Thin Think

The dangers of Ozempic

It has been predicted that by 2030 30% of Americans will be on Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro or some other semaglutide or tirzepatide-based slimming medication. Ozempic was only approved for type 2 diabetes in 2017 and for weight loss only as recently as 2021. So it’s still a relatively new medication and it could have dangerous side effects that we are only starting to understand, such as bringing down the global capitalist system.

Does that sound a bit melodramatic? These drugs work by mimicking appetite-regulating hormones like GLP-1 that stop you from feeling hungry. But they don’t just suppress one’s appetite for food, they reduce the craving for other things, like alcohol and nicotine, too. In fact they can disrupt the brain's whole reward circuitry, leading to a decrease in the feel-good response associated with various impulse activities, including shopping.

Why is this absence of desire for excess bad? Well, we need to turn to no lesser an authority than Gordon Gekko in “Wall Street”. “Greed is good,” he famously stated. “Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.” He was talking about capitalism obviously and we have to consider how our economic system of choice in the West would fare in a world without impulsive greed.