Ozempic does not slow Alzheimer's, study finds
49 comments
·November 25, 2025GuB-42
OptionOfT
But but but we have to keep traffic on our website! Engagement!
That's why when you click on a link you see 1/10th of the article, and then a video, and 3 other irrelevant inlays for other links.
Oh and the video auto plays with sound.
And every word in the article that is remotely a 'tag' links to other parts of the website.
codedokode
> video auto plays with sound.
Without sound in Firefox, I assume?
megaman821
I can't remember the source, but I think this only rules out small-dose, oral. There will still be a trial with large-dose, injectable.
paulvnickerson
neither do most things in life
KittenInABox
Why would Ozempic, a chemical affecting a specific receptor found in specific parts of the body, affect alzheimer's? I'm just asking questions here I don't understand what the mechanism of action is that this would be disappointing news.
kens
Semaglutide (Ozempic) has potential therapeutic effects in neurodegenerative disorders through "modulation of neuroinflammation, enhancement of mitochondrial function, and promotion of neurogenesis". It has shown benefits in animal models of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. So they're not just testing a random drug, but something that could work.
For details, see: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38921025
This diagram shows how Ozempic can produce these results, the various pathways from the GLP-1 receptor to reduce inflammation, protect neurons, and affect mitochondria: https://cdn.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/blobs/87c0/11202139/72234dd...
foobiekr
"Type 3 diabetes" is one of the speculated causes of alzheimer's. The evidence there is not great.
delichon
Fixing type 1 or 2 diabetes does not fix the damage they already did either.
clickety_clack
I know we can tell that a chemical does a particular thing in the body, but can we tell that it does not do anything other than that thing? The body is ridiculously complex, and as far as I know we don’t know how every part (or combination of parts) works.
Edit: I mean in the theoretical “this targets the x receptor” kind of way, not in “we tested this and found no causal link” way.
KittenInABox
That's why I'm genuinely asking why this would be disappointing, like what was the evidence that this does affect Alzheimer's. You would expect by X does not affect Y by default, so clearly there had to be a theory why you'd spend 2 years on a study to rule it out.
FeteCommuniste
Significant, sustained weight loss can prevent or reduce the effects of conditions known to increase the likelihood or hasten the onset of Alzheimer's, like diabetes and high blood pressure.
twosdai
This is anecdotal, I don't have proof but it's something I think is somewhat related. Is that obesity and nuerodegenerative diseases are somewhat related. So that's a guess as to why some people might have though a weight loss drug would potentially be related in some way with alzheimers.
This could just be false though, I can't recall where I heard this information. So do some searching before quoting me.
habinero
Ozempic is a diabetes drug, and there's a hypothesis that Alzheimer's is really a form of diabetes.
JoshTriplett
As I understand it, one of the reasons GLP-1 agonists seem to affect so many different things is that evolutionarily, it does not seem at all surprising that a huge number of things are hooked on the hungry/full signal.
monero-xmr
[flagged]
jnovek
I’m one of those people who have a nonspecific disorder. I get plenty of exercise both aerobic and strength training. It helps with maybe 30% of my pain.
People who play armchair doctor only make things worse for those of us who are actually disabled.
dragonwriter
> Notice the absurd number of young, frail people with canes and masks.
I don't notice an absurd number of young, frail people or young people with canes. There are a larger number of people of all ages masking than was the case pre-pandemic (especially outside of the ethnic groups where precautionary masking was common pre-pandemic) but...I don't think that's particularly a sign of changes in health status as it is of changes in perception of external environmental conditions and associated health risks.
lghh
> Notice the absurd number of young, frail people with canes and masks.
I don't notice them. Do you have numbers to back this up?
> that would be solved if they started an aerobic and strength training regimen.
Source?
m463
I kind of think if it fixes a fundamental issue - too much weight.
Another problem it seems to help with is addictive/impulsive behavior. This might lead to wrong choices in diet or activity.
I suspect that many many functions of the body are degraded or disabled by too much weight or wrong choices, and fixing those problems might let the body cure and maintain itself properly.
silveraxe93
I read this[1] some time ago. Seems relevant now.
- [1] https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/why-does-ozempic-cure-all-d...
temp0826
"Alleged magic cure does not solve all our problems" just isn't as catchy.
jfarina
Maybe because poor diet has been linked to alzheimers?
null
wonderwonder
I would think eventually all of the additional positives of the drug will resolve to obesity is bad and reducing obesity has health benefits. Which should be perfectly fine as its valid and results in massive positives in both health and quality of life.
estearum
We already know that's not the case though. A huge portion of the benefits are downstream of obesity, yes, but we already know GLPs have positive effects even without weight loss.
toraway
I started taking prescription Zepbound (tirzepatide) right when it was approved for about 6 months and lost 30 pounds, later switched to a low dose of grey market semaglutide for maintenance. The anti-drinking side effect was unexpected and somewhat shocking to experience. I had heavily drank in the evening for almost a decade to varying degrees and then pretty much stopped overnight once hitting the 5mg dose of Zepbound on the second month.
After ending the Zepbound I had a few months where I wasn't taking anything before resuming the maintenance semaglutide, and although food cravings slowly starting returning, I still had/have zero interest in drinking whatsoever unless in a social setting where I may have 1-2 drinks (but usually avoid it altogether without requiring any conscious effort).
There is definitely massive variance in the individual psychology/biology that leads to habitual alcohol overuse so I'm sure others might not have the same experience. But for me I'm pretty confident that breaking that deeply engrained habit of starting the first of 6-10 drinks at 6-7pm every day was what did it. Which was pretty much impossible for me to even envision back when it was such a normal part of my day-to-day coping strategy for stress/depression/etc.
Although I always knew my drinking was excessive and terrible for my health, past my early 20s I was super high functioning and wasn't interfering with my job or life (other than holding me back and probably slowly killing me), and so being an "alcoholic" was never part of my identity (rightly or wrongly), which I think kinda ironically made it easier to just take the win and move on with my life without nagging self-doubt or fixation on whether my "addiction is cured".
But it's been about 2 years now and I hardly ever think about alcohol even when super stressed so something, somewhere in my brain changed and whatever the mechanism I'm grateful for that happy accident of a side effect!
flir
Nah, obesity reduction is itself a downstream effect of messing with neurotransmitters. There have to be other consequences of that - both good and bad.
estearum
There don't have to be any other consequences, certainly not both good and bad ones. Biology doesn't actually have some scale of justice that means good things must be offset by bad things.
But yes, it's very probable (in fact we already know) the drug is doing several things in the body.
flir
I was more thinking that evolved systems rarely have convenient switches you can flip and just get a single outcome. You perturb the system, and you get a cascade of changes. It's not like engineering.
Nothing about justice was implied, so lets say desirable and undesirable instead of good and bad.
astura
>eventually all of the additional positives of the drug will resolve to obesity is bad and reducing obesity has health benefits.
This is not true.
Ozempic appears to affect the brain's rewards system and its known to decreased cravings and urges for a range of unhealthy behaviors, from alcohol consumption and smoking to gambling and shopping to nail biting and skin picking.
Beyond that, Ozempic appears to lower the risk of heart attacks and strokes in overweight people well beyond what weight loss alone would explain. Maybe due to the above (less drinking and smoking) or another unknown mechanism of action.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/weight-loss-drug-...
Source: https://www.novonordisk.com/news-and-media/news-and-ir-mater...
Ongoing study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39780249/
Usual rant to news outlets: Cite your damn sources! (if they are public, which is the case here). This is a web page, not printed paper, web pages support links, links are not just for ads!