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Inside the DIY Ozempic boom<\/p>\n
Americans are cooking up their own Ozempic\u2014here\u2019s why that\u2019s alarming.<\/p>\n
Jess Loren remembers loving the taste of Cap’n Crunch cereal. Coca-Cola<\/a>. Snickers bars.<\/p>\n But now, instead of a sweetness, “they taste bland,” she says. Flavors are noticeably muted since she started a GLP-1 medication in April 2023 to manage her polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)<\/a>\u00a0symptoms.<\/p>\n The injections are working: After nearly 11 surgeries to manage her PCOS, she hasn’t needed treatment since going on the drug. But the shift in her palate was an unexpected side effect of the drug, which\u00a0works<\/a> to\u00a0prolong\u00a0feelings of fullness to reduce food intake.<\/p>\n “It happened pretty instantly,” Loren, 40, who lives in Los Angeles, says. “It’s muted. I can still taste it, but it’s not the same. Like the sugar was deleted.”<\/p>\n There is no exact known number of GLP-1 patients who say their say their sense of taste has changed since starting the medication. But people like Loren report the drugs, which manage blood sugar and treat obesity<\/a>, have muted or altered tastes. Some don’t notice any change at all.<\/p>\n Doctors know this happens to GLP-1 patients, but the cause and scale of the changes is still being investigated. A March 2025 study<\/a> by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found 85% people on GLP-1s scored worse on a Waterless Empirical Taste Test<\/a>, which involved touching flavored plastic strips to their tongues, compared to people not on the drugs. All five taste areas: salty, sweet, bitter, sour and umami were diminished for people on the drugs.<\/p>\n “We were quite surprised,” says Richard Doty,<\/a> one of the study’s authors and director of the Smell and Taste Center at University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. “It’s a significant decrement in the ability to taste the basic taste qualities.”<\/p>\n “Altered taste sensation, known medically as dysgeusia, is a well-known class effect for all marketed GLP-1s and has been listed in the respective prescribing information for these medicines,” a spokesperson for Novo Nordisk, maker of popular GLP-1s Ozempic, Wegovy and Victoza, told USA TODAY via email. “This can manifest in various ways, with an unpleasant, abnormal or altered taste sensation, and is often described as metallic.”<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Eli Lilly, maker of Trulicity, Mounjaro and Zepbound, told USA TODAY in an email: “Patient safety is Lilly\u2019s top priority, and we take any reports regarding patient safety seriously … We encourage patients to consult their doctor or other healthcare professional regarding any possible side effects they may be experiencing. “<\/p>\n More research is needed into why and how these taste change vary across individuals as GLP-1s become an increasingly mainstream option for weight loss<\/a>, Doty and other experts say \u2014 especially as use among Americans has\u00a0more than doubled<\/a>\u00a0in the past year. But Loren and other people on the drugs told USA TODAY while their taste has changed, their relationship with food feels better than ever.<\/p>\n How do GLP-1s work and why might it impact taste?<\/p>\n Experts still don’t know why GLP-1 users report taste changes, according to Steven Munger<\/a>, professor at the University of Virginia.<\/p>\n There are some important clues, though. GLP-1 receptors are all over our bodies, including our taste buds. When we take GLP-1 drugs, we’re increasing amounts of this natural hormone, triggering insulin to enter our bloodstream and blocking glucose from our system, according to the Cleveland Clinic<\/a>. This impacts the areas of our brain that process hunger and fullness.<\/p>\n