Ozempic could help curb alcohol abuse, study reveals

The latest weight loss craze could also help people control their drinking.

Semaglutide treatments such as Ozempic and Wegovy have been shown to reduce the symptoms of alcohol use disorder (AUD), according to a study published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry on Nov. 27.

The collaborative study from The University of Oklahoma (OU) and Oklahoma State University (OSU) found a “significant and noteworthy decrease” in the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) scores of six patients who were receiving semaglutide treatment for weight loss.

Lead study author Dr. Jesse Richards, director of obesity medicine and assistant professor of medicine at the OU-TU School of Community Medicine, said the study was inspired by his conversation with Dr. Kyle Simmons, professor of pharmacology and physiology at the OSU Center for Health Sciences.

“I had been hearing from a significant number of patients that their alcohol intake was spontaneously decreasing while [they were] on the medication,” Richards told Fox News Digital.

As a bariatric surgery clinic employee, Richards noted that it’s standard to screen patients for alcohol use.

At the clinic, a number of patients tested positive for alcohol consumption, sometimes in concerning amounts.

Later, while on semaglutide medication, they reported reduced alcohol intake.

One of Richards’ patients — who previously drank large amounts of alcohol — shared a new inability to drink more than two cans of beer now because it “just doesn’t sound good.”

This response piqued Richards’ interest in learning more about patients’ aversion to alcohol, which directly correlated to his research.

Research has shown that this effect is “mediated through adjustments in the reward pathway in the brain,” he said.

“The GLP-1s are actually modifying dopamine, decreasing the craving and decreasing the motivation to acquire things in that compulsive intake category.”

The most surprising takeaway from the study, Richards said, was that the same significant treatment response was seen even at very low doses.

“We found that even patients on the lowest dose of semaglutide — a quarter milligram — had a quite significant and relatively … quick onset reduction in alcohol intake,” he said.

Of the six patients studied, all but one were on low doses — from a quarter to a half milligram.

“And that’s very encouraging because we know that the lower doses of these medications are tolerated much better,” said Richards.

While the results seem promising, the doctor said he does not recommend that patients use semaglutide treatments for alcohol use disorder at this time, due to supply and safety issues.

“If patients have [obesity and diabetes] indications for the medication and they also struggle with alcohol intake … having them on this treatment may potentially be beneficial,” Richards said.

“But because there has been a global medication shortage, and because we don’t have prospective trials and don’t know what the specific safety is versus the well-established safety data in obesity and diabetes, [I] would not recommend it just for patients who have AUD.”

There are three FDA-approved drugs available for alcoholic use disorder that are currently underused, the doctor noted.

Given that five million people in the U.S. are currently taking semaglutide medications, if it is proven that those drugs have a significant effect on alcohol use disorder, “by default, they are going to become the most widely used drug to improve these symptoms — just by virtue of the fact that so many people are on them for diabetes or obesity,” Richards noted.

He confirmed that additional research is underway with two ongoing trials.

“Since we were able to show clinically meaningful reductions in alcohol intake and AUD symptomatology in a real-world setting, that bodes very well for these types of medications,” he said.

Looking ahead, Richard said there is a need for higher-quality evidence of the medication’s impact on AUD compared to placebo drugs or environmental factors.

Even though it’s unclear whether GLP-1 producers will market the medication to AUD patients in the future, Richards said this could become an “established medical practice once the safety and efficacy has been determined.”

For patients who struggle with AUD, Richards recommended they talk to their health care providers about available treatment.

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He also alerted patients that if they experience a reduced appetite and usually consume “a bunch of calories” in alcohol, it may be necessary to look into a more balanced diet.

Avantika Waring, 9amHealth’s chief medical officer and a trained physician and endocrinologist in San Francisco, applauded the OU and OSU study findings for further supporting what clinicians “are already seeing in practice,” she told Fox News Digital.

“GLP-1 medications have a lot of effects that we are still learning about, and the ability to decrease cravings and the reward signals related to alcohol use are just some of the benefits,” she said.

“It’s an important starting point for further clinical trials,” she added.

Waring also warned that GLP-1 medications should not be used to treat AUD specifically, as they can cause side effects such as nausea and changes in appetite.

“People struggling with alcohol use disorder should consult with their physicians before starting GLP-1 medications to make sure that they can stay hydrated and safe on therapy,” she said.

Waring noted that if ongoing clinical trials find semaglutide treatments to be effective for AUD, the medical community will “have another tool to help people living with alcohol addiction and we’ll see expanded use of these already popular drugs.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Novo Nordisk for comment on the potential link between semaglutide medications and alcohol use disorder.

Pets can help slow dementia progress among those over age 50 who live alone, study says

A new study suggests getting that cute dog in one's more mature years might be a good idea after all. 

Researchers from the Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, found that pet ownership can be associated with slower rates of developing dementia. 

The study, published on Tuesday in JAMA Network Open, determined that owning a pet made a difference in verbal memory and fluency among adults who lived alone.

NEW STUDY SHOWS THE EFFECT OWNING PETS HAS ON OWNERS' BRAINS

The study's author, professor Ciyong Lu, said in the study that slower rates of declining verbal memory and fluency were seen in those who lived alone — but not in those who lived with others.

"Pet ownership offset the associations between living alone and declining rates [of] verbal memory and verbal fluency," he said. 

