Using Ozempic to lose weight, even when combined with lifestyle changes, is judged as requiring less effort and being less praiseworthy than doing so via dietary changes and exercising.
Ozempic contains the drug semaglutide, which mimics the appetite-suppressing hormone GLP-1. It is widely approved for treating type 2 diabetes and is also often used for obesity, helping people of their body weight, on average.
鈥淚n popular media outlets and public discourse, Ozempic is often portrayed as a cheat code or shortcut to weight loss compared to traditional methods,鈥� says Maria Bachmakova at the University of Oxford.
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To better understand society鈥檚 perception of its use, Bachmakova and her colleagues presented 1041 people in the US with fictional characters who were significantly overweight but lost 50 pounds through one of three methods: taking Ozempic, changing their diet and exercising, or both.
On a scale of 0 to 100, they rated how much effort they thought the characters put into their weight loss, with higher scores indicating more effort. Losing weight via dietary changes and exercising scored 68.4, on average, falling to 59.4 when this was combined with Ozempic and 35.7 for Ozempic use alone.
They also scored how praiseworthy they felt their weight loss was, which came to 88.5, 76.1 and 68.5 for the respective methods. 鈥淲hile weight loss through behavioural methods is commonly seen as a testament to newfound self-discipline and self-control, our findings suggest that this perception may not extend to Ozempic users,鈥� says Bachmakova.
The findings align with that found people see bariatric surgery, which makes the stomach smaller, as a less admirable way to lose weight than through lifestyle changes, says team member at the National University of Singapore.
鈥淢any people who take Ozempic or other similar medications have struggled with excess body weight for years and use it as a tool, not an easy way out,鈥� says at Harvard Medical School.
Anekwe believes that judgements around Ozempic are rooted in obesity-related stigma. 鈥淚f obesity were to be accepted as the medical condition that it is, then using medication to manage it would be no different from taking medication for high blood pressure or any other medical condition,鈥� she says.
鈥淥besity is a chronic disease, not a character flaw,鈥� says a spokesperson for Novo Nordisk, the maker of semaglutide. 鈥淧eople living with obesity often require individualised approaches to achieve and maintain weight loss, including addressing psychological and behavioural aspects of weight management, as well as diet, lifestyle and therapeutic interventions.鈥�
PsyArXiv
