Weight Loss Drugs

Category: Weight Loss Drugs

Do GLP-1’s Slow Natural GLP-1 Production?

Jun 04, 2026

In this blog post I want to review an interesting article I just read regarding GLP-1 medications. The article was posted on BBC.com for those interested in reading it in its entirety.

One of the major (not the only major, just one of the major) issues with the new GLP-1 drugs (tirzepatide and semaglutide) used for weight loss is that once a patient stops using the drugs they almost always regain the weight lost. A study in 2021 showed that After 68 weeks of semaglutide injections, the average patient lost more than 15% of their body weight, but within 12 months of treatment ending, patients regained two thirds of their prior weight loss on average. On top of this, the weight gain happened much more rapidly than the weight loss. The question is “why?”

Dr. Martin Whyte states in the article that the doses of GLP-1 provided by semaglutide and tirzepatide are far greater than the body would naturally expect to receive, he says, which may suppress the body’s ability to secrete GLP-1 on its own. As a result, people’s hunger may return even more voraciously when they cease their doses. He hypothesizes that taking GLP-1 medication makes it more difficult for your body to make its own, natural, GLP-1. GLP-1 regulates hunger naturally so not producing it can cause hunger to become out of control. He goes on to state, “What may be happening, and we don’t know for sure, is that when you stop them, your body’s left in a GLP-1 deficit which has a major impact on the satiety signal going to the brain.”

Again, this is an assumption made by Dr. Whyte. Unfortunately, before approving this medication, this mechanism was not confirmed. The mechanism does make sense, however, if we look at how other natural hormones produced by the body respond when we take synthetic versions. When women go through hormone replacement therapy or men start testosterone replacement therapy, the extra hormones the receive exogenously slow the natural production of hormones in the body.

If this is the case, then the only treatment for success is to treat with these medications for life. This point is underscored by another doctor quoted in the article. Dr. Domenica Rubino states that “I try to explain that these are chronic medications, but everyone secretly feels, ‘Yeah, but you know what, I’m different, and once I hit my weight goal, I’ll be ok.’ But the reality is, the brain is quite powerful.”

The warning here, in my estimation, is that if you are going to start these drugs to lose weight then you better be prepared to stay on them for the rest of your life. You must also fully understand the long-term side effects and costs associated with taking them. I, along with Dr. Rubino, see a severe disconnect with this reality and the perception of people starting these medications for weight management. It is up to health care professionals to fully educate patients on these, and other issues, related to taking medications before recommending treatment.

Does A Poor Diet Cause Depression?

Feb 25, 2026

Today’s blog post is going to focus on the relationship between food and mood. More specifically, does a diet filled with junk food cause depression? First off, it would be easy for me to make a snap judgement and say, “of course it does.” My life, after all, revolves around helping people make healthy changes to their diet to lose weight naturally. Instead of just assuming a poor diet causes any number of health conditions I prefer to look at the data and interpret it.

My simple answer to the question of “does a poor diet cause weight loss?” is NO. As shocking as this revelation may be I believe, based on what I have read, that there is another factor that causes both a poor diet and depression. So let’s look at the research.

One popular study on the link between diet and mood found that: “A dietary pattern characterized by a high intake of fruit, vegetables, whole grain, fish, olive oil, low-fat dairy and antioxidants and low intakes of animal foods was associated with a decreased risk of depression. A dietary pattern characterized by a high consumption of red and/or processed meat, refined grains, sweets, high-fat dairy products, butter, potatoes and high-fat gravy, and low intakes of fruits and vegetables is associated with an increased risk of depression. This sounds like a slam-dunk right. One’s diet obviously effects mood and can lead to depression.

We can’t stop here, however. What if the people in the study were depressed and then turned to easy junk foods for comfort? Luckily, researchers wondered about this as well and in another large analysis they looked at baseline diet and then calculated the risk of participants later developing depression. They found that “A healthy diet (the Mediterranean diet as an example) was associated with a significantly lower risk of developing depressive symptoms.”

So that should put a bow on it. Diet directly affects mood. But wait, earlier I said that I don’t think this is the case. So why am I quoting all this research stating that food does effect mood? The reason is that I still don’t think that the research has dived deep enough to really uncover the source of the depression.

Correlation does not mean causation. Just because two factors happen together does not mean that one causes another. So what could cause both a poor diet and depression? The research is clear on this. Income-inequality, more specifically, having an extremely low income compared to the general society can contribute directly to a depressive state. People with a lower income are also much more likely to choose cheap, fatty, and unhealthy food.

In conclusion, I believe that maintaining a healthy diet can be beneficial in countless ways. It may even make you feel a little better emotionally. I don’t however believe that diets directly cause depression. Depression and poor diet can be seen to be more easily caused by having low income.

Complications from Weight Loss Drugs

Nov 26, 2025

In this week’s blog post I will review an article I read on Yahoo.com. It featured several patients who were currently using or had used weight loss drugs. The article focused on their stories of the complications that arose for them while taking drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Zepbound. I want to briefly review the statements that these patients made to Yahoo.com to hopefully shed more light on the possible risks of taking these drugs.

Joanie Knight was the first patient to share. She was diagnosed with gastroparesis (stomach paralysis) after taking Ozempic. She states, “I wish I never touched it. I wish I’d never heard of it in my life, this medicine made my life hell. So much hell. It has cost me money. It cost me a lot of stress; it cost me days and nights and trips with my family. It cost me a lot, and it’s not worth it. The price is too high.” She goes on to state, “I thought, ‘I hadn’t eaten. How am I throwing up this much?”

Roy Webster was next, and his story is truly heartbreaking. He states that his wife, Trish, died after taking Ozempic along with weight-loss drug Saxenda to lose weight for their daughter’s wedding. When he found her, he states, “She had a little bit of brown stuff coming out of her mouth and I realized she wasn’t breathing and started doing CPR, it was just pouring out, and I turned her onto the side because she couldn’t breathe.” Her death certificate lists acute gastrointestinal illness as her cause of death.

Derron Borders had a less tragic but disgusting story to tell. He said that he experienced “Burps that taste and smell like rotten eggs — I think that’s what I typed in Google,” The Ozempic website lists nausea, diarrhea, stomach pain, vomiting and constipation as potential side effects, but it doesn’t mention burping.

Jaclyn Bjorklund is suing Novo Nordisk, the maker of Ozempic. Her lawsuit states that she experienced “severe vomiting, stomach pain, gastrointestinal burning, being hospitalized for stomach issues on several occasions including visits to the emergency room, [and] teeth falling out due to excessive vomiting, requiring additional medications to alleviate her excessive vomiting, and throwing up whole food hours after eating.”

At the end of the article a few prominent doctors are interviewed. I found one of the doctors’ statements to be particularly enlightening. Dr Kunal Shah stated “gastrointestinal issues are relatively common. People will have a baseline level of nausea or will have diarrhea or constipation — that usually does go away after a period of time.”

Obviously in some cases the symptoms don’t simply “go away.”

Unfortunately, these risks are accepted by a majority of the public. Certainly not all patients who take Ozempic, Wegovy, or any of the other popular weight loss drugs develop these problems. That said, we need to ask ourselves, “Is it actually worth it?.” Is the risk of losing a little weight worth the potential side effects? This is a question I have an answer to, but it obviously isn’t the popular answer. No.

Do GLP-1’s Slow Natural GLP-1 Production?

Does A Poor Diet Cause Depression?

Complications from Weight Loss Drugs

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