The daily amount of Ozempic that lowers blood sugar and increases weight loss.
People with type 2 prediabetes don’t respond to insulin and as the condition progresses, lowering blood glucose and losing weight becomes difficult.
A healthy diet and exercise could certainly reduce the risk of diabetes but when it comes to medication there are many ups and downs.
Semaglutide (marketed as Wegovy, Rybelsus and Ozempic) is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist that causes the body to produce more insulin.
The drug has been found to help diabetic patients in losing weight as well as reducing blood sugar levels.
While the drug keeps gaining attention, the effective dosage of oral semaglutide has been challenged.
Semaglutide dosage study
A study compared the effectiveness of the currently approved 14 milligrams (mg) dose in adults with 25 mg, or 50 mg per day for 52 weeks.
The results showed that taking a 25 mg or 50 mg semaglutide tablet once a day is superior to the 14 mg dosage in reducing blood sugar levels and in increasing weight loss.
At the end of study period, participants who were on 50 mg of oral semaglutide had lost 17.5 pounds (8 kg), those on 25 mg had lost 14.8 pounds (6.7 kg), and those on 14 mg had lost 10 pounds (4.5 kg).
Semaglutide suppresses appetite so as the dosage increases there will be less desire for eating which results in losing more weight.
Professor John Buse, the study’s lead author, said:
“Low doses of GLP-1 receptor agonists are really powerful for reducing A1C, or the average glucose in the blood.
Whereas, the higher doses that are really good for weight reduction.
On average, patients lost eight kilograms (17.5 lbs) at 50 milligrams, which is nearly twice as much weight loss that we saw with the lowest dose.”
The common side effects for semaglutide are nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, or constipation which occurred more often with taking daily dosages of 25 mg or 50 mg.
The trial involved more than 1,600 adults with type 2 diabetes who were randomly divided into three groups by the daily dosage of oral semaglutide; 14 mg, 25 mg, and 50 mg.
The haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) test reflects blood glucose levels and the A1c for adults with diabetes is suggested to be below 7 percent.
In this study, participants A1c levels were between 8 to 10.5 percent.
They found that those who received either 25 mg or 50 mg of oral semaglutide were more likely to reach the goal (A1c level of below 7 percent).
Related
- Weekly injections of semaglutide reduces body weight by more than 20 percent.
- Injection of 2.4 mg of semaglutide with a low-calorie diet can lead to a weight loss of 37 lb.
- Glucagon-like peptide (GLP-1) drugs treat obesity and may help to destroy cancer cells.
The study was published in the The Lancet (Aroda et al., 2023).
