WOMEN taking ‘skinny jabs’ have been urged to pair them with effective contraception.
It follows claims that the weight loss drugs are fuelling a baby boom.
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Women using Ozempic or similar diabetes or weight loss medications have flocked to social media to report an unexpected side effect, aside from going down a few dress sizes – surprise pregnancies.
Ozempic – whose active ingredient is semaglutide – is prescribed to treat type 2 diabetes and has the added benefit of making users lose weight.
Its manufacturer Novo Nordisk released a higher dose of semaglutide under the brand name Wegovy to treat obesity, which was rolled out in the UK last year.
A number of other weight loss drugs have followed in their stead, including the “King Kong” of fat jabs Mounjaro and a recently trialled injection dubbed the “Godzilla”.
Known as glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RA), the medications work by mimicking a hormone produced naturally by your gut when you eat food, to control blood sugar levels, slow down digestion of food and reduce hunger pangs.
Aside from helping users lose weight, it seems women using the drugs have also began falling pregnant unexpectedly.
Anecdotal evidence has cropped up across social media channels. A Facebook group titled “I got pregnant on Ozempic” has gained almost 800 members, while others have taken to Reddit to discuss unplanned pregnancies after using the jabs.
CAN OZEMPIC BOOST FERTILITY?
Scientific evidence on whether skinny jabs can actually help people get pregnant is currently lacking.
But experts told The Guardian that the drugs might help boost fertility.
Dr Karin Hammarberg of Monash University said: “Women with obesity often have irregular or no periods because they don’t ovulate.
“Once they lose some weight, ovulation becomes more regular and this is how their fertility improves.”
As pregnant women were specifically excluded from early clinical trials for Ozempic and similar drugs, little is actually known about the effects of the drugs on expectant mums.
A spokesman for Novo Nordisk – which makes Ozempic and Wegovy – recently told The Washington Post the company was collecting data to evaluate the safety of becoming pregnant while using Wegovy.
Meanwhile, scientists are also exploring whether semaglutide could help boost ovulation in women with obesity and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) – a condition can make it difficult to get pregnant as a result of irregular periods.
CONCERNS OVER SAFETY OF SKINNY JAB USE DURING PREGNANCY
There no evidence in humans that fat jabs could affect babies if taken during pregnancy.
But according to Novo Nordisk, animal studies indicate some potential risks to foetuses, as pregnant rats given semaglutide showed foetal structural abnormalities and growth problems.
The company recommends women stop taking Wegovy at least two months before a planned pregnancy.
“This medicine should not be used during pregnancy, as it is not known if it may affect your unborn child,” it noted in the preclinical safety leaflet for the drug.
Pros and cons of weight loss jabs
STUDIES seem to suggest fat jabs might be good for more than just shedding the pounds.
- They could help treat sleep apnoea
Drug maker Eli Lilly claimed its fat jab could help silence snoring by treating an underlying health condition called sleep apnoea.
After conducting two studies on adults with obesity and sleep apnoea, drug maker Eli Lilly claimed its fat jab Mounjaro could cut down the number of times people had breathing issues during the night.
After 52 weeks, those given 10-15 mg injections of Mounjaro, on average, experienced almost 30 fewer dangerous breathing events per hour, amounting to a 55 per cent drop.
2. They could help ward off Alzheimer’s
A Danish study following people with type 2 diabetes for five years found those on weight loss jabs were less likely to develop dementia compared to those not on the drug.
However, obesity – which is associated with type 2 diabetes – is already known to increase the risk of Alzheimer’s, according to the Alzheimer’s Society.
This suggests it could just be the slimming effects that give it benefits against the disease.
3. They could slash heart disease risk
It’s been suggested that fat jabs could protect heart health by slashing heart disease risk.
A trial found that taking semaglutide reduced the chances of early death, heart attack or stroke by 20 per cent for overweight people with heart trouble.
The injections improved heart health even in patients who didn’t lose weight, the study showed, prompting calls for semaglutide to be dished out to overweight Brits who have heart disease.
4. They might crush drug, cigarette or booze cravings
The jabs are known to promote feelings of fullness and, it seems, dampen the reward associated not only with food but also drugs.
A Penn University study found liraglutide was as good as a fortnight in rehab for people addicted to painkillers.
But weight loss jabs are associated with side effects like nausea, diarrhoea, constipation, headache and dizziness.
Meanwhile, weight loss jabs have been linked to twenty deaths in Britain since 2019.
“Therefore, it is recommended to use contraception while using this medicine.
“If you wish to become pregnant, you should stop using this medicine at least two months in advance.
“If you become or are pregnant, think you may be pregnant or are planning to have a baby when using this medicine, talk to your doctor straight away, as your treatment will need to be stopped.
