{"id":473604,"date":"2026-05-29T19:49:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T19:49:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/473604\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T19:49:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T19:49:24","slug":"one-weight-loss-strategy-is-5x-more-effective-than-ozempic-study-shows-sciencealert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/473604\/","title":{"rendered":"One Weight Loss Strategy Is 5x More Effective Than Ozempic, Study Shows : ScienceAlert"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ozempic<\/a> and other semaglutide<\/a> medications have been working wonders in terms of shedding pounds for many people.<\/a><\/p>\n

But a recent study shows that they’re still not always the most effective medical option for weight loss.<\/p>\n

In fact, evidence suggests it’s not even close when it comes to comparing the drugs to another form of medical intervention.<\/p>\n

In a 2025 study, researchers from New York University (NYU) compared surgery for weight loss \u2013 sleeve gastrectomy<\/a> and gastric bypass<\/a> operations \u2013 against semaglutide or tirzepatide.<\/p>\n

These drugs are known as glucagon-like peptide-1<\/a> (GLP-1) receptor agonists, because of the way they mimic the natural GLP-1 hormone, which controls appetite<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Using health records, the team matched people who had taken one of the weight loss drugs with people who had undergone either of the bariatric surgery<\/a> operations, based on age, body mass index, and blood sugar levels.<\/p>\n

The bottom line: People in the surgery group shed an average of 25.7 percent of their total body weight over two years, while those in the medication group lost 5.3 percent.<\/p>\n

That’s partly down to patients not sticking to their GLP-1 drugs<\/a>, whereas surgery is more permanent, but the researchers also noticed smaller differences over shorter time frames \u2013 the surgery always gave the best results.<\/p>\n

\"OzempicSemaglutide mimics the body’s natural GLP-1 hormone. (aprott\/iStock\/Getty Images Plus)<\/p>\n

“Clinical trials<\/a> show weight loss between 15 percent and 21 percent for GLP-1s, but this study suggests that weight loss in the real world is considerably lower even for patients who have active prescriptions for an entire year,” said<\/a> NYU surgical resident Avery Brown when the results were presented in June<\/a> 2025.<\/p>\n

“We know as many as 70 percent of patients may discontinue treatment within one year. GLP-1 patients may need to adjust their expectations, adhere more closely to treatment or opt for metabolic and bariatric surgery to achieve desired results.”<\/p>\n

It’s worth noting that the study was funded by the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS), which would have a vested interest in promoting surgical options.<\/p>\n

The researchers aren’t outright dismissing semaglutide treatments, which also showed beneficial results in this study.<\/p>\n

With GLP-1 prescriptions increasing rapidly<\/a> in recent years, it’s crucial to investigate how they compare to established surgery methods<\/a>, and to figure out which options are best for each individual.<\/p>\n

“While both patient groups lose weight, metabolic and bariatric surgery is much more effective and durable,” said<\/a> ASMBS President Ann M. Rogers, who was not involved in the study.<\/p>\n

\"Subscribe<\/a><\/p>\n

GLP-1 drugs remain much more popular than surgery, but people don’t often<\/a> stick to taking them. Meanwhile, only a small percentage of people eligible for surgery choose it as an option.<\/p>\n

But weight loss isn’t the only benefit that can come from Ozempic.<\/p>\n

The drug was originally approved to treat type 2 diabetes<\/a>, because it helps lower blood sugar levels, and studies have shown it can also reduce the risk of cancer<\/a> and cardiovascular disease<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In this study, bariatric surgery was associated with even better blood sugar control.<\/p>\n

\"ABariatric surgery was associated with better blood sugar control compared to semaglutide. (Myriams-Fotos\/Pixabay<\/a>)<\/p>\n

It’s important to note that surgery isn’t a silver bullet either. Though safe, the procedures are invasive, permanent, and still require patients to stick to strict diet and exercise routines.<\/p>\n

Related: Drugs Like Ozempic Quieten ‘Food Noise,’ in Our Brains, Study Finds<\/a><\/p>\n

“In future studies we will aim to identify what healthcare providers can do to optimize GLP-1 outcomes, identify which patients are better treated with bariatric surgery versus GLP-1s, and determine the role out-of-pocket costs play in treatment success,” said<\/a> Karan Chhabra, a bariatric surgeon at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine.<\/p>\n

The research was presented<\/a> at the ASMBS annual meeting 2025.<\/p>\n

An earlier version of this article was published in June 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ozempic and other semaglutide medications have been working wonders in terms of shedding pounds for many people. But…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":473605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[103,61,60,371,2209],"class_list":["post-473604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-medication","tag-msft-content"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}