Ozempic Can Trigger Muscle Loss—Consuming Extra of This Nutrient May Assist

Consuming much less protein could also be linked to larger muscle loss for folks taking weight reduction medicine like Ozempic, based on a current examine offered July 12 on the ENDO 2025 convention, the Endocrine Society’s annual assembly.

Fast weight reduction—no matter the way it’s achieved—is thought to cut back lean mass, or muscle. Low muscle mass can improve the danger of falls and fractures, significantly amongst older adults and different teams vulnerable to bone loss. It could possibly additionally impair the physique’s capability to control blood sugar ranges.

However for these taking GLP-1 receptor agonists, a category of new-generation weight reduction medicines, weight loss program could play an particularly very important function in preserving muscle, researchers discovered. The examine has not but been revealed in a peer-reviewed journal.

“Our knowledge counsel that greater protein consumption—particularly amongst contributors on semaglutide—could assist forestall some lack of lean mass,” examine writer Melanie Haines, MD, of Massachusetts Normal Hospital and Harvard Medical College, advised Well being.

For the brand new examine, Haines and her colleagues recruited 40 adults with weight problems (however not kind 2 diabetes) who visited a weight reduction clinic. Medical doctors prescribed semaglutide, the energetic ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, to 23 sufferers, and the opposite 17 adopted a weight loss program and way of life weight reduction program.

After three months, the semaglutide group misplaced extra weight than the weight loss program and way of life group, 6.3% in comparison with 2.5%. The 2 teams misplaced an identical share of lean muscle mass.

Notably, within the semaglutide group, being older, feminine, and consuming much less protein firstly of the examine have been all related to the best losses in lean mass. On this group, larger muscle loss was additionally linked with much less enchancment in blood sugar ranges.

Whether or not you’re taking a GLP-1 or following a brand new weight loss program, you’re doubtless consuming fewer energy total. Which means consuming much less protein, which accommodates amino acids that assist the physique preserve muscle.

Whereas the examine didn’t check whether or not consuming extra protein may assist stave off muscle loss, the researchers concluded that it appeared doubtless to take action.

“Our examine wasn’t a randomized managed trial, so we don’t have direct proof on precisely how a lot protein,” stated Haines. “However it appeared like extra protein was higher by way of stopping lack of lean mass.”

It’s price noting, nonetheless, that the examine has some key limitations, together with a scarcity of peer overview. It’s additionally small, and since most contributors have been white ladies, the findings could not apply to a broader inhabitants, identified Richard Siegel, MD, an endocrinologist and co-director of the Diabetes and Lipid Middle at Tufts Medical Middle.

Whereas the examine solutions some questions, it raises others, similar to whether or not folks on high-protein diets lose much less muscle and which muscle mass are probably to atrophy throughout weight reduction. Future research ought to dig into these questions, Haines stated.

Although the examine didn’t conclusively present that protein—or every other nutrient—prevents muscle loss, the flexibility of protein to assist muscle well being is well-known. 

To mitigate muscle atrophy, Siegel recommends as a lot as 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of physique weight for his sufferers, or about 0.7 grams per pound. Which means consuming roughly 60 to 120 grams of protein per day. Excessive-protein meals embody:

Seafood, lean meats, and poultry
Eggs
Legumes like beans, peas, and lentils
Soy merchandise
Nuts and seeds

Different macronutrients and nutritional vitamins are additionally necessary. “You want fats, you want carbohydrates, you want fiber, you want stability,” Siegel advised Well being. 

Consultants additionally suggest resistance coaching, similar to push-ups, squats, or weightlifting, to assist scale back muscle loss. A 2021 examine discovered that, for folks taking the GLP-1 drug liraglutide, resistance coaching helped preserve lean muscle mass.

“In case you use medicine alone, with out good bodily exercise and good vitamin, it’s placing sufferers in danger for issues,” stated Siegel. “In case your lean mass is down, and your bone mass is down, you’re in danger for falls and fractures, which might in the end improve morbidity and mortality.”

Some folks taking GLP-1 medicine will expertise nausea and different negative effects and will not have a lot of an urge for food, making it troublesome to train or eat sufficient protein. She advises discovering a dose with manageable negative effects.