The use of drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy by women suffering from obesity could end up altering their sensitivity to sweet taste, according to a recent study. The weight loss drugs belong to a class of medications known as GLP-1 and their active ingredient is semaglutide. Researchers randomly assigned 30 women with an average BMI of 36.
4 to take either 1mg of semaglutide or a placebo for 16 weeks. A BMI value of over 35 is considered to be obese. During the testing period, researchers measured the participants’ taste sensitivity.
They used MRI to measure brain responses while a sweet solution was dripped on their tongues. This was done before and after the women had their meals. Individuals receiving semaglutide were found to have experienced changes in taste perception, taste bud gene expression, and brain activity in response to the sweet taste stimuli.
“People with obesity often perceive tastes less ‘intensely’ and they have an inherently elevated desire for sweet and energy-dense food,” said Mojca Jensterle Sever from the University Medical Centre in Ljubljana, Slovenia. “Our findings build upon preliminary animal studies showing that central administration of GLP-1RA medications impacts taste aversion to sweetness.” The study was presented during the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting on June 1 in Boston.
In a statement to The Epoch Times, Kate Hanna, director of communications at Novo Nordisk which manufactures Ozempic and Wegovy, pointed out that the .