The impact weight loss drugs can have on muscle mass

There are concerns that the increased use of new weight loss and diabetes drugs like Wegovy, Ozempic, Zepbound and Mounjaro are leading to significant loss of muscle mass. Some doctors are worried that people are becoming sarcopenic (low muscle mass) and are at higher risk for frailty with the increasing use of these medications to achieve very low weights or BMIs.

Dr. Amit Shah, of the Department of Internal Medicine at Mayo Clinic Arizona, joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss some of the risks.

These weight-loss drugs were originally invented as diabetes drugs. When these companies saw that not only were the drugs effective for diabetes but also helping people with diabetes lose weight, they sought additional FDA approval to be used for weight loss in non-diabetic patients.

While the drugs are causing the pounds to “melt off,” as Dr. Shah mentioned his patients like to say, it can come with some concerning side effects.

“I think everybody would love to have medications that would only take away fat and nothing else, right? Keep us as strong and as vibrant as we are but all you would lose os fat and look great,” Dr. Shah said. “The problem is that all of these medications you lose non-fat mass as well, so things like skeletal muscle, other tissues, et cetera.”

Dr. Shah said that the concern is that there haven’t been enough studies done, especially in older patients, about what happens when people lose muscle mass. At a minimum, patients lose about 25% of their muscle mass and in some studies, it can be up to 40% to 60%.

It is possible that patients can gain weight back rapidly after getting off of these medications, so it is important to adopt a healthy lifestyle to help maintain muscle mass and and keep excess weight off.