Beware when in the market for weight-loss drugs: Fass
Ozempic, Wegovy, Victoza, Saxenda and other new weight-loss drugs are saturating the market.
Rotary Club of Farragut member Howard Fass, a retired pharmacist, provided information to his fellow members during a recent RFC Wednesday meeting about those drugs so they could make informed decisions about proper use.
“Obesity is a very complex disease, and there are many factors: behavioral, genetic, illness, medical illness. It messes up everything,” said Fass, who has a doctorate degree in pharmacy and is board certified in parenteral (intravenous feeding) and enteral (tube feeding) nutrition. While he retired from full-time pharmacy work in 2012, Fass still works as needed for Covenant Health Care in Oak Ridge. “If you lose, basically, five pounds, it will help you,” he said.
As of 2023, Fass said every state had at least a 20 percent obesity problem. The Midwest was 36 percent; the South, almost 35; West, 29; and Northeast, 28.6 percent. In the South, Arkansas, Mississippi and West Virginia were between 40 and 45 percent. He said Tennessee is 37.6 percent obese.
GLP-1 drugs, which mimic the GLP-1 hormone and supprese the glucagon release, are being used to treat overweight or obesity and Type 2 diabetes. They include such drugs as zucadone and biopeptide 1.
Fass said when a person tries to lose weight, lifestyle changes are recommended first: healthy eating by cutting calories, physical activity at least three days a week with workouts of 30 to 45 minutes and behavior therapy – counseling.
“Basically, for females, (keep calories to) 1,000 to 1,500 a day,” he said. “Some of you may think that’s starvation. For males, it’s 1,500 to 1,800.”
“But say that’s not working,” Fass said. “The next is oral medications approved by the FDA for weight loss.”
