Massive Weight Loss with Nauseating New Drug

USA Today reports that study subjects lost dramatic amounts of weight with diabetes drug tirzepatide. Participants in the randomized, controlled trial lost an average of 15% of their weight at week 72 according to an article in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Photo by Sara Bakhshi on Unsplash

How does it work? USA Today's interview with a participant offers a clue:

The drug prevented her from overeating, [participant Mary] Bruehl said.

If she overindulged, the food would come back up. "I've learned to stop before I get that feeling," she said...The one negative side effect was nausea, which Bruehl felt the day after each of her weekly shots of tirzepatide.

She's not alone. From the study,

The most common adverse events with tirzepatide were gastrointestinal, and most were mild to moderate in severity, occurring primarily during dose escalation. Adverse events caused treatment discontinuation in 4.3%, 7.1%, 6.2%, and 2.6% of participants receiving 5-mg, 10-mg, and 15-mg tirzepatide doses and placebo, respectively.

So it sounds like this drug works, at least in part, by making you nauseated if you overeat. In other words, it's old-fashioned calorie restriction, but uses nausea instead of willpower. A drug that interferes with your ability to digest food could lead to nutrient deficiencies (shown to lead to fractures when taking acid blockers long term); infections (stomach acid is a line of defense in your immune system); and it's surely disrupting your gut bacteria, which could lead to a wide variety of health problems.

As usual, the ADA has a bad take:

Nothing has provided that kind of weight loss except surgery, said Dr. Robert Gabbay, chief scientific and medical officer for the American Diabetes Association.

Well--nothing except a low-carb diet, which doesn't generate any revenue for the ADA or their sponsors ("Banting Circle Supporters" and "National Strategic Partners"), who peddle insulin and patent medicines and run dialysis centers (DaVita), pharmacies (CVS), and vision care centers. You're worth a lot more to them sick than you are well. "Mounjaro, the same drug used to treat diabetes at the same doses, retails for almost $1,000 a month."

So you can spend up to $1,000 a month for gastrointestinal problems and a calorie restricted diet, or cut the damn carbs, lose weight and feel better. Diabetes 2 is an optional ailment, one that most people don't need to medicate themselves out of.

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