Kathy Schwartz was 10 years free from alcohol, cigarettes and opiates however day by day it was painful to manage her cravings. “They have been all the time within the background,” she says. In June final yr, nevertheless, this noise fell silent.

Prescribed the weight-loss drug semaglutide, she not solely misplaced almost 30 kilograms over 10 months, but in addition her need to achieve for a drink or take some tablets. “I don’t crave, which I didn’t suppose could 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 stunning mind and psychological well being advantages of semaglutide medication akin 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 akin to Parkinson’s illness and Alzheimer’s. What’s extra, it appears that evidently these results aren’t simply mediated through weight reduction, however via 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) may 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

Right now, medication that mimic…