As a nation on a war against obesity that borders on fatphobic, America comes up with a new way to lose those troublesome pounds seemingly every other weekend. The new rage all over the interwebs, and especially Hollywood, is Ozempic. Interest in the apparently magical ‘jab’ also only keeps growing, now that celebrities such as Charles Barkley, Heather Gay, Sharon Osbourne, Tracy Morgan, and Kelly Clarkson have openly come out as having used the drug to lose a few pounds. The miracle worker, however, walks hand in hand with its own parade of side effects, ranging from feelings of nausea to depression. For some, however, the side effects don’t sound—or feel—bad enough to give up completely.
Ozempic, and a range of drugs like it: Monjouro, Wegovy, and Zepbound are now gaining market attention for their weight loss effects. Ozempic is now becoming an umbrella term for all these medications, which was initially developed to help people with Type 2 diabetes maintain a consistent blood sugar level. The active ingredient, semaglutide, achieves this by mimicking the hormones that induce a sense of satiety in relation to food. It also slows the emptying of the stomach, which means food lasts a longer while in the stomach between meals, making the patient feel less hungry or more ‘full’, for a longer time. In clinical trials, drugs with semaglutide as its active ingredient—Ozempic and Wegovy—have been shown to result in up to 15% in lost body weight.
But what of the side effects?
According to medical professionals who offer Ozempic as weight-loss medication and the researchers behind their clinical trials, no one is quite sure yet what, if any, of the reported side effects are directly attributable to Ozempic, and what symptoms might be completely unrelated. One of these is reports of supposed ‘Ozempic breath’ or a ‘fishy’ odour on one’s breath. As of now, bad breath is not a recognised side effect of taking Ozempic, and there is no updated data to believe otherwise. In fact, medical professionals actually recommend looking at your oral health before blaming the drug. Others, however, believe that there might be some relationship between bad breath and halitosis, as it is medically known.
As mentioned, one of the ways in which Ozempic suppresses appetite is by having food hang around the stomach for longer. This means that food starts breaking down, and even fermenting in the stomach. According to Christopher McGowan, a gastroenterologist quoted in Healthline: “The stomach is normally designed to empty within four hours after eating. However, GLP-1 medications like Ozempic cause food to remain in the stomach for many more hours, even days. At that point, your stomach is functionally a compost bin, and if you burp, it won’t be pleasant.”
A persistently full belly is not the only impact Ozempic has on the body. There are other side effects to the drug that the official disclaimers do recognise, such as persisting diarrhoea, vomiting, and nausea. Nausea can also affect a sensitive belly, heightening the chance of bringing up your lunch at any moment. All of this can make you dehydrated, leading to a dry mouth and therefore, bad breath.
Ozempic also essentially acts as an appetite suppressant, which means that someone who takes up a treatment course is prone to ketosis. Ketosis is a condition or situation where the body is forced to burn body fat for energy, in the absence of sufficient nutrition. One of its symptoms is a sweet acetone-like odour in the breath, a result of the unbalanced situation inside the body. Doctors recommend supplementary macronutrients and balanced meals to help prevent this. According to Dr. McGowan: “Fatty, greasy, and heavier foods are slower to digest and exit the stomach, leading to increased belching and odours. Stick to lean proteins, fruits, and vegetables, and healthy fats in moderation. Fast foods, saturated fats, cheeses, and greasy meats should be limited.”
Of course, the side effects of Ozempic are not limited to the ever-looming potential of an iffy social faux pas. Both the World Health Organisation as well as the CDC recognise obesity as a ‘chronic complex disease’ that is affected by both modifiable lifestyle factors as well as circumstances entirely beyond anyone’s control, like genetics, the medications you are dependent on, and social determinants of health, which are merely symptoms of wider social issues. In this toxic mess of things is the equally toxic moral judgement that is attached to weight, especially in the case of women. This makes the issue of weight gain and loss swing from being a conversation on health to one on cosmetics, prompting many to take up quick-result drugs like Ozempic with little thought to how they can affect overall health.
In such a situation, it’s no wonder that people throw caution to the wind and jump on the latest bandwagon that promises good results, and fast. The fact that a health industry that very thoroughly profits off of weight loss has little incentive to address obesity as a chronic disease does not help matters. Frustrated patients who are prescribed lifestyle changes by the same body of experts who consider their condition a disease that is not necessarily easily changed through those changes can hardly be blamed for doing so. Not to mention, the nature of the beast very often prevents people from making these lifestyle changes in the first place.
(Theruni Liyanage)