Posts tagged with "GLP-1"

Is green tea really ‘Nature’s Ozempic’?

September 25, 2024

Green tea has been bandied about as a diet hack for centuries: In ancient China 2,000 years ago, people touted the beverage as a weight loss tool. In modern times, the drink if often mentioned in diet books and meal plans, reports The New York Times.

Now, green tea has followed the inevitable trajectory of any weight loss trick: It’s getting big on TikTok. Viral videos claim the drink aids with shedding pounds, going so far as to call it “nature’s Ozempic.” Some posts suggest drinking as many as five cups a day.

While there is some research into green tea and weight, the evidence on whether a mug (or several) can melt away pounds is unclear, said Dr. Jyotsna Ghosh, an obesity medicine doctor at Johns Hopkins University.

Many of the TikTok videos claim that green tea boosts the production of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), a gut hormone that prompts the pancreas to release insulin after a meal. That insulin, in turn, lowers blood sugar. GLP-1 also slows down the rate at which food leaves the stomach, and it affects areas of the brain that regulate hunger.

Ozempic and drugs like it deliver a compound that mimics GLP-1, making people feel fuller faster. Many stop experiencing strong cravings for food.

Some researchers have theorized that green tea might stimulate GLP-1, in part because studies have found green tea extract can lower blood sugar in diabetic mice. But there have been only a few small studies in humans, and the results are inconclusive. One of the few clinical trials on the subject—which looked at 92 people with Type 2 diabetes—suggested there was not a notable difference in GLP-1 production between people who took green tea extract and those who took a placebo pill.

Any effect green tea might have on GLP-1 is likely to be small, experts said. Any food or drink can increase GLP-1 levels slightly, Dr. Ghosh says. But GLP-1 levels in the bloodstream dip minutes after you eat or drink something; that’s one of the reasons we get hungry again—and why temporarily boosting the hormone does not guarantee weight loss.

Ozempic and similar drugs, by contrast, linger in the body for days, and are far more potent than the natural hormone; which makes them uniquely good at suppressing appetite.

Many of the claims about green tea and weight loss mention two components of the drink: caffeine and antioxidants. Caffeine might, in theory, slightly speed up someone’s metabolism. But it is unlikely that effect would translate directly into substantial weight loss, Dr. Ghosh notes.

Green tea also contains compounds called polyphenols, antioxidants that can help protect cells from damage and reduce inflammation. Studies in animals and in human cells have suggested that these compounds could improve metabolism and reduce fat absorption from the gut. But trials in humans have had mixed results.

People turning to green tea to lose weight “can’t expect a big effect, and certainly nothing close to medications like Ozempic,” says Rob van Dam, a professor of exercise and nutrition sciences at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University.

Julia Zumpano, a registered dietitian at the Cleveland Clinic, says that focusing on a single food or drink ignored the many other factors that played a role in weight loss. Those include a person’s broader diet, exercise habits, genetics, stress, metabolic health and even the quality of sleep an individual gets.

“Look at how you can improve lifestyle, if weight loss is your goal,” she said. “Not just specifically one food, drug, supplement, whatever it might be.”

Research contact: @nytimes

Skincare company Galderma sees opportunity in ‘Ozempic face’

June 24, 2024

Speedy weight loss from drugs used to fight obesity and diabetes has left some users looking gaunt and aged. The boss of Swiss skincare group Galderma thinks treatments for what has been dubbed “Ozempic face” could give the company a lift, reports The Wall Street Journal.

With millions of Americans taking blockbuster drugs like Ozempic and Zepbound to slim down—and more looking to get hold of them—the side effects of the popularity of the medications are rippling through the business world.

Investors are searching for winners and losers from weight-loss—also known as GLP-1 because of the appetite-suppressing gut hormone they mimic—in sectors ranging from medical devices to food to clothing.

Galderma Chief Executive Flemming Ornskov pitches the company, which houses skincare brands Cetaphil and Alastin, as a potential beneficiary of the weight-loss boom.

“If you have that kind of weight loss, not only do you have body transformation, but you also have facial transformation and they [users] are flocking to aesthetic treatments,” Ornskov said in an interview.

One of the downsides of obesity drugs is that some users have developed what they call “Ozempic face,” an aged appearance that leaves them with saggy skin on their faces. Doctors say the changes result from speedy weight loss, and the associated reduction in facial volume, and that the drugs themselves don’t target the face.

Fillers or longer-acting biostimulators, included in some of Galderma’s products, can help counter those side effects, Ornskov says. “Weight-loss products are rapidly changing aesthetics practices,” he added.

Analysts are also bullish on the demand potential of “Ozempic face” treatments for the Swiss company. The growing use of GLP-1s could help reinvigorate growth of the fillers market over the coming years, since they can address potential sagging and aging of facial skin resulting from the use of these drugs, Jefferies analysts wrote in a note to clients.

About 3.5 million patients use GLP-1 treatments in the United States, which has boosted demand for treatments to address the slimmed-down facial volume caused by weight loss, according to UBS estimates.

A recent Gallup poll showed 6% of the U.S. adult population—an estimated 15.5 million people—tried the drugs to lose weight. The poll was based on a survey of more than 5,500 people conducted in March.

Beyond products that target GLP-1 patients looking to rejuvenate their skin, Galderma sees growth potential in “injectable aesthetics,” or skin-smoothing injections. Demand is particularly high for neuromodulators, wrinkle-relaxing injections of botulinum toxin that Galderma sells under the Dysport brand. Dysport competes with AbbVie’s Botox.

“In the [United States], we have seen most of the growth comes from injectable aesthetics,” Ornskov said. Galderma expects its injectable-aesthetics products to continue to fuel growth domestically and everywhere else, its CEO said.

“We always wanted from the beginning a three-legged stool with three very strong and independent interlinked businesses,” Ornskov said. “By having this integrated story, we probably should be adding versus subtracting to our portfolio over time.”

The company expects to bolster its therapeutic dermatology business through the launch of nemolizumab, a drug for the treatment of skin disorder prurigo nodularis and for atopic dermatitis, a common type of eczema that causes itchy skin.

Galderma filed applications for both indications with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency, and expects to launch it in the United States next year. Analysts at Bank of America estimate the drug could reach $2.1 billion in annual peak sales.

Research contact: @WSJ