Taking Ozempic makes you three and a half times more likely to experience life-threatening erectile dysfunction, a new study suggests.
Researchers at the University of Texas studied more than 1,500 obese, non-diabetic men with the blockbuster drug and found that a staggering number experienced sexual problems within just a month of starting a prescription.
Although other research and anecdotal reports indicate that erectile dysfunction is one of the drug’s many unpleasant side effects, this is the first study to assess the degree of risk.
Weight loss drugs like Ozempic are used by more than two million people in the US, including reality star Scott Disick, who was recently outed when eagle-eyed viewers of The Kardashians spotted packs of a similar shot of Mounjaro in his fridge.
The researchers found that semaglutide users were not only three and a half times more likely to have the sex problem, but they were also almost twice as likely to develop testosterone deficiency.
Researchers from the University of Texas found that obese, non-diabetic men were 3.5 times more likely to be newly diagnosed with erectile dysfunction within at least a month of starting semaglutide.
Scott Disick is a male celebrity who uses a GLP-1 agonist for weight loss. Viewers spotted boxes of Mounjaro in Scott Disick’s refrigerator during an episode of The Kardashians in May
The researchers used a large database of patient data to identify men aged 18 to 50 without a diabetes diagnosis, who had a BMI over 30 and were prescribed semaglutide – the generic drug in Ozempic and Wegovy – after June 2021.
Men with a previous diagnosis of erectile dysfunction were excluded, as were those taking Viagra and with a history of testosterone deficiency.
They also excluded men who had previously been diagnosed with diabetes, because the condition is a risk factor for erectile dysfunction.
About 3,094 men who met the criteria were matched with an equal number of non-diabetic, obese men who had never received a prescription for semaglutide.
The researchers found that semaglutide users were not only three and a half times more likely to have sex problems, but they also almost twice as likely to develop a testosterone deficiency.
Semaglutide drugs work for weight loss by mimicking the hormone glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), which occurs naturally in the body and makes us feel full.
Erectile dysfunction usually occurs when blood flow to the penis is restricted. In order for a man to become erect, the blood vessels that carry blood to his penis must dilate. As a result, more blood flows into the penis and it swells.
The condition may also be associated with nerve damage from surgery; medications, including blood pressure pills and hormone suppressors used to treat prostate cancer; and alcohol.
The researchers speculated that just as the GLP-1 receptor agonist slows stomach emptying, it may also slow blood flow to the penis.
Dr. Shauna Levy, an obesity specialist at Tulane University, also said the libido component is “a big part of it.”
‘We know that GLP-1s affect the reward center of our brain, and for many people there is reward in sex,’ she told DailyMail.com.
“And if people somehow don’t get the same reward from sex, it can affect our libido in some way.”
‘I certainly think that is a possible mechanism. Maybe not for everyone, but for some.’
Studies show that semaglutide affects brain chemicals involved in reward pathways and libido.
Lower libido can lead to erectile dysfunction, she added.
She said the study’s results were “surprising” and indicated that “we still have a lot more to find out about this topic.”
In patients who undergo bariatric weight loss surgery, erectile dysfunction and generally low testosterone levels improve.
“In my mind, I expect this drug to work the same way,” Dr. Levy said.
‘We know that weight loss surgery works on several different hormonal pathways, not just one or two, so maybe that has something to do with it, unlike semaglutide which only targets the GLP pathways.’
Bariatric surgery also naturally increases your hormonal levels, she pointed out.
On the other hand, ‘although GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs mimic our naturally occurring hormone, they are not [the exact hormones].’
“Maybe that has something to do with where they focus on the body. It’s all speculative until more research is done.’
Dr. Levy said patients taking preparations and semaglutide and “possibly” tirzepatide, the active ingredient in the drug Mounjaro, may see the same increased risk of erectile dysfunction, but she stressed that more research is needed.
She added that while the study showed an increased risk of erectile dysfunction, “it’s still not an extremely high risk.”
‘While it may give some men pause on taking a drug, they obviously need to weigh the risks and benefits if they are at high risk for heart disease or have other complications with obesity, but they may still choose to continue to continue taking medications. the medication,” she said.
She added: ‘The scariest thing about side effects is, what if they don’t go away when you stop taking the medicine?’
Another thing that according to Dr. Levy needs to be investigated is whether erectile dysfunction after using Wegovy or Ozempic is permanent.
‘Because if not, then maybe it’s a risk worth taking. But if it is permanent, I think more people will definitely think about taking medication.”
Dr. Sue Decotiis, a weight-loss doctor who practices in New York, said that in the 10 years she had been prescribing these drugs, she had not seen any GLP-1 agonists lead to erectile dysfunction.
But she said: ‘If people get ED from these drugs, it is likely to occur at the start of treatment when there is a higher dose.
‘In the beginning, the body goes through a huge metabolic change and there is a lot of fatigue. This temporarily affects libido and erectile dysfunction, but it helps in the longer term.’