Unplanned Ozempic babies can be harmed by weight loss medications

Women have been told to avoid using weight loss drugs to help them get pregnant as doctors report an increase in Ozempic surprise babies.

Some women struggling with infertility have gotten pregnant unexpectedly after taking semaglutide, which is used to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes under the brand names Wegovy and Ozempic.

American doctors have also started using it off-label to treat polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a condition that is a common cause of infertility and is linked to obesity.

However, scientists have now issued a warning that weight loss injections can cause birth defects and should not be used by anyone hoping to become pregnant.

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Weight loss can improve fertility due to obesity interferes with hormone levels, but semaglutide has not been tested in pregnant women to see if it is safe. Research in animals, including rats and monkeys, suggests it may be toxic and cause miscarriages and abnormalities.

Professor Tricia Tan, from the Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction at Imperial College London, said: Women should be aware that these drugs should not be used during pregnancy. You can also see that most clinical trials have not included women who intend to become pregnant. Animal studies showed that baby animals born to animals given these drugs had problems.

Tan said her practice saw many women with obesity and infertility, but were not given the drugs unless they were using contraception, which could cause delays in management and disappointment.

He added: We need research into this area to understand how we can deploy these drugs effectively and safely. This will help us address the needs of obese women who want to have babies, so we can improve their health, help them have safe pregnancies and have healthy children.

Weight loss drugs work by mimicking a hormone called GLP-1, which makes people feel full and suppresses appetite. They were first used to treat type 2 diabetes, under the brand name Ozempic. The same active ingredient semaglutide is now used to treat obesity, under the brand name Wegovy.

Wegovy is being prescribed to tens of thousands of patients on the NHS, and there is also a large global black market online for semaglutide due to its miracle effects.

The drug’s maker, Novo Nordisk, does not recommend it for pregnant or breastfeeding women and says women should stop taking the drug two months before trying to conceive. In the United States, where Ozempic use is more widespread, women have shared stories of Ozempic-surprised babies on social media, such as TikTok. Experts say this is because any weight loss can increase fertility, especially in people with PCOS, a condition caused by abnormal hormone levels, with symptoms including weight gain and irregular periods. Semaglutide can also increase the risk of pregnancy because side effects such as nausea and vomiting can prevent the absorption of birth control pills.

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Nerys Astbury, a senior researcher in diet and obesity at the University of Oxford, said it was plausible that semaglutide injections would improve fertility and that women would accidentally become pregnant or have a baby.

She said: There is nothing special about the drug, the effect that the drug has is in promoting weight loss. It is important to note that although some doctors prescribe semaglutide off-label to women with PCOS, it is not clear whether it is safe to use in women during pregnancy, and it should not be used as a method to treat infertility until research proves safety and security. efficacy is available and pending regulatory approval for use in those before and during pregnancy.

Obesity can make it harder to conceive and increase the risk of miscarriage. Research shows that losing 5-10% of your body weight can regulate menstruation and the release of eggs from the ovaries. But experts said women trying to get pregnant should not resort to weight loss injections.

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Ying Cheong, professor of reproductive medicine at the University of Southampton, said: GLP-1 agonists are widely marketed, but the lack of safety profile in human pregnancy is often not widely known. The drug is known to cause pregnancy complications and abnormalities in animal studies, so women trying to get pregnant should be warned not to take it.

Professor Adam Balen, from Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, added that women who use injections to lose weight may not have a balanced diet, which is necessary for a healthy baby. Conceiving when not nutritionally stable can be harmful to the developing baby, and overweight women should take adequate vitamin supplements, particularly high doses of folate, to reduce the risk of their baby having a number of birth defects ( eg spina bifida and heart defects). ). Therefore, pregnancies should be planned in a healthy way.