PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic have gained a great deal of attention for their ability to help people lose weight, but a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association has a surprising result.
These medications, called glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs), might help people with alcohol use disorder.
The study examined people in a program who were given GLP-1RAs and behavioral counseling through telehealth. The goal was weight loss.
The researchers were surprised to find that more than half of the 14,000 participants reported they had decreased their use of alcohol during the program.
The combination of counseling and the GLP-1RAs had a greater impact than either alone, or when other weight loss treatments were combined with counseling.
Get more medical reports from Dr. Brian McDonough.
KYW Newsradio's Medical Reports are sponsored by Independence Blue Cross.
