A new study analyzed how often people develop severe side effects after taking semaglutide
The report claims the trendy drug contributed to nearly 25,000 emergency room visits between 2022 and 2023
Most reported hospital visits were due to gastrointestinal complications
Trendy weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy have sent a shocking number of people to the hospital, according to claims made in a new study.
The study — published April 8 in Annals of Internal Medicine — analyzed how often people develop severe side effects that send them to the emergency department or hospital after taking semaglutide, an FDA-approved prescription medication for people with type 2 diabetes and chronic obesity.
A spokesperson for Ozempic’s manufacturer, Novo Nordisk, said in a statement, "The safety and efficacy profile of Ozempic has been evaluated in clinical studies. The most commonly reported side effects were gastrointestinal, including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach (abdominal) pain, and constipation. The known risks associated with use of Ozempic are reflected in the FDA-approved product labeling."
Semaglutide — known by brand names Ozempic and Wegovy — works in the brain to impact satiety. Over the past two years, the popularity of weekly injections for weight loss has soared. As of 2024, one in eight adults in the United States has taken a GLP-1 medication (glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists) like Ozempic.
Scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studied national surveillance data collected at dozens of hospitals. They found that semaglutide contributed to nearly 25,000 emergency room visits between 2022 and 2023, with more than 82% occurring in 2023.
The visits were typically due to gastrointestinal complications. Patients experienced nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea.
Additionally, some hospital visits were also reported for low blood sugar, allergic reactions, pancreatitis, and bile duct disease — all less common incidences.
“We found that it’s very infrequent that semaglutide leads to very serious adverse events that would land a patient in the hospital, but that they do occur,” Dr. Pieter Cohen, study author and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, told Health.
“The adverse events presented [in this study] are not new,” added Dr. Mahyar Etminan, associate professor of medicine at the University of British Columbia.
Although researchers noted that most drugs have some side effects, and most reported in the study were already known, they stress that these findings should not be minimized, and that doctors should do more to mitigate those that require hospitalization.
“Clinicians could counsel patients when initiating semaglutide about the potential for severe gastrointestinal adverse effects and adjust co-prescribed antidiabetic medications to decrease hypoglycemia risk,” the authors wrote.
The impacts of semaglutide and similar medications on the digestive system have been investigated; In June 2024, the drugs were linked to severe gastroparesis, also known as stomach paralysis, which the Mayo Clinic says “[prevents] your stomach from emptying properly.”
In September 2024, the FDA issued a warning that Ozempic can lead to a life-threatening condition known as ileus — a type of bowel obstruction where either sections or the entirety of the intestines become obstructed. This blockage can restrict blood flow to organs, resulting in tissue necrosis.
"We stand behind the safety and efficacy of Ozempic® when used as indicated," the company said in its statement.
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Despite semaglutide’s popularity for weight loss, experts are sounding the alarm on its major shortcomings—limited long-term success, serious side effects, and rapid weight regain after stopping the drug.
While millions of Americans qualify for semaglutide, research reveals that most users remain overweight or obese even after years of treatment.
Semaglutide: Effectiveness and Limitations
A popular weight loss drug, semaglutide, is making headlines—but not just for its widespread use. New concerns are being raised about its long-term effectiveness, safety, and what happens when people stop taking it.
In a letter published in JAMA Cardiology, Dr. Vanita Rahman of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine warns that semaglutide may not be the weight loss solution many are hoping for. Her response comes after new research found that more than half of U.S. adults, an estimated 137 million people, are now eligible to use the drug for weight management.
Semaglutide is a prescription medication originally developed to treat type 2 diabetes, now widely known for its use in weight loss under the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy. It works by mimicking a hormone called GLP-1, which helps regulate appetite and blood sugar levels.
“This research found that half the U.S. adults are eligible for semaglutide for weight loss, and while the authors correctly cite access and cost as important barriers, there are other significant limitations and risks,” says letter author Vanita Rahman, MD, DipABLM, internal medicine and lifestyle medicine doctor with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a public health advocacy nonprofit.
Weight Loss Plateaus and Persistent Obesity
For many people taking semaglutide, weight loss slows over time and often stalls completely. Even after four years of use in the SELECT trial, only 12% of participants reached a healthy body weight. Most people remained either overweight or obese.
And the progress doesn’t always last. When participants in the STEP-1 extension study stopped taking semaglutide, they quickly regained the weight they had lost.
Severe Side Effects and Unknown Long-Term Safety
Semaglutide is associated with a high prevalence of adverse events, and its long-term safety is unknown. In an observational study, semaglutide was associated with a more than fourfold and sevenfold risk of nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy in people taking semaglutide for type 2 diabetes and weight loss, respectively.
Plant-based dietary interventions, on the other hand, have led to significant weight loss along with improvements in cardiometabolic risk factors. In the BROAD study, a low-fat plant-based diet led to an average weight loss of 12.1 kg at 6 months compared with an average weight loss of 1.6 kg in the standard-care group. The plant-based group also experienced larger reductions in total cholesterol.
The Broader Health Impact of Weight Loss
Dr. Rahman adds, “Obesity and overweight are highly prevalent conditions associated with considerable morbidity and mortality, and successful weight loss interventions can lead to important reductions in cardiometabolic risk.”
