Scientists Find Evidence That Ozempic Can Reverse Aging

Scientists have found new evidence that Ozempic-like drugs can help reverse aging — yet another health benefit added to the laundry list of off-label usages for the popular diabetes jab.

In a new, not-yet-peer-reviewed paper, research led by scientist Varun Dwaraka of the TruDiagnostic aging lab in Kentucky suggests that once-weekly shots of semaglutide, the GLP-1 drug in Ozempic and its weight loss sister drug Wegovy, can reduce one’s “biological age” by up to three years.

The basis of this study, like some others that look into anti-aging properties, is what’s known as “biological age.” As opposed to chronological age, which is how old we are in years, your biological age is basically how old your body feels — and using certain tools, researchers like Dwaraka say they can measure that. In this study, biological age was determined using so-called “epigenetic clocks,” which measure a person’s biological age via DNA methylation, or the chemical signals added or removed from DNA as we age.

At the start of the study, the TruDiagnostic team and their academic partners took initial blood samples from 184 participants with HIV-associated lipohypertrophy, a condition that results in excess fat and rapid cellular aging, to measure their biological ages. Chosen because they exhibit “accelerated biological aging, characterized by premature onset of age-related conditions, persistent low-grade inflammation, and metabolic dysfunction,” that cohort was uniquely suited for the experiment, the paper suggests.

For 32 weeks, half of the participants were given a placebo shot once per week, while the other half got active semaglutide jabs. At the end of the trial, the subjects’ blood was collected again — and analysis found that those who received the GLP-1 “became, on average, 3.1 years biologically younger by the end of the study,” Dwaraka told New Scientist.

Not only was their biological age reversed, but as the study explains, the active semaglutide group exhibited slowed-down aging signals in their kidneys, hearts, inflammatory systems, and brains — the latter of which showed age reversal of up to five years in some participants.

Though the trial participants had HIV, Dwaraka insists that similar benefits could easily be exhibited in people without the virus as well, thanks to Ozempic’s documented propensity to improve metabolic health and fat distribution — the latter of which can, New Scientist notes, trigger molecules that promote aging.

Acknowledging that it would be “premature” to start prescribing people semaglutide as an anti-aging drug, the TruDiagnostic scientist is nevertheless excited about what the future may hold.

“Semaglutide may not only slow the rate of aging,” Dwaraka told New Scientist, “but in some individuals partially reverse it.”

More on Ozempic: Doctors Are Warning That Ozempic’s Severe Side Effects May Outweigh Its Benefits