Reporters in London have highlighted a recent study indicating that weight loss medications could reduce the risk of heart attacks by 20% and benefit the cardiovascular health of millions of adults in the UK.
This finding may represent the most significant medical breakthrough since scientists successfully developed statin drugs that lower bad cholesterol levels in the blood in the 1990s.
Semaglutide, the active ingredient in brands including Wegovy and Ozempic, has been prescribed by doctors in the UK for weight loss since 2023. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images).
The new study was conducted by scientists from University College London (UCL) and presented at the European Obesity Conference (ECO).
According to the study, semaglutide – the active ingredient found in several injectable weight loss medications – may help reduce the incidence of heart attacks, strokes, or deaths from cardiovascular disease by up to 20%.
The research involved 17,604 adults over the age of 45 with a body mass index (BMI) over 27 across 41 countries worldwide.
Participants, including those with a history of cardiovascular disease, were prescribed semaglutide at a dose of 2.5 mg weekly or a placebo for a duration of 40 months.
The results showed that semaglutide provided cardiovascular benefits for participants, regardless of their initial weight or the amount of weight they lost during the treatment period.
Previously, another study based on a similar clinical trial conducted over four years revealed that volunteers prescribed semaglutide lost an average of 10.2% of their body weight and experienced a 7.7 cm reduction in waist circumference, while the placebo group lost only 1.5% of their body weight and 1.3 cm in waist circumference.
Additionally, the study indicated that even a small amount of weight loss could improve health issues related to cardiovascular conditions.
Professor John Deanfield, Director of the National Institute for Cardiovascular Research (NICOR) and the lead author of the study, stated that the discovery of semaglutide’s new effects could be considered a breakthrough, and medications containing this active ingredient should be prescribed more frequently to treat cardiovascular diseases.
According to data from the British Heart Foundation (BHF), approximately 7.6 million people in the UK are living with cardiovascular or circulatory diseases. Furthermore, the obesity rate has nearly doubled since the 1990s.
Currently, 26% of adults are classified as obese, while 38% are overweight.
Obesity has surpassed smoking as the leading cause of four common types of cancer, with smoking now accounting for 20% of cancer cases.
