Preventing muscle loss: the new business caused by weight-loss drugs

While in 2023 drugs such as Ozempic, Mounjaro, Wegovy, Zepbound and Saxenda have become known until almost no one is indifferent, this year it would seem that all eyes would be on another matter: preventing the muscle loss.

The phenomenon, which occurs as a result of the rapid weight loss produced by these drugs that are spreading more and more quickly throughout the world, would open countless opportunities to companies from different fields that work to satisfy the demand of those who use them. …they use, according to a New York Times report.

Ozempic, although not the only one, is the best known of these medications for diabetics, which are often used by people who do not necessarily suffer from this disease, nor from obesity. Although it was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2017, it gained much more attention when figures such as Elon Musk – owner of Tesla and X (former Twitter), among others – and other Hollywood actors have openly admitted that their change in appearance was due to this injectable formulation of semaglutide, a mimetic agent that helps the pancreas secrete the appropriate amount of insulin when sugar levels in the blood is high.

In order to assess the expansion of the use of these drugs among people, it is interesting to know one specific fact: the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, manufacturer of Ozempic and Wegovy, earned 51% more with the sale of this drug last year. . This year, these sales are expected to continue to increase.

“In Ozempic?” You need a strategy,” we read on the website of Equinox, a renowned and luxurious chain of gyms present in the United States. They say drugs like this can help people lose about 15% of their weight after 68 weeks of treatment. However, they warn their customers the need to have a strategy to maintain this weight loss, given that much of the loss is accompanied by loss of muscle mass. Plus, they note, studies have shown that most people gain at least two-thirds of the weight they lost within the first year after stopping the drug.

Companies and offers like this can be seen everywhere and in different business areas. The list is long. To name a few: there are nutritionists and food delivery services that market plans for eating enough protein and regaining muscle lost to these medications; In January, the Abbott company introduced a line of protein shakes aimed at those who use these injections; and the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company – maker of Mounjaro and Zepbound – has expressed its desire to develop combination treatments that prevent muscle loss. The idea would be to incorporate a compound that mimics the hormone produced during exercise, thereby improving muscle function. Even the FDA itself authorized a clinical trial to determine whether a compound previously used to treat muscle loss in the elderly could help preserve muscle in people using a weight-loss drug, US media reported.

For nutritionist Katherine Urzúa, such phenomena are not surprising. For her, the results obtained in 2023 in companies dedicated to the formulation of these drugs clearly show that some companies will try to take advantage of this success by creating and proposing strategies to improve the results of these drugs.

The professional comments that on Tik Tok, whether associated with good or bad news, the hashtag #Ozempic has more than 80,000 tags, while on Instagram it has 161,000, which makes these social networks indirectly platforms responsible for keeping consumers on these networks interested in integrating these products into their lives. “Therefore, any “complementary” service will be an opportunity not to be missed for those who aspire to slimness,” he says.

Nutritionists, nutritionists and food experts consulted coincide with the fact that all of our patients use these foods with a reduction in weight and do not log changes in our food and physical activities, and we know that the medicine is already there, recovering part of it or everything else. his weight. Sometimes even more.

“Until now, there is no treatment that alone guarantees long-term maintenance of the weight loss achieved,” warns Karin Papapietro, nutritionist at the University of Chile Clinical Hospital.

Matías Novoa, founder of Kinu Coaching (@matias_health_coach) points out that it takes years or months to reach the levels of overweight like those we see today in society, so we cannot hope to lose it in the short term . “Each kilo of fat represents an energy reserve of approximately 7,700 kcal (calories in colloquial terms). Let’s put this data in context: the average adult woman has an average calorie expenditure of 1,800 to 2,000 kcal per day. What does it mean? That each kilo of fat accumulated in the body could cover approximately 4 days of food. 4 days!”, he indicates. The professional therefore explains that You should try to lose fat weight, but it takes time, and the only way to do this is to ingest less energy than you expend. “When, thanks to medications that generate a very high level of satiety, you generate a significant caloric deficit, that is to say, you eat significantly less than the energy your body needs on a daily basis, you will lose fat, but also muscle. Exactly what you don’t want to lose. Well, muscle is your health insurance,” he warns.

To illustrate his point, Novoa compares a person’s body fat with his savings and gives an example: when a person finds himself without a job – or in this case without food – and sees his income decrease, he will initially use time part of his savings to cover his expenses. expenses. , but if the work situation doesn’t improve quickly, this person will likely focus on reducing expenses by moving to a smaller home, turning off the lights and heat, among other things. The body does the same: If caloric intake is significantly reduced for a long enough period of time, this prioritizes muscle loss, unintentionally leading to less energy expenditure.

“Not working on changing habits is like trying to plug a leak by simply plugging the hole with a finger (…) The person needs a clear and powerful reason to decide to change their habits. And in the vast majority of cases, it has nothing to do with weight. If habits are not worked on, there is no solution to the problem in 99.9% of cases,” explains the founder of Kinu Coaching.

Nutritionist Katherine Urzúa points out that the decrease in muscle mass and energy expenditure observed during weight loss can be avoided to a certain extent through resistance exercises. However, he cautions that although maintaining high energy expenditure through physical activity helps in some way to maintain weight loss, when activity is interrupted in general there is a rebound effect. , which turns exercise into an obligation, worsening the relationship with it in the long term.

Novoa expresses the same opinion and regrets that the fitness industry has created a link between physical activity and weight loss. “This is the most ineffective way to lose weight. It’s much easier to do it through diet,” he warns. He also recognizes that it is important to understand that losing fat weight while protecting muscle mass is a slow process that takes time and requires structure. “Firstly, you must generate a moderate calorie deficit, secondly you must structure your nutritional intake well, making sure to increase your daily protein intake to protect the muscle. All in combination with training for muscle development with good programming of your workouts and progressive overload (as I get stronger I increase the weights, sets and/or repetitions). If you do everything correctly, you should lose between 0.5% and 1% of your weight per week and gain between 500 and 800 grams of muscle per month,” explains the coach.