A new study has revealed that the ingredients of the popular weight loss drug Ozempic are linked to hair loss.
According to Health, researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada, famous drugs Ozempic and Wegovy’s active ingredient, semaglutide, trigger excessive hair loss.
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Researchers found that people who take Ozempic and Wegovy have more hair loss as compared to those who are taking bupropion-naltrexone, another weight loss drug that is not a GLP-1.
The first author of the study, Mohit Sodhi, told Health, “There were many anecdotal reports, case studies, and reports to the FDA of hair loss, but no studies investigated this risk in a real-life clinical setting.”
For this study, the researchers analysed data of 1,926 people taking semaglutide for weight loss and 1,348 people taking bupropion-naltrexone, sold as Contrave.
Sodhi explained, “Bupropion-naltrexone was used as an active comparator because it is chemically distinct from semaglutide and to control for confounding by indication, meaning that both the cases and controls under investigation were using these medications for weight loss.”
They found that 26.5 out of 1,000 people taking Ozempic's active ingredient, semaglutide, experienced hair loss, while the people using bupropion-naltrexone have a lower risk: 11.8 out of 1,000.
Notably, the study also revealed that women taking semaglutide have more than twice the risk of hair loss compared to men.
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