Weight-loss jabs could reduce craving for alcohol and tobacco by almost half, a new study has found.
Scientists at the University of Southern California reported that semaglutide, sold under the brands name Ozempic and Wegovy, could reduce the amount of alcohol people consume in a day by 40%.
Writing in JAMA Psychiatry, Professor Christian Hendershot, lead author of the study, said: ‘We didn’t have any evidence of significant adverse effects or safety concerns with the medication in this population and we found overall that across several different drinking outcomes it reduced the quantity of alcohol that people consumed.’
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Ozempic and Wegovy, also known as Glucagon-like Peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, work by mimicking hormones in the gut and the brain to regulate appetite and feelings of fullness. Anecdotal evidence by patients and doctors suggested that these also helped to reduce alcohol consumption.
For the study, the scientists recruited 48 people with alcohol use disorder, which can include the inability to stop or control drinking despite negative consequences. Half the people were randomly assigned to get a weekly injection of semaglutide, while the other half were assigned to the placebo group.
For nine weeks, everyone kept track of their drinking habits and their desire for alcohol. During the last weeks of the study, nearly 40% in the semaglutide group reported no heavy drinking days compared with 20% in the placebo group. In the final lab test, the semaglutide group drank roughly half the amount, on average, compared to those who got the placebo. Smokers in the study who got semaglutide also cut back on cigarettes.
This study comes after new figures by Public Health England showed a significant rise in alcohol-related deaths. In 2023, more than 10,473 people died because of alcohol, a 4% increase from 2022.
Professor Hendershot said that this study ‘increases the chances of broad adoption of these treatments [weight-loss jabs] for alcohol use disorder’. However, he cautioned that larger studies are needed to corroborate the findings and people should hold off taking semaglutide for alcohol problems.
‘This is the first study like this, and people are excited about it, but we do have approved and effective medication for alcohol use disorder, so until more research has been done, people are advised to pursue existing medications that are out there and approved right now,’ he said.
Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, chairman of the Alcohol Health Alliance UK welcomed the new research to help people address alcohol use disorders but also emphasised other measures to tackle the issue.
‘While the evidence on the efficacy of these new drugs remains limited, we do have decades of robust research showing how to help people with alcohol problems and prevent alcohol harm more broadly by tackling the affordability, availability and marketing of alcohol. We continue to urge the Government to fulfil their promise to focus on prevention, which will always be better, and cheaper, than a cure.
Further research on the drug’s mechanism of action might also help to grow our understanding of the cause of alcohol dependence, which blights the lives of so many people, their families and their communities.’