Anti-obesity drugs such as semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy) are also promising for the treatment of alcohol use disorder and alcohol-associated liver disease, as growing evidence suggests they reduce the motivation to drink alcohol. Now, surprising new findings reveal that the medications may have direct protective effects on the liver as well.
In a new study, published Sept. 18 in npj Metabolism Health and Disease, Yale School of Medicine (YSM) researchers found that in mice, the drugs, known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, reduced an enzyme that metabolizes alcohol. That, in turn, decreased the production of toxic alcohol metabolites.
“This is the first time that GLP-1 receptor agonists have been shown to regulate alcohol metabolism in the liver,” says principal investigator Wajahat Mehal, MD, professor of medicine (digestive diseases) at YSM. “If you’re taking semaglutide, then your body will likely handle alcohol differently.”
However, because these drugs slowed the metabolism of alcohol, the mice also had higher blood alcohol levels, the researchers found.
“GLP-1 receptor agonists seem to have very similar effects in mice and humans,” says Mehal. “If these results are also reproduced in humans, people using GLP-1 receptor agonists might be drinking an amount of alcohol that does not normally put them above the legal blood alcohol level, but because they are taking this drug, it does.”
Further studies in humans are needed to understand these impacts of GLP-1 receptor agonists more fully, he emphasizes.