MAITLAND, Fla. – Many people have resolved to tighten their belts in 2025!
Whether they’re hoping to lose weight or get their finances in order, new research shows popular weight loss drugs are having a big impact on both fronts.
Dr. George Carroll runs BeSlimMD, a private weight loss clinic in Maitland. He has been helping patients lose weight for more than 40 years, but says when so called GLP-1 drugs made from semaglutide or tirzepatide hit the market, it was a game changer.
Hearing about the incredible weight loss stories, Dr. Carroll wanted to try semaglutide on himself first before prescribing the medication to his patients.
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“Yes. Yes, I did. I wanted to say, well, A. does it really work like all the hype says,” said Dr. Carroll. “Plus, I needed to lose weight. And so, yes, I went on it and was very successful. I wound up losing 45 pounds.”
Dr. Carroll says it took him about four months to lose the weight.
“That’s when I realized I didn’t have a single piece of clothing to wear. Not one,” said Dr. Carroll. “I literally had to buy everything new from bathing suits to pants to shirts.”
Dr. Carroll says he even had to get his jewelry resized because his wedding ring kept slipping off his finger and apparently, he is not alone.
A recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll found 1 in 8 American adults have taken a GLP-1 drug and clothing retailers are cashing in on slimmer waistlines.
According to a recent report in The Journal of the American Medical Association, in 2023, BMI and obesity rates in the U.S. decreased for the first time in more than a decade. The most notable decrease was in the south, which also had the highest per capita rate of dispensing these drugs.
A recent study from Cornell University found households with at least one GLP-1 user reduced grocery spending by about 6% in six months. Higher-income households cut spending even more by nearly 9%. High calorie, processed foods are taking the biggest hit with an 11% decline in spending on savory snacks.
Fast-food chains and coffee shops are reportedly also seeing drops during breakfast and dinner times.
On the flip side, Cornell researchers say sales of yogurt and fresh produce are going up. Meanwhile, companies like Nestle are now trying to claw back consumers with new products specifically targeting GLP-1 users.
It comes as millions of Americans continue to shelling out money for these weight loss medications
“It works and it’s very successful and one person tells the next person, the mother tells the daughter, the daughter tells her friend,” said Dr. Carroll. “It’s something that is truly a game changer and is very successful.
News 6 Anchor Lisa Bell interviewed Dr. George Carroll about several other topics including the difference between semaglutide and tirzepatide as well as the safety of compounding pharmacies. Also, how these drugs are reducing alcohol consumption for some people.
Bell: We hear “semaglutide” we hear “tirzepatide.” What is the difference and is one better than the other?
Dr. Carroll: Semaglutide is the active ingredient in the original drug that was discovered that controls the appetite center. And it was discovered by a company called Novo Nordisk and they found that it lowered blood sugar. So, it was initially approved for the treatment of diabetes, the original dose, and it was given the brand name Ozempic. Once they had treated thousands of patients with those Ozempic, they saw another phenomenon that all of these diabetics, not only was their sugar going down, but they were losing significant amounts of weight and so they put the researchers on to ask, why is this happening? And they realized that they discovered the analog or the exact copy of a naturally occurring hormone that turns off the appetite center. So they said, okay, let’s raise the dose and use it for weight loss. So they have this exactly the same ingredient semaglutide at a higher level and they gave it the brand name. Wegovy. So you’ve got to know something that’s approved by the FDA for the treatment of diabetes, but it is not approved for weight loss. You’ve got Wegovy that’s approved for weight loss, but it’s not approved for the treatment of diabetes. Eli Lilly then came up with a second-generation drug and they named it tirzepatide. And again, the active ingredient is tirzepatide, the brand name for the treatment of diabetes, a lower dose is Mounjaro and they’ve got a higher dose that’s equivalent to like the Wegovy higher dose for the treatment of weight loss. It’s called Zepbound.
Bell: Should people feel confident in the safety of getting their medications from these compounding pharmacies?
Dr. Carroll: I would say in general, yes. Now, there are always bad actors out there, but what the patient really has to be confident in is their provider. Do they have a competent, legitimate provider that’s giving it to them and treating them with this? Big pharma has thrown a lot of shade at compounding pharmacies, such things as: “well, you know, compounding pharmacies are not approved by the FDA.” That’s correct, but they are also not approved by the Boy Scouts of America. They’re also not approved by the Federal Aviation Authority because the FDA has no venue. They have no way to approve them. They’re not authorized to approve compounding pharmacies. The people that approve compounding pharmacies are the state pharmaceutical boards, and they come in and they inspect your pharmacy from head to toe. For example, the pharmacy that we use is approved in 17 different states. That means they have to keep 17 pharmaceutical boards happy to come in and live through their inspections.
Bell: One thing that you’ve noticed, you probably see it in your patients but also personally, is a change in alcohol consumption.
Dr. Carroll: Yes, yes, you know, all of us, or many of us, well, I used to come home after work and, you know, my wife would have done the activities and I did mine and we get together in the den and we would have a drink. We wouldn’t have two drinks, we’d have a drink and we’d talk about “what did you do today, what did I do today?” and my go to drink was a Manhattan. I love the process of measuring it and shaking it, pouring it. It looks real pretty and a nice glass and I realized at some point that weeks had gone by and we hadn’t had a drink and I said, “wow, I don’t even want to.” It’s not like you’re afraid you’re going to vomit or something or you’re even thinking about the calories, you just have no desire for it. You lose your desire for alcohol. And so I said, “gosh darn it, I miss making it. I’m going to go ahead and make a Manhattan” even though I didn’t want it.
Dr. Carroll: They’ve done some studies on that and what they find is that all of us have a reward center in the brain and the reward center, when we do pleasurable things, secrete dopamine and it gives you a pleasurable sensation. So it gives you, let’s say you come home after a hard day of work and it gives you a sort of a reward ‘attaboy or girl’ you know, you had a hard day, you made it through and you relax. That’s because of the dopamine surge. What addicts get, addicts get they want more and more of that dopamine surge. And so you want more food because you enjoyed the first helping. Now you want to help it. So second, helping. You want the third helping because of the dopamine surge. You want to drink, you want another drink because of the dopamine surges and how it’s making you feel. Well, somehow semaglutide turns out that it satiates the pleasure center and you don’t need that. You don’t need that next surge.