It’s no secret that social media has promoted unrealistic body standards, but the popularization of weight-loss drugs on social media platforms has created a new cause for concern. With skinny being in again and a rise in the aestheticization of body types — think “cores” for bodies — social media, once a host for the body positivity movement, has become a platform for promoting unhealthy thinness rather than healthy body weights. These unrealistic expectations are fueled by the widespread use of drugs like Ozempic.
Ozempic is just one drug that has circulated in the media for the past year. Any celebrity or influencer who loses a noticeable amount of weight is labeled as having taken a weight-loss drug. While celebrities can often readily obtain these drugs without a serious medical need for them, they contribute to an expectation in the minds of their followers and consumers — that they too should easily access Ozempic, and they too can experience the same weight loss.
Meanwhile, consumers may not be fully aware of Ozempic’s side effects or their severity, neglecting the real science behind the drug. The dangers of being miseducated about Ozempic are even more harmful, both medically and culturally, than promoting it. Even amid discourse about thinness and body positivity, there is a noticeable lack of attention to what Ozempic as a drug actually does to our bodies outside of weight loss.
If the body positivity movement has taught us anything, it is that overshadowing proper education on Ozempic with an unhealthy cultural obsession with body image — seen in our intense weight-loss regimes, diets and drugs — is part of the problem. Understanding Ozempic from a scientific perspective is key to culturally decentering body image and promoting healthier habits.
Ozempic was never intended to be a weight-loss drug. In fact, Ozempic is prescribed to treat Type 2 diabetes and is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for weight loss, which is only a side effect. It is a GLP-1 agonist, lowering blood sugar and causing the pancreas to produce more insulin. For people with Type 2 diabetes, this helps regulate blood sugar, maintaining stable levels even if their bodies do not use insulin properly.
Although not officially approved, Ozempic is most known as a weight-loss drug. The active ingredient of Ozempic, semaglutide, mimics a hormone in the body released after eating that suppresses appetite by sending a signal to the brain that the user is full. Semaglutide is also the active ingredient in Wegovy, a prescription drug approved to prevent heart disease and treat obesity through weight management. These drugs have served their intended and unintended purpose, allowing people to lose an average of 12 percent in body mass.
However, the popularization of these drugs by people who do not necessarily need them cannot be taken lightly — not only because it has caused shortages and high prices but also because of the negative side effects, which have been neglected.
Taking any prescription drug without proper medical approval is dangerous, but for Ozempic, there are more ramifications beyond physical harm. Once you begin taking Ozempic, you will likely have to continue using it — and paying for it — indefinitely. When your body becomes accustomed to the drug, it is nearly impossible to get off of it and experience the same physical weight loss without significant lifestyle changes. A 2022 study found that the majority of Ozempic users gained back their weight within a year after stopping the drug.
Ozempic has essentially been promoted as a way to totally fix people’s struggles with weight or body image, but one drug cannot be the solution. Since Ozempic really only works by suppressing appetite, taking the drug alone will not solve all the issues associated with being overweight.
Instead of a tool for people to add to diet and exercise, Ozempic has instead been popularized as a passive way to lose weight, not in the name of physical health, but solely for physical appearance. Because of this, it may be hard to access for those in need of the drug for health concerns.
These drugs also have serious side effects besides weight loss, like gastrointestinal problems and even thyroid tumors, and these risks only compound with increased use. Significant weight loss can also decrease bone density and muscle mass, increasing the risk of fractures and slowed metabolic rates. A slower metabolism makes it even harder for someone to lose weight once off the drug.
The marketing of weight-loss drugs as an easy way to lose weight and attain an idealized body type neglects how unsustainable the rapid weight loss achieved is and how weight loss often changes more than your figure.
Weight-loss drugs have existed for years, but the popularization of Ozempic on social media is uncharted territory. Drugs have typically been defined either as recreational or medical, but Ozempic, as we know it, has become a category of its own.
Even as doctors advise against taking weight-loss drugs without serious medical need — one even calling it drug abuse — social media undermines these efforts by glamorizing their use and neglecting the science behind them. Ironically, the weight-loss effects of Ozempic are physically obvious, but there is not enough transparency about the negative side effects caused by taking weight-loss drugs.
What compounds the physical risks of taking these drugs is the cultural neglect of these dangerous side effects. Proper education on Ozempic and its side effects will prevent further popularization of its improper use, ensuring access for those who need it, encouraging healthy body standards and maintaining that drugs affect more than our figure.
Antonia Kladias is a junior majoring in biochemistry and is Pipe Dream’s assistant opinions editor.
Views expressed in the opinions pages represent the opinions of the columnists. The only piece that represents the view of the Pipe Dream Editorial Board is the staff editorial.