Weight loss with Ozempic or Wegovy can be effective, but expensive. Enter so-called GLP-1 supplements that have taken on the nickname “nature’s Ozempic.”
They’re much cheaper than the injectable prescription drugs, and include berberine, gummies and drink mixes infused with oatmeal and tea.
One of the latest products on the market — Lemme GLP-1 Daily, from Kourtney Kardashian Barker’s wellness brand — is advertised as helping to reduce hunger, decrease weight and increase levels of GLP-1. It’s a hormone the body produces when people eat food to signal fullness to the brain.
But do these products really work? Doctors are skeptical.
Ozempic, a Type 2 diabetes medication, and its sister drug Wegovy, which is specifically approved for weight loss, both contain semaglutide, which mimics GLP-1.
This active ingredient has gone through a rigorous approval process by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and has been shown to suppress appetite, leading people to lose weight, said Dr. Roshini Raj, a New York gastroenterologist.
It’s a different story with the cheaper alternatives.
“What’s very misleading, in my opinion, is a lot of these supplements have the term GLP-1 on the bottle, but they do not contain GLP-1. They do not contain an agonist or a mimicking hormone,” Raj said in a TODAY segment that aired on Thursday, Sept. 19.
“They contain extracts, maybe from fruits or vegetables, that purport to boost your body’s natural GLP-1. But to me, that’s a big difference.”
So if you pick up a bottle of supplements that says GLP-1 on the label, you’re not getting GLP-1 and you don’t know exactly what’s inside, Raj warned. Companies can get away with that because the supplement industry is not well regulated, and the FDA doesn’t approve the supplements, so little is known about the safety or efficacy of the products, she added, calling it “a bit of a Wild West.”
The emerging supplements claim to promote natural production of the GLP-1 hormone,…
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