Breakthrough weight loss drug Wegovy makes users hate the taste of their favorite treats.
Americans prescribed the weekly injection say they have developed a sudden aversion to coffee and certain sweets and fast foods.
Wegovy and its sister drug Ozempic, both of which use the active ingredient semaglutide, work by replicating hormones that tell the brain it is full.
These hormones are designed to make a person feel full and reduce cravings. But for people like Staci Rice, 40, of Georgia, they have ruined some of life’s simple pleasures.
Ms. Rice had been a daily coffee drinker since seventh grade before she lost 50 pounds in six months with Wegovy. Now she can’t hold a cup.
She told Insiders that two of her former favorite dishes, a fried chicken sandwich from bars Chic-fil-A and Kit-Kat, have also become off-putting.
Kait Morris, a TikToker with more than 6,000 followers, said she couldn’t eat a full plate after taking the drug and only wanted smoothies.
Reddit users on a forum dedicated to discussing the drug are also complaining that they can no longer eat their favorite snacks, with one even saying that all foods now taste like “yuck”.
Experts say these taste disturbances occur because the drug changes the brain’s ability to tell what goes into a person’s mouth – leading to a taste disorder called dysgeusia.
The condition causes certain foods and drinks to taste sweet, sour, bitter or metallic.
Wegovy has become a highly sought-after drug since it first became available in the US last year. It has shown the ability to reduce a person’s body weight by about 15 percent in 68 weeks in clinical trials.
Famous users include Elon Musk, who tweeted Wegovy for his body transformation. Kim Kardashian also reportedly used the injections.
Staci Rice (left), 40, said she couldn’t tolerate coffee or Kit-Kats after taking Wegovy. Kait Morris (right) said Ozempic damaged her relationship with food. Her taste problems are over now, she said
Ms Rice (pictured) has lost 50 pounds on Wegovy after using it for the past six months
Wegovy is a GLP-1 drug that has been praised for its value as a weight loss supplement.
“I tried to make coffee every morning because I thought one day it would taste good again,” Ms Rice said.
She was also a fan of the “#1” meal at Chic-fil-A, a fried chicken sandwich with 440 calories, 1,400 grams of sodium and 6 grams of sugar.
She no longer likes the food, and the fast food chain’s kale salad is now her choice.
Kit-Kats, which she says were her previous favorite Halloween treats, have an indescribably bad taste in her. All chocolate now tastes indigestible to her.
She also has a problem with ground beef and, to her husband’s chagrin, eliminates it from the dinner menu at home.
Semaglutide is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drug that mimics the effects of the hormone produced naturally in a person’s stomach and pancreas.
These hormones signal the brain not to eat. It reduces a person’s appetite and reduces food cravings.
It also delays gastric emptying and increases the amount of insulin released by the pancreas.
Ozempic, the first formulation of the drug produced by Novo Nordisk, was originally developed to help diabetics manage their condition.
However, those who took the drug also experienced significant weight loss.
This prompted the Danish company to reformulate the drug as Wegovy, which is approved for weight loss.
Common side effects of the drug include nausea, diarrhea and other gastrointestinal problems.
It is administered by weekly injection into the thigh, arm or stomach.
However, some users report symptoms like Ms. Rice’s where their relationship with food has changed significantly.
Ms Morris has thousands of followers on her TikTok account where she talks about her use of Ozempic and shares updates on her weight loss journey.
“I miss the food. I miss going to restaurants. I miss ordering a regular plate of food,” she said during a video posted in September.
She also said she can no longer eat meat and only craves smoothies.
During a video released on October 14, Ms Morris said she skipped her weekly injection because some of her side effects were “really intense”. She added that she is still committed to doing the weekly survey.
In the nine months she was on the drug, she lost 65 pounds.
Ms Morris added in a video posted last week that she was in a “very good place” with the food as some of her side effects subsided.
On the Reddit forum r/Ozempic, users pointed out their problems with food stemming from using the drug.
“Ozempic seems to have changed my taste buds. Suddenly everything tastes … yuck,” one user wrote in a thread about the summer.
“… Mainly meat. It tastes very bad to me and I used to like meat. The idea of a steak makes me sick right now. I loved food – I rarely ate anything I didn’t like. The taste is just… off.
“Cute things are way too cute, almost repulsive. Only fruit and acid is delicious, which I crave more than ever.”
Another user said he “misses” the “enjoyment” of eating because he no longer enjoys eating.
“Eating is also disgusting to me. The food is just weird. Either I’m hungry and everything is bad, or my stomach is sick and I can’t eat,” said another Reddit user.
Because of the relatively new nature of this class of drugs, there is no research on how it affects the brain in a way that would affect taste.
Sr. Ed Walker, chief scientist at Plant & Food Research, a New Zealand government-funded body, told DailyMail.com it could be related to how the drug is taken.
Because the injections are given once a week, the body has days when the levels of the GLP-1 hormones are significantly increased.
This is unnatural because the body only releases hormones when it is needed. The resulting hormonal imbalances can lead to strange side effects such as altered taste.
Dr. Lynnette McCluskey, a professor of neuroscience at Augusta University in Georgia, told Insider that the altered signals confuse a person’s brain.
“Once you start playing around with all these cues — and it can vary from day to day or after you’ve taken the drug — you have a high risk of developing taste disturbances or taste disturbances,” she said.
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Crystal Leahy is an author and health journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a background in health and wellness, Crystal has a passion for helping people live their best lives through healthy habits and lifestyles.
