{"id":941191,"date":"2026-07-17T14:01:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T14:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/941191\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T14:01:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T14:01:12","slug":"ozempic-wegovy-may-pose-hidden-danger-for-people-with-brain-disorders-doctors-warn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/941191\/","title":{"rendered":"Ozempic, Wegovy may pose hidden danger for people with brain disorders, doctors warn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neurologists are warning that popular weight-loss medications could have severe negative effects on neurodegenerative conditions\u00a0like ALS.<\/p>\n

Jinsy Andrews, MD, a neurologist and director of NYU Langone\u2019s ALS Center, says the very mechanism that makes these drugs popular \u2014\u00a0rapid weight loss\u00a0\u2014 can go against the biological needs of patients with neuromuscular disorders.<\/p>\n

GLP-1 agonists have shown to be highly effective at managing diabetes and obesity<\/a>, which are major health concerns across the population.<\/p>\n

However, the doctor emphasized that the clinical rules shift when dealing with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).<\/p>\n

In addition to mitigating some of the inflammation related to obesity and\u00a0diabetes, GLP-1 medications have been linked to other protective effects.<\/p>\n

The therapies have been helpful in reducing cardiovascular disease<\/a>, stroke risk, liver disease and addiction, according to Andrews.<\/p>\n

However, when it comes to an incurable neurodegenerative disease, losing weight and body fat can accelerate a patient\u2019s\u00a0physical decline.<\/p>\n

Neurologists warn popular GLP-1 weight-loss drugs may worsen neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS. millaf (Nemchinova) \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

For an ALS patient, losing weight can cause the condition to progress faster, Andrews said, because the disease\u2019s unique traits make it dangerous to be in a caloric deficit.<\/p>\n

In fact, standard\u00a0clinical care\u00a0guidelines for ALS often recommend that patients actively maintain or even gain weight to help preserve their remaining nerve and muscle function.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn certain conditions where hypermetabolism is something that negatively affects the disease [\u2026] losing weight actually makes the disease worse and move faster,\u201d Andrews told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n

Rapid weight loss from GLP-1 drugs may speed physical decline in people with ALS, according to Jinsy Andrews, MD. Chinnapong \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, in the setting of a person with ALS \u2014 whether they have diabetes or not \u2014 using GLP-1s may actually worsen the disease and make for a rapid progression.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a 2025 case report published in the medical journal Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Degeneration, a 52-year-old ALS patient was\u00a0prescribed semaglutide\u00a0to treat her type 2 diabetes.<\/p>\n

Prior to starting the medication, her physical functions were declining at a predictable rate on the standard ALS rating scale.<\/p>\n

Doctors say maintaining body weight and muscle mass is key for people with neurodegenerative diseases. Sheila \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

According to the case report, the patient lost 25 pounds in three months. At the same time, she experienced a sudden, dramatic shift in her disease trajectory, with symptoms worsening significantly.<\/p>\n

Once the semaglutide was discontinued at the advice of medical professionals, the patient\u2019s rapid physical decline stabilized.<\/p>\n

Andrews pointed out that this published documentation, alongside\u00a0retrospective cohort data\u00a0of ALS patients with diabetes, provides growing evidence that clinicians must be careful and thoughtful about who they treat with GLP-1 receptor agonists.<\/p>\n

While weight-loss medications offer significant benefits for many patients, experts say maintaining body weight and muscle mass remains an important consideration for people with neurodegenerative diseases<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cPatient safety is of utmost importance to Novo Nordisk,\u00a0and we take all reports about adverse events from the use of our medicines very seriously,\u201d Ambre James-Brown, global head and AVP of global media at Novo Nordisk, maker of Ozempic and Wegovy, told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to note that ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases are not listed adverse reactions or warnings and precautions in the prescribing information for our semaglutide products, including Ozempic or Wegovy,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Neurologists are warning that popular weight-loss medications could have severe negative effects on neurodegenerative conditions\u00a0like ALS. Jinsy Andrews,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":941192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[11],"tags":[36528,14400,3654,210,1165,427,67,132,68,428],"class_list":["post-941191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-als","tag-brains","tag-glp-1","tag-health","tag-lifestyle","tag-ozempic","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-weight-loss"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116935687339603719","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=941191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/941192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}