Health & Lifestyle

Ozempic and Wegovy may reduce risk of DEMENTIA, study on mice suggests – and human trials are already underway

  • Chinese researchers found that semaglutide improved memory in mice
  • Semaglutide is the active ingredient in blockbuster drugs Ozempic and Wegovy
  • READ MORE: Trials launched into whether Wegovy can treat alcoholism

They’ve been hailed for their fat-shedding abilities – but Ozempic and Wegovy may also reduce the risk of dementia.

Researchers in China gave semaglutide, the active ingredient in the drugs, to mice with mutations associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

They found rodents given the compound showed improvements in learning and memory and had less plaques in their brains compared to the control group. 

The experts said that the improvements in memory in the mice model show that semaglutide may offer ‘a reliable strategy for effective therapy of Alzheimer’s disease’ and could be used to develop new treatments in future.

It follows clinical trials on people at risk of dementia which are testing whether semaglutide can reduce the amount of a certain protein associated with the disease, as well as calm down inflammation – both markers linked to a high chance of dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Prescriptions for GLP-1 drugs, including Ozempic and Wegovy, have skyrocketed over the past few years. The bar for 2023 only includes January to May

Prescriptions for GLP-1 drugs, including Ozempic and Wegovy, have skyrocketed over the past few years. The bar for 2023 only includes January to May

The graph shows estimated trends in the global dementia cases from researchers from the University of Washington

The graph shows estimated trends in the global dementia cases from researchers from the University of Washington

The Chinese researchers said that the improvements in memory in the mice model show that semaglutide may offer 'a reliable strategy for effective therapy of Alzheimer's disease' and could be used to develop new treatments in future

The Chinese researchers said that the improvements in memory in the mice model show that semaglutide may offer ‘a reliable strategy for effective therapy of Alzheimer’s disease’ and could be used to develop new treatments in future

Since booming in popularity, a number of nasty side effects of the drugs have also come to light, including suicidal thoughts and stomach paralysis

There are concerns in the medical community that the long-term effects of Wegovy and Ozempic when used for weight-loss have not been properly tested.

Obesity on its own is also a risk factor for dementia, meaning that just by losing weight, someone can lower their risk of developing the memory conditions. 

Researchers from Shanxi Medical University in China injected mice with semaglutide every other day for 30 days, and then had their memories tested using a range of experiments.

These results were compared to control groups of mice with Alzehimer’s mutations who were not given semaglutide, as well as mice with no Alzheimer’s mutations.  

The amount of amyloid beta plaques and tau tangles in the rodents’ hippocampi was also measured using brain scans.

The study found that mice treated with semaglutide demonstrated ‘improved cognition’.

The mice also showed a decrease in amyloid beta plaques and tau tangles, which are hallmark signs of the dementia disease.

In Alzheimer’s patients, the presence of plaques and tangles means that glucose does not metabolize very well in the brain. 

And previous research has suggested that higher blood sugar (glucose) levels are associated with a higher risk of dementia. 

The Chinese scientists found that semaglutide can improve glucose’s metabolism by regulating the expression of GLUT4, a glucose ‘transporter’.

One of the ways in which semaglutide works is by prompting the body to produce more insulin, which reduces blood sugar (glucose) levels. 

The mice then underwent a series of tasks to see how well their memory was working.

One of the tests, called a novel object recognition test, is based on the spontaneous tendency of rodents to spend more time exploring a new object than a familiar one.

The semaglutide-treated mice were worse at recognizing when an object was new than the mice without Alzheimer’s, but performed better than the Alzheimer’s mice without semaglutide.

Another test, called the Y maze test, is used to asses short-term memory in mice. 

Mice were placed in the middle of a Y-shaped maze facing the same arm and researchers watched which arm they explored.

When the mice went down a different arm to the previous two times, this was considered to be ‘correct’.

There was a decline the number of correct entries in the Alzheimer’s mice compared to the regular mice, but this was ‘partly reversed’ by the semaglutide, the researchers found.

The study was published in the journal Neuropharmacology.

Ozempic is used to treat type 2 diabetes, but is prescribed off-label by some doctors for obesity.

Wegovy, on the other hand, is approved for weight management in patients with a BMI of 30 or over.

Dementia is the general term for a group of conditions associated with loss of memory, language and judgement.

Alzheimer’s is the most common form of the disease, affecting more than six million Americans, while Lewy body dementia is the second most common type, with roughly one million living with the condition.


Read More: World News | Entertainment News | Celeb News

Daily M

Related posts

Demonising vaping is prompting young people to switch to tobacco as mixed messaging suggests they are equally as dangerous, experts warn

BBC Brk News

Pioneering scientist Kirsty Smitten who created a new class of antibiotics that could save millions of lives dies aged just 29

BBC Brk News

First drug to Alzheimer’s progression gets approved in the US

BBC Brk News

Leave a Comment