Hidden dangers of Wegovy pills

People who don’t like needles are starting to pop Wegovy and Ozempic weight-loss pills instead—but the medication comes with a hidden danger.

The pills contain salcaprozate sodium (SNAC), which allows the body to absorb their active ingredient, semaglutide—but SNAC interferes with the gut and kickstarts inflammatory processes that could result in diabetes and heart disease.

These worrying reactions started within just three weeks of taking the weight-loss pills, researchers from Adelaide University have discovered—although up to now, they’ve only seen the problems in animal studies and so they can’t be sure they’d see a similar response in people.

Nonetheless, SNAC—which prevents semaglutide from being broken down by stomach enzymes so it can pass into the bloodstream—seems to trigger a cascade of worrying effects.  The researchers saw a decline in beneficial gut bacteria that break down dietary fibre; lower levels of short chain fatty acids, which support the gut lining and help control inflammation; increased levels of inflammatory markers in the blood; and a reduction in a protein in the brain that helps cognition.

The first Wegovy pills were approved last year and are expected to be less expensive and easier to manage than the injectable version.

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