Ozempic’s mystery solved

Researcher Alexandre Caron and his team have discovered a new family of neurons responsible for controlling satiety. These neurons, located in the hypothalamus, have a large number of GLP-1 receptors.

When we eat, the hormone GPL-1 is released, which sends a signal of satiety through receptors. The semaglutide molecule found in Ozempic works in the same way by sending hunger signals.

“Our study allows us to better understand the fine mechanics of these appetite suppressant drugs,” explains Alexandre Caron, researcher and professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy at Université Laval.

Mr. Caron, in particular, believes that his team’s new knowledge will make it possible to “improve existing appetite-suppressing molecules, in particular by reducing their side effects, or to develop new molecules.”

Ozempic is a drug that is primarily used to treat type 2 diabetes, but is also used for its weight loss side effect.

‘Fantastic’ research

“This is fantastic research [d’Alexandre Caron] and his team,” congratulates researcher Benoit Arsenault, who teaches at the Faculty of Medicine at Laval University.

According to a researcher specializing in metabolic health, this new knowledge about how Ozempic works further confirms the important role that the brain plays in determining body weight.

“This work demonstrates that weight is not a matter of will.”

— Dr. Benoit Arsenault, researcher and professor at the Faculty of Medicine at Laval University

“These are extremely complex phenomena that regulate our body weight. We must stop saying that people are overweight just because they don’t exercise or eat anything,” the researcher insists.

Dr. Arsenault is particularly interested in the influence of genetics on weight. Scientific consensus is that genetics account for 50 to 70% of a person’s weight.

“Key moment”

According to researcher Alexander Caron, the arrival of drugs like Ozempic or Wegovy, a similar drug designed for weight loss, on the market is great news.

“For a long time there were no good pharmacological options. Several drugs that entered the market were discontinued due to side effects,” recalls the neurometabolism postdoctoral fellow.

Alexandre Caron witnesses various prejudices against both obese people and people who use Ozempic to lose weight. “We are at a turning point in the pharmacology of obesity. We have to recognize that people who have been medically diagnosed have a need,” he argues.

Benoit Arsenault agrees, but cautions against the tool historically used to measure obesity: BMI. This calculation, in which a person’s weight is divided by their height, does not indicate health status, he insists.

The researcher is also concerned about the ease with which patients can get a prescription for Ozempic to lose weight just for the sake of their appearance.