You may know that the GLP1 medications cause weight loss that affects the body and the face, leading to the term Ozempic Face,” which is really related to weight loss and likely not a direct result of the medications with the active ingredients semaglutide or tirzepetide. Luckily, there’s an easy fix to the effects that weight loss has on the face, and women and more recently, men are opting to replace the weight loss in their face with fillers such as Juvederm and Radiesse. But what about the other body systems that may be affected by the GLP1 medications?
Most recently, the SELECT trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, (https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2307563,) showed cardiovascular benefits in patients with overweight or obesity who do not have diabetes and were taking semaglutide. They had a lower incidence of cardiovascular events including heart attacks and strokes. This is further evidence that there are health benefits beyond weight loss and diabetes that the GLP1 medications may treat. (See my blog about natural
killer cells.) while there are potential risks with the GLP1 medications, as with any medication, there may be other benefits as well.
More study is needed and is ongoing to discover other benefits of the GLP1 medications, and I’m sure we’ll learn more in the future.