Kathy Schwartz was 10 years free from alcohol, cigarettes and opiates however each day it was painful to regulate her cravings. “They had been all the time within the background,” she says. In June final 12 months, nonetheless, this noise fell silent.

Prescribed the weight-loss drug semaglutide, she not solely misplaced practically 30 kilograms over 10 months, but additionally her want to succeed in for a drink or take some capsules. “I don’t crave, which I didn’t suppose can be a facet impact,” says Schwartz. Remarkably, the despair and anxiousness that will beforehand come over her in waves additionally calmed down.

Schwartz isn’t alone on this expertise. New analysis is revealing the shocking mind and psychological well being advantages of semaglutide medication comparable to Ozempic and Wegovy, and different associated diabetes and weight-loss medication that mimic a intestine hormone launched after consuming.

It’s early days, however there are hints that these medication may very well be repurposed to deal with despair, anxiousness, habit and even sure consuming issues – in addition to neurological situations comparable to Parkinson’s illness and Alzheimer’s. What’s extra, evidently these results aren’t simply mediated by way of weight reduction, however by way of direct motion on the mind.

The story of medication like Ozempic begins again within the Nineteen Seventies and Nineteen Eighties when researchers discovered that a gut hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) might stimulate insulin manufacturing when injected into rodents within the lab. Extra surprisingly, these animals began consuming much less and shedding weight. We now know that the hormone results in an elevated feeling of fullness.

Semaglutide and extra

At the moment, medication that mimic…