“You should not use this medicine if you are breast-feeding, as it is unknown if it passes into breast milk.”
CAN SKINNY JABS AFFECT CONTRACEPTION?
Some women have also reported becoming pregnant while using skinny jabs, despite already using hormonal contraception, The Washington Post reported.
It’s lead to speculation that GLP-1 drugs could interfere with the absorption of contraceptives pills, making them ineffective.
Prof Sir Stephen O’Rahilly, co-director, of the Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science, told The Guardian this could have something to do with the nausea and diarrhoea some people experience while taking GLP-1s.
“People treated with these drugs can develop gastrointestinal side-effects including diarrhoea, so it is not implausible that some women may find that their oral contraceptive pill is, at least intermittently, not as reliably absorbed as it was previously,” he said.
He suggested that women keen to avoid pregnancy who are using skinny jabs while on the pill use additional methods of contraception like condoms “until their weight stabilises”.
Meanwhile, Dr Hammarberg noted that women can get pregnant while taking the pill even when they’re not using semaglutide.
“To be doubly sure that unplanned pregnancy doesn’t happen, it may be wise for women who are on Ozempic and similar drugs to use condoms and of course an IUD would also be a very safe option.”
Everything you need to know about fat jabs
What you should know about Ozempic, Wegovy, Saxenda and Mounjaro
Weight loss jabs are a hot media topic at the moment, with hundreds of success stories sharing how they helped them shed the pounds.
In March 2023, the NHS announced it would make Wegovy, a drug made by Danish firm Novo Nordisk, available on prescription to thousands of obese Brits.
It contains the drug semaglutide, which is said to have helped reality star Kim Kardashian and Twitter boss Elon Musk lose weight.
Wegovy, which helped a third of people reduce their weight by 20 per cent in trials, is now available from pharmacies like Boots.
How do they work?
The jabs work by suppressing your appetite, making you eat less calories and therefore lose weight.
To do this, an ingredient found in the fat-busting drug, known as Semaglutide, mimics the role of a natural hormone, called GLP-1.
GLP-1 is part of the signalling pathway that tells your body you have eaten, and prepares it to use the energy that comes from your food.
London GP and founder of wellgoodwellbeing.com, Dr Zoe Watson, said: “Your body naturally produces an appetite regulating hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1.
“These jabs work by regulating your appetite, which can lead to eating fewer calories and losing weight.”
Aren’t they diabetes drugs?
Semaglutide, the active drug in Wegovy, was originally sold under the name Ozempic specifically for diabetes patients.
But they started noticing it helped suppress their appetites, stopping them eating as much and helping them shed the pounds.
So Novo Nordisk developed Wegovy, which contains the same chemical but at higher doses specifically to aid weight loss.
Wegovy is not prescribed for diabetes patients.
Can I get them?
Wegovy is offered on prescription to obese adults given specialist weight loss treatment.
The NHS currently also offers a similar drug called Saxenda, or liraglutide.
Both are only available on Tier 3 and Tier 4 weight management services, which means you have to be referred to weight management clinics led by experts.
GPs can’t prescribe them on their own either, Dr Watson said.
The jabs have to be taken as part of an overall programme to help with lifestyle changes and psychological support to get the best effect from the medication prescribed.
But despite being approved for use, supply of Wegovy on the NHS has been postponed indefinitely because of a surge in worldwide demand.
Supply was also halved in the US because of the skyrocketing demand.
Are there any risks?
Like all medicines, the jabs do not come without side effects.
Around half of people taking the drug experience gut issues, including sickness, bloating, acid reflux, constipation and diarrhoea.
Dr Sarah Jarvis, GP and clinical consultant at patient.info, said: “One of the more uncommon side effects is severe acute pancreatitis, which is extremely painful and happens to one in 500 people.”
Other uncommon side effects include altered taste, kidney problems, allergic reactions, thyroid tumours, gallbladder problems and hypoglycemia.
What other options are there?
Mounjaro (brand name for tirzepatide) also came onto the market in early 2024.
Like Wegovy, tirzepatide stems from a drug originally designed to treat diabetes.
The weekly injection helped overweight people drop more than two stone in 18 months.
It is available with to order with a prescription online from pharmacies including Superdrug and LloydsPharmacy Online Doctor.
It works in a similar way to Wegovy and Saxenda, but is more effective.
Dr Mitra Dutt from LloydsPharmacy says: “Based on clinical trials, 96 per cent of people were able to lose more than five per cent of their body fat using Mounjaro. In similar trials, 84 per cent of people lost more than five per cent of their body weight on Wegovy, and 60 per cent on Saxenda.
“Mounjaro works by activating two hormonal receptors (GIP and GLP-1), which enhance insulin production, improve insulin sensitivity, and work to decrease food intake.”