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New analysis being offered on the Annual Assembly of the European Affiliation for the Research of Diabetes (EASD) in Vienna, Austria (15–19 September) reveals that some people who’re taking Ozempic, Wegovy or Mounjaro discover that meals style sweeter or saltier than earlier than.
About one in 5 of these collaborating within the real-world examine, revealed within the journal Diabetes, Weight problems and Metabolism, perceived sweetness extra intensely and an analogous quantity had been extra delicate to salt—and these modifications had been linked to a discount in urge for food.
“Incretin-based therapies such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro are widely used for weight management but their effect on taste perception has been unclear,” says Othmar Moser, of College of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany, who led the analysis.
“If changes in taste are linked to greater appetite control and weight loss, this could help clinicians better select therapies, provide more tailored dietary advice and improve long-term treatment outcomes for patients.”
To search out out extra, Professor Moser and colleagues from the Medical College of Vienna surveyed a whole lot of people with chubby and weight problems who had been taking Ozempic, Wegovy or Mounjaro for weight reduction about their sense of style and urge for food.
Of the 411 contributors (69.6% feminine), 148 had been on Ozempic, 217 had been on Wegovy and 46 had been taking Mounjaro.
Median length of remedy was comparable for the three teams (Ozempic: 43 weeks; Wegovy: 40 weeks; and Mounjaro: 47 weeks), with the entire contributors receiving remedy for a minimum of three consecutive months. The typical BMI earlier than beginning remedy was 34.7 kg/m2 (Ozempic), 35.6 kg/m2 (Wegovy) and 36.2 kg/m2 (Mounjaro).
The contributors, who had been recruited on-line, had been requested if their sense of style (notion of sweetness, saltiness, sourness and bitterness) had modified since beginning remedy.
They had been additionally requested about modifications to urge for food, satiety and meals cravings, in addition to modifications to way of life elements, resembling smoking, and for self-reported information on peak and weight earlier than and through remedy.
Reductions in BMI, adjusted for length of remedy, dose, baseline BMI, age and intercourse, had been 17.4% with Ozempic, 17.6% with Wegovy and 15.5% with Mounjaro.
Round a fifth of the contributors stated that meals tasted sweeter (21.3%) or saltier (22.6%) than earlier than. Their notion of bitterness and sourness didn’t change.
Some 26.7% of contributors within the Wegovy group reported that meals tasted saltier than earlier than, in contrast with 16.2% within the Ozempic group and 15.2% within the Mounjaro group. Will increase in sweetness had been reported at comparable frequencies in all teams (Wegovy 19.4%, Ozempic 21.6%, Mounjaro 21.7%).
Greater than half of the contributors (58.4%) reported they had been much less hungry usually, i.e. their urge for food had decreased (Ozempic: 62.1%, Wegovy: 54.4%, Mounjaro: 56.5%).
Nearly two-thirds of the contributors (63.5%) reported elevated satiety, i.e., they felt full sooner (Ozempic: 58.8%, Wegovy: 66.8%, Mounjaro: 63.1%). Meals cravings had been additionally lowered, with 41.3% of Mounjaro customers reporting a robust discount in cravings, i.e. their cravings had been a lot much less intense than earlier than, in contrast with 34.1% of these taking Wegovy and 29.7% of these taking Ozempic.
Additional evaluation revealed hyperlinks between modifications to sense of style and urge for food and satiety.
Members who reported that meals tasted sweeter since beginning incretin-based remedy had been twice as more likely to report elevated satiety, in contrast with contributors who stated their notion of sweetness had not modified.
These with a rise within the notion of sweetness had been additionally 67% extra more likely to report a discount in urge for food and 85% extra more likely to report a discount in cravings, in contrast with these whose notion of sweetness was unchanged.
Equally, contributors who stated meals tasted saltier than earlier than had been about twice as possible (2.17 occasions) to additionally report elevated satiety, in contrast with these whose notion of saltiness was unchanged.
Professor Moser says, “These drugs act not only in the gut and brain areas that control hunger but also on taste bud cells and brain regions that process taste and reward. This means they can subtly change how strong flavors, like sweetness or saltiness, are perceived. This, in turn, may affect appetite.”
Nevertheless, there was no hyperlink between modifications in style notion and discount in BMI. The researchers speculate it is because the sense of style is only one of many elements concerned in weight reduction.
Professor Moser explains, “Shifts in taste may affect how satisfying or appealing food feels in the moment, which influences appetite control. However, weight loss depends on many other factors—like metabolism, long-term eating patterns, and activity—so changes to taste alone may not be enough to directly drive body weight reduction.”
The examine’s limitations embody incapability to show causation, the self-reporting of information and the likelihood that the contributors weren’t consultant of the affected person group as a complete.
Professor Moser concludes, “Medication like Wegovy, Ozempic and Mounjaro might alter sense of style, making meals appear sweeter or saltier and serving to individuals really feel full sooner and fewer hungry. For scientific follow, this means that monitoring sufferers’ style modifications might present helpful clues about remedy response, regardless that style alone doesn’t immediately drive weight reduction.
“For example, tracking changes in taste could help gauge whether the treatment is working beyond weight loss. It could also perhaps be used to tailor dietary advice, for example, by helping patients find alternatives to foods with flavors that have become overwhelming or less appealing.”
Extra info:
Actual-world insights into incretin-based remedy: Associations between modifications in style notion and urge for food regulation in people with weight problems and chubby: A cross-sectional examine, Diabetes Weight problems and Metabolism (2025).
Offered by
European Affiliation for the Research of Diabetes
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About one in 5 individuals taking Ozempic, Wegovy or Mounjaro say meals tastes saltier or sweeter than earlier than (2025, September 15)
retrieved 15 September 2025
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