Why spend thousands of dollars each month on prescription weight loss vaccines when over-the-counter supplements claim to have similar effects?
Trendy GLP-1 supplements are being promoted as “nature's Ozempic,” promising the same results as the hugely popular injectables — and at a much lower cost.
Ozempic and its sister drugs Wegovy and Monjaro are semaglutides that mimic the GLP-1 hormone to slow digestion, help the pancreas produce insulin and regulate sugar production in the liver.
However, store-bought supplements are a little different.
These pills contain ingredients that naturally increase your body’s production of GLP-1, and they contain no artificial additives.
Kourtney Kardashian's supplement brand Lamé launches this month One GLP-1 Daily PillIt’s being described as “a breakthrough innovation in metabolic health, formulated to naturally boost your body’s GLP-1 production, suppress appetite and promote healthy weight loss.”
$90 supplement – just a fraction of the eye-watering out-of-pocket cost of Ozempic, which is about $1,200 per month – Claims that its ingredients, Eriomin lemon fruit extract, Suppressa saffron extract and Morosil red orange fruit extract, suppress appetite, boost metabolism and reduce body fat.
However, doctors are not so sure about such supplements.
Dr. Roshini Raj, a New York-based gastroenterologist, explained, Today Despite the labels on the bottles, they “contain no GLP-1” and “no agonist or mimic hormone.”
“These contain fruit or vegetable extracts that claim to increase your body's natural GLP-1. But to me, that's a big difference,” Raj said, warning about unknown ingredients in store-bought options and calling it “somewhat of a wild west.”
“I'm not saying these are actually bad supplements — we just don't know. We don't know what they really do.”
Registered dietitian Lauren Harris-Pincus told PageSix that no supplement can compare to an actual GLP-1 agonist medication.
“It's like the difference between an eye dropper and a garden hose,” he said, adding that it's “unlikely” that any of the “natural Ozempic” alternatives available on the market “will result in real, sustained weight loss.”
Dr. Hans Schmidt, a bariatric surgeon from New Jersey, expressed concern about the efficacy of supplements overall, saying they are “nowhere near the strength of injections.”
“If you buy a supplement and lose 20 or 30, 40 pounds, you'll never see the end of it,” Schmidt told Today. “It will be everywhere. But it's not like that.”