Though semaglutide can lead to meaningful weight loss in some individuals, it comes with important risks and limitations. On the other hand, plant-based diets are a safe, low-cost treatment option with research-proven benefits.
Bridging the Gap Between Knowledge and Practice
Half of U.S. adults say they know eating a plant-based diet can improve their health and help prevent chronic diseases, according to a recent Physicians Committee/Morning Consult survey. Yet just 1 in 5 primary care practitioners discuss this lifesaving message with patients.
“This provides us as health care professionals with an opportunity to support and guide our patients toward nutrition interventions that work and reduce the risk of chronic diseases that affect millions,” Dr. Rahman says.
Reference: “The Limitations and Risks Associated With Semaglutide Treatment” by Vanita Rahman, 14 May 2025, JAMA Cardiology.
DOI: 10.1001/jamacardio.2025.1095
כשאוכלים לשם תאוה חמרית מתגבר העצבון בסוד אוכלי לחם העצבים.
When we eat for the sake of our material appetite, our sadness intensifies, as in the hidden meaning of the verse, “those who eat the bread of sadness” (Psalms 127:2).
כי הניצוצות, שהיו ראויים לעלות, יורדים, ובהיותם מתעצבים על ירידתם, מרגיש האוכל את עצבם, על ידי חילוף של כמה דרכי ההרגשה, ותמורות אותיות, עד שההרגשה העצבנית נכרת בגילוי נפשי בקרבו.
That is because the spiritual sparks in the food, which were capable of rising, descend. And when they are sad at their having descended, the person eating feels their sadness as a result of the interchange of a number of ways of feeling and transpositions of spiritual letters, until the sad feeling is recognized in a psychological disclosure within himself.
ועל ידי אכילה בקדושה, והגברת המגמה העליונה של טהרת הנשמה ובהירותה, מתוספת צהלת הרוח ושמחה באוכל, על ידי שמחתם של הניצוצות שנתעלו.
But when one eats in holiness and intensifies the supernal goal of attaining purity and clarity of the soul, the happy spirit and joy of the person eating is enhanced as a result of the joy of the spiritual sparks that have risen.
ובשמחתם מאירה גם כן הנשמה, המעלה אותם ושמחה עמהם, והלב מרגיש על ידי כמה שבילים וצינורות שונים, וחדות ד' מתגברת עליו.
With their joy, his soul that raises them and rejoices with them shines as well. And his heart feels this via a number of pathways and various conduits, and the gladness of Hashem overtakes him.
והיינו ויאכל בעז וישת וייטב לבו, מאי וייטב לבו בדברי תורה, שחוץ ממה שנטיית הלב להגברת הרוחניות של העלאת החיים הכמוסים במאכלים מביאה לחשק רוחני, שמתמלא באהבת התורה ולימודה, עוד התוכן המקודש של אכילה קדושה זו היא בעצמה דברי תורה, וזה השולחן אשר לפני ד'.
And so “Boaz ate and he drank, and his heart was glad” (Ruth 3:7). “What is the meaning of ‘and his heart was glad’? In words of Torah” (Yalkut Shimoni, Ruth 604). That is because, besides the fact that the propensity of the heart to intensify the spirituality associated with raising the vitality hidden in foods leads a person to spiritual desire, which is fulfilled with the love for the Torah and learning it, in addition the sanctified content of this holy eating is itself words of Torah. “This is the table that is before Hashem” (Ezekiel 41:22; Pirkei Avot 3:3).
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מה שהתיאבון הפשוט של האכילה עושה אצל בעלי חיים כולם, ואצל בני אדם בינונים, להמשיך את האדם לאכול להחזיק את חייו וכחותיו, פועל בצורה אצילית וכח נשגב אצל גדולי הדעה, צדיקים יסודי עולם, החפץ להתאחד עם כל ניצוצי הקודש הטמונים בתוך המאכלים, שהשמחה הנשמתית מתעוררת מהאדם האוכל לעומתם, לקבלם אל תוך נשמתו, להוסיף בהם אור ומדות עולמים, והם בעצמם מוסיפים עז ושמחה בתנועה, גם לפני האכילה.
That which simple appetite accomplishes for all creatures and for average human beings, stimulating the individual to eat in order to strengthen his life and his faculties, so too in a rarefied way, with elevated power, in people with great awareness, righteous people, the foundations of the world, it awakens the desire to unite with all of the holy sparks concealed in each food, corresponding to which the soulful joy awakens in the person who eats in their presence, receiving them into his soul, increasing, because of them, light and vast joy. And the sparks themselves add might and joy at that movement, even before the eating.
בעת האוכל כבר השמחה מתנוצצת במעמקים, ובאכילה עצמה היא עולה במעלה יותר עליונה, ויאכל בעז וישת וייטב לבו, וייטב לבו בדברי תורה, שהן הן האכילה והשתיה עצמן, לבאי בסוד ד', דידעי מאי דמחוי להו במחוג.
At the time of eating, joy blazes in the depths. And with the eating itself, it rises to a higher level. “Boaz ate and drank, and his heart was glad” (Ruth 3:7): “his heart was glad in the words of Torah” (Yalkut Shimoni, end of 604). Those are the eating and drinking themselves for those who enter the secret of Hashem, for those “who know the meaning of what they are shown in every gesture” (Chagigah 5b).
