Ozempic shows anti-aging effects in trial • Hacker News Board

Re: Ozempic shows anti-aging effects in trial

#111

Post by Aurornis » Tue, Aug 05, 2025, 8:00 PM UTC

noah_buddy wrote: post #20

some_random wrote: post #15

I find it fascinating how much a pretty large group of people just hate semaglutides and seemingly need to believe that it's some kind of Faustian bargain. I'm not talking about the people who are cautious or suspicious, that's more than reasonable, but it's clear that it's not cautious optimism in many.

Many people (will only speak to America), view being fat as a literal moral failing. Gluttony or overeating are not the sin, but being fat. (From that perspective:)a miracle cure that allows someone to stop being fat is like an indulgence (in the Roman Catholic sense). It’s a cheat, a shortcut that allows the unworthy to reach a state they do not deserve. My opinion is to wait long enough to validate there are no lon…

> Many people (will only speak to America), view being fat as a literal moral failing. Gluttony or overeating are not the sin, but being fat.

I feel like I've seen and heard more of the opposite: The trend is to avoiding anything that might make someone feel blame for arriving in their situation.

With obesity the trend is to blame some combination of "our food supply", trending science topics like microplastics or the microbiome, and genetics.

I've heard countless people explain to me that dieting doesn't work for them. It's not hard to find people claiming they ate What's interesting about GLP-1 inhibitors is that they modulate the intake portion of the diet, which shatters these previous notions that some people had "metabolic disprivilege" and simply could not lose weight by reducing caloric intake. They just make it easier to reduce food intake.

Re: Ozempic shows anti-aging effects in trial

#112

Post by godshatter » Tue, Aug 05, 2025, 8:00 PM UTC

some_random wrote: post #15

I find it fascinating how much a pretty large group of people just hate semaglutides and seemingly need to believe that it's some kind of Faustian bargain. I'm not talking about the people who are cautious or suspicious, that's more than reasonable, but it's clear that it's not cautious optimism in many.

I'm not a fan because it's expensive and once you go off of the drug the weight comes back on (at least from what I've read). That's not a trade-off I want to take lightly.

There's also something to be said for gaining the discipline to do it yourself along the way, which may lead to keeping more of the weight off in the long run.

We also don't know what the long term side effects of it will be, if any.

I don't find any of that unreasonable to me. I'm saying this as a type-2 diabetic who could stand to lose a lot of weight.

Re: Ozempic shows anti-aging effects in trial

#113

Post by genewitch » Tue, Aug 05, 2025, 8:01 PM UTC

smt88 wrote: post #79

genewitch wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

every time in recorded human history when there's be a panacea or cure-all it's generally been snake-oil. There are a lot of side effects, of this type of medicine - many which were not really prevalent when it was prescribed on-label.

There are lots of miraculous, life-saving drugs that have minimal side effects and aren't snake oil. Metformin, insulin, many vaccines, some statins, and some antibiotics are clearly on that list.

> panacea or cure-all

specifically, is what i said.

Re: Ozempic shows anti-aging effects in trial

#114

Post by pie_flavor » Tue, Aug 05, 2025, 8:01 PM UTC

readthenotes1 wrote: post #44

morninglight wrote: post #8

There is another study that comes to mind. https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2420092122

I have no idea why you're down voted. The replication crisis is real, and it is well known that fraud is a part of it

Because it's a content-free dismissal. No attempt is made to link it to this study in particular.

Re: Ozempic shows anti-aging effects in trial

#115

Post by genewitch » Tue, Aug 05, 2025, 8:02 PM UTC

const_cast wrote: post #106

genewitch wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

every time in recorded human history when there's be a panacea or cure-all it's generally been snake-oil. There are a lot of side effects, of this type of medicine - many which were not really prevalent when it was prescribed on-label.

> every time in recorded human history when there's be a panacea or cure-all it's generally been snake-oil. That's just not true at all. Like, not even close. Almost everything we've invented in medicine has been free. As in, little to no downsides and just makes things better. And not just in medicine - look around you, compare it to 100 years ago. A lot of stuff is safer, for free. Think about infant mortality. We…

does HN not know what the word "panacea" or the phrase "cure-all" mean?

Re: Ozempic shows anti-aging effects in trial

#116

Post by blitzar » Tue, Aug 05, 2025, 8:02 PM UTC

jvanderbot wrote: post #61

stronglikedan wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Many people (will only speak to America), view being fat as a literal moral failing. Gluttony or overeating are not the sin, but being fat. As an American with a sister with thyroid issues, I can say that is absolutely not true for the majority of Americans. People are mostly sympathetic to those who are not obvious slobs.

