The past years have witnessed the emergence of many medications that help in losing weight, but how suitable are they for the elderly? What are the things that should be paid attention to when using these medications?
Semaglutide (Wejovi) and tirzepatide (Monjaro) injections are specifically approved for weight loss in adults who are overweight or obese as well as at least one of these conditions: high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, or high cholesterol.
According to a 2023 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, adults with obesity or those who were overweight who took Zybound lost more than 20% of their body weight, on average, after 9 months.
Weight-loss medications are likely to work well for older people as well, but are thought to be necessary for life.
“Data on drug safety in older adults is lacking,” John Patsis, an obesity specialist in the elderly at the Schools of Medicine and Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the United States, told the Washington Post.
Patsis stresses the importance of discussing the benefits and harms with your physician. “It works best when combined with lifestyle changes such as a healthy diet and regular exercise,” he says.
How can these medications help?
Both drugs were initially used only as type 2 diabetes drugs, semaglutide as Ozempic and terispatide as Mongaro.
They mimic the hormones released when we eat that stimulate insulin production and feelings of fullness, says Dr. Louis Aron, director of the Center for Comprehensive Weight Control at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. This helps in controlling blood sugar.
A 2023 study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that semaglutide reduced the risk of death from heart disease and nonfatal heart attacks or strokes by about 20% for people who were obese or overweight. Weight loss can also reduce the load on your hips and knees, and medications may help protect your kidneys as well.
What should the elderly pay attention to?
Doctors say there are issues that older people should be aware of if they are taking any weight-loss medications:
1- Muscle loss
We naturally lose muscle with age, as well as with weight loss. “With these medications, muscle mass in older people may decrease to the point where they are at risk for complications, such as falling,” says Dr. Nate Wood, an obesity specialist at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, in the US.
2- Losing too much weight
Older adults who are slightly or moderately overweight may be less likely to die prematurely. “This may be because you have some excess body fat that carries you through an unexpected hospitalization or if you lose weight when you’re sick,” Wood says.
3- Side effects
Side effects more common in older adults, according to Patsis, are nausea, stomach pain, diarrhea, and vomiting.
Before taking weight loss medication
If you are considering using weight-loss medication, the following steps are important:
1- Stay active
The more exercise you do, the more likely you are to offset muscle loss from these weight-loss drugs, Aron says. US health guidelines call for 30 minutes of moderate activity on most days of the week and two sessions of resistance training.
2- Get enough protein
This helps prevent muscle loss, Aron says. He advises his older patients to eat at least 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. (If you weigh 80 kilograms, that means 96 grams of protein.)
3- Try to eat small, frequent meals
This can help reduce the side effects of these medications, which may include nausea and stomach upset. “This is especially important for those with acid reflux,” Wood says.