Popular weight loss drugs are now being touted for potentially reducing alcohol cravings.

Ozempic and Wegovy, the injectable diabetes medications that contain the active ingredient semaglutide, have taken the public by storm for their ability to cause weight loss. They function by imitating GLP-1, a hormone normally released when food is consumed, effectively slowing digestion and curbing hunger.

GLP-1 medications have reportedly proven somewhat successful at helping people battle obesity, one of the world’s biggest public health crises.

Obesity rates are especially bad in the United States, where the CDC estimates that nearly 42% of the population is obese. The Dallas-Fort Worth area has not been spared from the trend, with one study ranking it the 19th most obese and overweight U.S. metro area, as previously covered by The Dallas Express.

Still, mounting evidence suggests that GLP-1 medications might help curb compulsive behaviors like drinking alcohol.

“There’s really been a large number of clinical and anecdotal reports coming in suggesting that people’s drinking behaviors are changing and in some instances pretty substantially while taking [Ozempic or Wegovy],” explained psychologist Christian Hendershot, according to NPR.

That was reportedly the experience of Paul Grayson, a 73-year-old retired ranch owner in Oklahoma. Faced with numerous health challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, he put on an extra 40 pounds. He decided to try Ozempic and found that it helped him lose weight and affected his desire for alcohol.

“Before Ozempic, I could consume a whole bottle of wine in an evening without trying real hard, along with a bag of chocolates,” Grayson told NPR. “But with Ozempic, even one beer didn’t feel good to me somehow.”

As previously reported by The Dallas Express, there are other anecdotal accounts of self-described heavy drinkers or smokers feeling almost repelled by their former habits while on the drugs.

“We’re also hearing about clinicians prescribing for that reason,” Hendershot said. “In many ways this is really kind of the indication that the horse has already left the barn. This is something that’s already appearing to happen, whether we like it or not.”

However, some medical providers have called for caution when it comes to off-label use of such medications to treat addiction.

For instance, Dr. Lorenzo Leggio, the clinical director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse, told NPR, “It’s too early.”

Yet that does not mean he does not think the weight loss medications might hold the potential to treat people in some cases or might be adapted to treat addiction someday soon.

“The mechanism in the brain that regulates overeating overlaps with those responsible for the development and maintenance of addiction, including alcohol disorder,” Leggio said, per NPR.

Of course, despite the variable success of weight loss drugs, they come at a hefty price tag of roughly $1,000 per month and are not always covered by insurance companies.

Moreover, negative side effects like complications during anesthesia or stomach paralysis have been reported, as covered by The Dallas Express.