Researchers found that owning a pet helps those with dementia.  (iStock)

The research involved more than 7,900 participants over the age of 50, with roughly 35% of them owning pets and 27% of them living alone.

In the study, Lu said that those living alone with a pet showed slower rates of developing signs of dementia.

DOG OWNER GOOD NEWS: PETTING YOUR DOG MAY LEAD TO STRONGER MEMORY AND BETTER PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS

"These findings suggest that pet ownership may be associated with slower cognitive decline among older adults living alone," he said.

"Contrary to living alone," the authors also wrote, "pet ownership (for example, raising dogs and cats) is related to reduced loneliness, an important risk factor for dementia and cognitive decline."

A new study found that owning a pet could be beneficial for people with signs of dementia who live alone.  (iStock)

Lu said that clinical trials will be necessary in order to confirm the study's findings.

Currently, more than 55 million people worldwide have dementia — with nearly 10 million new cases each year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). 

EATING ONE POPULAR FRUIT COULD HELP REDUCE YOUR CHANCES OF DEVELOPING DEMENTIA, STUDY FINDS

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, which is currently the 7th leading cause of death, the WHO also notes. 

Early symptoms of dementia include forgetfulness, being confused, losing track of time, misjudging distances, feeling anxious, experiencing personality changes, engaging in inappropriate behavior and more. (iStock)

Early symptoms of dementia include forgetfulness, being confused, losing track of time, misjudging distances, feeling anxious, personality changes, inappropriate behavior and more.

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There is currently no cure for dementia or for someone developing signs of dementia, but the WHO suggests that staying active and continuing to stimulate the brain may help.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Lu for further comment. 

For more Lifestyle articles, visit www.foxnews.com/lifestyle.

Brittany Kasko is a lifestyle production assistant with Fox News Digital. 

Food stuck in your throat? Sipping cola won't help, study indicates

1 of 2 | New research published in the Christmas issue of BMJ dispels the myth that cola can help clear a blocked esophagus. Photo by Kenny Holmes/Pixabay

NEW YORK, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- If a piece of turkey becomes lodged in your throat this holiday season, experts recommend against trying to free it with cola -- an old wives' tale given new life through advice found on seemingly credible websites.

New research published in the Christmas issue of BMJ -- the journal of the British Medical Association -- dispels the myth that this purported remedy can help clear a blocked esophagus.

Cola is often given to patients when food gets stuck in the esophagus, the study's lead author, Dr. Arjan Bredenoord, a professor of gastroenterology at Amsterdam University Medical Centers in the Netherlands, told UPI via email.

Physicians have recommended it and patients also have tried it. Yet, "the efficacy of this approach was unknown," Bredenoord said in explaining why he undertook the study.

Impacted food can cause a painful feeling of pressure, and sometimes people can no longer even swallow saliva. Usually, food gets stuck due to narrowing of the esophagus, which can stem from a tumor or a scar from previous inflammation.

"If food gets stuck in the esophagus, it is a frightening and painful sensation," Bredenoord said. "It isn't the same as choking, when food gets stuck in the trachea, but it certainly can be as frightening as choking."

Such a scenario can create a dangerous situation, so it's important that people seek appropriate treatment, he said.

Sometimes the food becomes loose on its own. When it doesn't, patients need to visit the emergency room, where doctors can perform an endoscopy. In this procedure, a camera is inserted through the mouth into the esophagus and the food is removed with a net or a forceps.

To test the belief that cola can be effective, Bredenoord and his team across five Dutch hospitals investigated the efficacy of the soft drink in dissolving food stuck in the esophagus.

Of the 51 patients who participated in the study and waiting for an endoscopy, half were given sips of cola in the emergency room, while the other half just waited. If the patients still couldn't swallow saliva, doctors performed an emergency endoscopy and removed the food.

The results indicated that cola did not help. In the patients who received cola, as well as those who waited without cola, there was an improvement in 61% of them. There were no side effects or complications from cola use.

Dr. Keith Chadwick, a clinical assistant professor of laryngology at Stony Brook Medicine in Stony Brook, N.Y., who was not involved in the study, told UPI in a telephone interview that the researchers successfully debunked an old wives' tale.

Giving cola to half of the study's participants while offering nothing to the other half was "a good way to see if the cola would make a difference," Chadwick said. "I would not recommend [using cola]."

If food becomes stuck in the esophagus and nothing is able to pass through, it's possible that the cola could come back up. That could injure the esophagus or the airway, Chadwick said.

Instead of cola, he suggests drinking a few sips of water. If that doesn't resolve the problem, a trip to the emergency room is in order.

Dr. Kelli DeLay, an assistant professor of gastroenterology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora, Colo., told UPI via email that patients who experience food impaction tend to report a history of food becoming stuck or trouble swallowing.

Without proper intervention, prolonged impactions can increase the risk of complications, DeLay said.

"This study is helpful in guiding providers to avoid interventions that don't work and to ensure we don't delay necessary care -- urgent endoscopy for food disimpaction," she said.

The study is timely during the holiday season because of the kinds of food celebrants often eat.

"Foods that can become impacted in a narrowed esophagus are often dense, like meats," DeLay said. "These foods can be part of popular holiday meals, so it's not uncommon that during the holidays like Christmas, we have more patients present with food impactions."