who had taken one of the weight loss drugs with people who had undergone either of the bariatric surgery<\/a> operations, based on age, body mass index, and blood sugar levels.<\/p>\n

\"Ozempic(aprott\/iStock\/Getty Images Plus)<\/p>\n

The bottom line: people in the surgery group shed an average of 25.7 percent of their total body weight over two years, while those in the medication group lost 5.3 percent.<\/p>\n

That’s partly down to patients not sticking to their GLP-1 drugs<\/a>, whereas surgery is more permanent, but the researchers also noticed smaller differences over shorter time frames \u2013 the surgery always gave the best results.<\/p>\n

“Clinical trials<\/a> show weight loss between 15 percent to 21 percent for GLP-1s, but this study suggests that weight loss in the real world is considerably lower even for patients who have active prescriptions for an entire year,” says<\/a> Avery Brown, a surgical resident at NYU Langone Health.<\/p>\n

“We know as many as 70 percent of patients may discontinue treatment within one year. GLP-1 patients may need to adjust their expectations, adhere more closely to treatment or opt for metabolic and bariatric surgery to achieve desired results.”<\/p>\n

It’s worth noting, however, that the study was funded by the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS), who would have a vested interest in promoting surgical options.<\/p>\n

That said, the researchers aren’t outright dismissing semaglutide treatments, which also showed beneficial results in this study. With GLP-1 prescriptions doubling<\/a> from 2022 to 2023, it’s crucial to investigate how they compare to established surgery methods<\/a>, and to figure out which options are best for each individual.<\/p>\n

GLP-1 drugs remain much more popular than surgery, but people don’t often<\/a> stick to taking them. Meanwhile, only a small percentage of people eligible for surgery choose it as an option.<\/p>\n

Weight loss isn’t the only benefit that can come from Ozempic. The drug was originally approved as a way to treat type 2 diabetes<\/a>, because it helps lower blood sugar levels, and studies have shown it can also reduce the risk of cancer<\/a> and cardiovascular disease<\/a>. In this study, bariatric surgery was associated with even better blood sugar control.<\/p>\n

It’s also important to note that surgery isn’t a silver bullet either. Though safe, the procedures are invasive, permanent, and still require patients to stick to strict diet and exercise routines.<\/p>\n

“In future studies we will aim to identify what healthcare providers can do to optimize GLP-1 outcomes, identify which patients are better treated with bariatric surgery versus GLP-1s, and determine the role out-of-pocket costs play in treatment success,” says<\/a> Karan Chhabra, a bariatric surgeon at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine.<\/p>\n

The research was presented<\/a> at the ASMBS annual meeting 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ozempic and other semaglutide medications have been working wonders in terms of shedding pounds for many people, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[105,120,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-199389","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-msft-content","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114714759944174570","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}