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As use of the favored anti-diabetic and weight-loss drug Ozempic skyrockets, so have considerations in regards to the medicine’s unintended effects. One such facet impact is lack of “lean mass”—physique weight that is not fats—elevating considerations that Ozempic may very well be lowering muscle mass and energy.
New analysis in mice means that muscle mass modifications lower than anticipated, however muscle groups should get weaker, stating an pressing want for medical research to pin down the total results of the favored drugs.
“If we want to really help the individuals who may be losing muscle mass, then we need to know that they’re actually losing muscle mass,” says Katsu Funai, Ph.D., affiliate professor of vitamin and integrative physiology within the College of Utah School of Well being and the senior writer on the research. “We have data in mice that suggest that things are not as straightforward as they might seem.”
The outcomes are revealed in Cell Metabolism.
A weighty concern
Researchers discovered that Ozempic-induced weight reduction did lower lean mass by about 10%. Most of this misplaced weight wasn’t from skeletal muscle groups however as a substitute from different tissues just like the liver, which shrank by practically half. The researchers emphasize that extra analysis is required to find out whether or not related modifications to organ dimension happen in people—and whether or not these modifications include any dangers.
“Loss of mass in metabolically active organs, such as the liver, is expected as part of healthy weight loss,” says Ran Hee Choi, Ph.D., analysis teacher in vitamin and integrative physiology at U of U Well being and co-first writer on the research. In each mice and people, weight acquire and loss can have an effect on the scale of organs just like the liver with out affecting their operate.
“It’s unlikely that the observed lean mass loss represents a serious adverse effect,” says Takuya Karasawa, Ph.D., postdoctoral researcher within the U of U Molecular Drugs Program and co-first writer on the research.
Some skeletal muscle groups did shrink because the mice misplaced weight—on common, by about 6%, not sufficient to elucidate the general loss in lean mass. Different muscle groups stayed the identical dimension.
A few of this loss in muscle mass is a return to baseline, the researchers say. Positive aspects in fats additionally are inclined to result in good points in skeletal muscle, for the reason that physique should do extra work to maneuver round. So lack of fats can result in lack of muscle with out affecting total high quality of life.
Dimension is not energy
Apparently, when the researchers examined the quantity of power the mice’s muscle groups might exert, they discovered that, for some muscle groups, energy decreased because the mice misplaced weight, even when the scale of the muscle stayed roughly the identical. For different muscle groups, energy was unchanged. It is unknown how weight reduction medication have an effect on this steadiness in folks, the researchers say.
A possible lack of energy when taking Ozempic could also be of explicit concern for adults over the age of 60, who’re at larger baseline danger for muscle loss and diminished mobility. “The loss of physical function is a strong predictor of not just quality of life but longevity,” Funai provides.
Medical trials are wanted
The researchers warning in opposition to extrapolating their outcomes on to people, as a result of mice and people acquire and shed some pounds in several methods. In folks, weight problems is related to decrease bodily exercise, however mice do not are inclined to change into much less energetic once they acquire weight. And the mice on this research turned chubby as a result of they ate a high-fat weight-reduction plan, whereas folks change into chubby for all kinds of causes that embrace genetics, weight-reduction plan, sleeping patterns, and age.
As an alternative of drawing a one-to-one parallel with people, the researchers say their outcomes emphasize the necessity for extra medical research. “There remains a significant need for validation in humans, especially concerning muscle strength,” Karasawa says.
Funai provides that medical trials ought to test for modifications in muscle energy not only for Ozempic but in addition future weight-loss medication.
“There are many additional weight loss drugs that are in clinical trials and coming out in the next three to five years,” Funai says. “But with all those clinical trials, if they’re interested in measuring lean mass loss, they need to consider physical function.”
“Our findings are really interesting, but this is a preclinical model,” he provides. “We need these data in people.”
Extra info:
Sudden results of semaglutide on skeletal muscle mass and force-generating capability in mice, Cell Metabolism (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2025.07.004. www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/f … 1550-4131(25)00331-6
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