With respect, neither of you are qualified to speak for majority of Americans, but given the amount of effort, money, ink, and television dedicated to looking better and losing weight combined with the fact that there's even a thing called fat phobic that even requires definition just to push back on all that ... I think there's sufficient reason to believe that "Overweight = bad" is a common standard that at least p…

We must live on different timelines. Pre ozempic America was the proudest nation of fat people I have ever encountered (excluding the costal elites of course).

Re: Ozempic shows anti-aging effects in trial

#117

Post by lenerdenator » Tue, Aug 05, 2025, 8:03 PM UTC

some_random wrote: post #15

I find it fascinating how much a pretty large group of people just hate semaglutides and seemingly need to believe that it's some kind of Faustian bargain. I'm not talking about the people who are cautious or suspicious, that's more than reasonable, but it's clear that it's not cautious optimism in many.

There are people who are going to hate anything like that, because it makes a very difficult task (losing weight) significantly easier. And we hate it when the damned kids, what, with their Tok-Clock and deadass rizz, have it easier than we did back in the day.

That being said, the fact that we let our society in North America get to the point where something like semaglutides are such a huge deal is something to honestly hate, and I think some of the misdirected hate is really a hatred for that.

Re: Ozempic shows anti-aging effects in trial

#118

Post by Aurornis » Tue, Aug 05, 2025, 8:03 PM UTC

cm2187 wrote: post #57

noah_buddy wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people (will only speak to America), view being fat as a literal moral failing. Gluttony or overeating are not the sin, but being fat. (From that perspective:)a miracle cure that allows someone to stop being fat is like an indulgence (in the Roman Catholic sense). It’s a cheat, a shortcut that allows the unworthy to reach a state they do not deserve. My opinion is to wait long enough to validate there are no lon…

And also the idea that it is "easy" to lose weight is completely out of touch. If it was there wouldn't be millions of people trying hard, spending money on trying and failing for decades, and entire businesses addressing that. RFK Jr's "let them eat less" is paradoxically the modern version of "let them eat cake"!

> And also the idea that it is "easy" to lose weight is completely out of touch. If it was there wouldn't be millions of people trying hard, spending money on trying and failing for decades, and entire businesses addressing that.

This is a touchy topic, but I would like to point out that you're missing the obvious confirmation bias that comes with this observation.

There are many people who modulate their weight by changing what they eat, how much they eat, reducing snacking, meal planning, and changing their shopping habits.

You don't see them among the millions of people failing to lose weight or paying for expensive solutions because they quietly solve their problem.

I'm also not suggesting it's easy, but we should acknowledge that many people do successfully control and modulate their weight through dietary and habit changes. There's a survivorship bias problem that occurs when you only look at the remaining sub-group who has the most difficulty with this.

Re: Ozempic shows anti-aging effects in trial

#119

Post by Aurornis » Tue, Aug 05, 2025, 8:07 PM UTC

tsol wrote: post #92

morkalork wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even then, limiting calorie intake isn't all that difficult; there's a reason why intermittent fasting took off and so many people were getting results from it.

Not necessarily. Some people respond well too intermittent fasting but not everyone. Some people respond to keto but not everyone. And just because you respond doesn't mean it's gonna take you to where you need to be. I've always been skinny but for some reason I've gained weight recently. Even with keto, intermittent fasting, tirzeptide, and workouts twice a week I have only lost 5 lbs in months. When I was skinny a…

> Even with keto, intermittent fasting, tirzeptide, and workouts twice a week I have only lost 5 lbs in months.

If you're combining a ketogenic diet AND intermittent fasting AND a GLP-1 inhibitor AND exercise and you're still losing less weight than observed in the Ozempic studies, it's likely that there's more to this story.

Ketogenic dieting does not automatically translate to weight loss. Keto simply makes it easier to reduce caloric intake. It's actually very easy to gain weight on a keto diet due to the high caloric density of consuming that much fat.

> Now I begin to feel incredibly depressed, I can't sleep nor focus.

Honestly if you're having these dramatic negative effects from minor caloric restriction with GLP-1 inhibitors, something else is going on.

Re: Ozempic shows anti-aging effects in trial

#120

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Aug 05, 2025, 8:09 PM UTC

const_cast wrote: post #103

jfim wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the incentives for people to be fat, out of curiosity? Do you mean farm subsidies for corn, for example?

At a low level, yes, corn, but at a high level: more consumption = more money. Everyone benefits from you being fat. Your doctors, your car manufacturer, food manufacturers, everyone. Except maybe health insurance. But they're not hurt too too much.

[deleted]