- Semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, may protect against Alzheimer’s disease in people living with type 2 diabetes.
- People using the drug had a reduced risk of being diagnosed with the disease.
- Both diseases have insulin resistance and inflammation in common.
- Semaglutide might also help remove amyloid-beta from the brain.
- Amyloid-beta plaques can damage and kill brain cells, leading to dementia.
According to a study published on October 24, 2024, in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, the type 2 diabetes and weight loss drug semaglutide (sold under the brand names Ozempic, Wegovy, and Rybelsus) may reduce people’s risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
Those people who were using semaglutide had a lower risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease than those using other diabetes drugs.
The Alzheimer’s Association states that Alzheimer’s is a common type of dementia, accounting for around 60% to 80% of all dementia cases.
People with this disease experience memory loss and cognitive decline that is severe enough to interfere with their day-to-day life.
It is incurable and becomes progressively worse over time.
How Semaglutide is associated with lower Alzheimer’s disease risk
The team of Case Western Reserve researchers examined three years of medical records for over 1 million people living with type 2 diabetes in the United States.
Study participants had to be new users of antidiabetic medications, defined as not using these medications within the past 6 months.
Six different populations were identified who had never been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s: all patients, people ages 60 and above, women, men, patients with obesity, and patients without obesity.
For each of these groups, they conducted seven target trials comparing semaglutide with insulins, metformin, dipeptidyl-peptidase-4 inhibitors, sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors, sulfonylureas, thiazolidinediones, and other GLP-1RAs (albiglutide, dulaglutide, exenatide, liraglutide, and lixisenatide).
Their methodology involved using target trial emulation, a type of study that aims to mimic a randomized controlled trial (RCT) but uses existing data rather than recruiting new participants and studying how the intervention affects their outcomes.
RCTs are considered to be the gold standard for evaluating the safety and effectiveness of drug treatments for diseases. However, sometimes, observational studies are conducted instead due to constraints like time, money, or ethical considerations.
A target trial emulation is meant to produce an observational study with better-quality data that is closer to an RCT.
When they analyzed the data, they found that semaglutide use was associated with 40% to 70% less risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in patients with type 2 diabetes. This was in comparison with the seven other similar diabetes drugs.
Results were consistent even when people’s obesity status, biological sex, and age were considered.
However, the study authors did note that the limitations of their study did not allow them to say for certain that semaglutide was responsible for this effect. Further studies are needed to confirm that semaglutide really does protect against Alzheimer’s.
Learn more about how to get GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Wegovy from vetted and trusted online sources here:
Why semaglutide might reduce Alzheimer’s disease risk
Dr. Ramit Singh Sambyal, a General Physician associated with ClinicSpots who was not involved in the study, explained that semaglutide belongs to a class of medications known as glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs).
These drugs work by mimicking the action of the hormone GLP-1; this helps regulate insulin and blood sugar levels.
“Semaglutide has been found to have anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties, which are crucial because inflammation and insulin resistance are both heavily involved in the progression of Alzheimer’s disease,” he said.
Sambyal went on to explain that people with type 2 diabetes are up to 50% to 100% more likely to develop Alzheimer’s when compared with those without diabetes.
“Brain insulin resistance is an emerging factor in Alzheimer’s research,” he continued, “sometimes leading to the condition being dubbed ‘type 3 diabetes‘ due to the metabolic dysfunctions observed in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.”
Dr. John Lowe, a Physician at Restore Care who was not involved in the study, spoke about another way that semaglutide might be able to protect the brain. “They [GLP-1 drugs] can penetrate the blood-brain barrier and might aid in the clearance of amyloid-beta, which is a characteristic feature of Alzheimer’s disease,” he said.
Amyloid-beta peptide, also known as beta-amyloid, is a “sticky” substance that can build up in the brain—perhaps due to problems with its production, accumulation, or disposal—leading to the formation of plaques that can disrupt brain cell communication and eventually kill the cells.
“This two-pronged approach—especially the potential for metabolic health and brain health improvement—suggests semaglutide may be the answer for how to lower the risk for the development of Alzheimer’s in diabetic patients,” said Lowe.
Takeaway
According to a new study, the type 2 diabetes and weight loss drug semaglutide might also have applications in preventing Alzheimer’s disease.
This progressive and incurable form of dementia has been referred to as “type 3 diabetes” due to the insulin and inflammation that type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s appear to have in common.
Semaglutide can improve insulin resistance and inflammation.
It might also be able to clear amyloid-beta, the damaging substance that is thought to cause Alzheimer’s, from the brain.
However, more research is needed to confirm whether semaglutide can truly protect against Alzheimer’s disease.
