Ozempic Could Change Births in America
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
More babies could be born because of Ozempic as it can improve fertility and has led to surprise pregnancies, experts have told Newsweek.
There have been multiple reports of an "Ozempic babies" phenomenon after women reported becoming pregnant on the drug, even while on birth control in some cases.
Last month, the United Kingdom's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care, urged women on Ozempic and other similar weight loss drugs to make sure they are on effective birth control if they do not want to conceive.
Professor Alexander Miras, a clinical professor of medicine who has led studies on how weight loss interventions influence live birth rates in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), told Newsweek that this is happening because women with obesity often have no periods and do not routinely use contraception.
Photo-illustration by Newsweek/GettyCanva
"Medications for obesity cause significant weight loss and this can rapidly improve fertility, thus the unwanted pregnancies," he said.
Similarly, reproductive endocrinologist Dr. Patricia Jimenez, from WashU Medicine, told Newsweek: "For people with irregular menstrual cycles, weight loss has been shown to increase ovulation and therefore pregnancy."
"Weight loss also can improve semen parameters," she added.
However, Jimenez stressed that these drugs "are not fertility medications, and for people struggling with infertility, the best option is to talk with a specialist about fertility treatment."
Meanwhile Karin Hammarberg, a senior research fellow at Monash University who has authored several pieces on "Ozempic babies," said that unwanted pregnancies from weight loss drugs could be a cause for concern.
"They will cause some unexpected and unplanned pregnancies, which is concerning since we don't know how this drug might affect the growing fetus," she told Newsweek.
While a lot is still unknown about Ozempic, its ability to affect fertility may have an impact on the number of births in America, which is, along with most other countries, struggling with declining birth rates.
Could Ozempic Lead to an Increase in Birth Rates?
"We may indeed observe an increase in birth rates because a previously untreated population of women with infertility will now have more access to effective pharmacotherapy for obesity that can rapidly improve their fertility," Miras said.
While Hammarberg agrees that weight loss drugs could add a number of births to the total, she does not believe it "will make any difference to birth rates at a population level."
Jimenez said "we need more data to understand whether these medications will have a significant impact on birth rates" as "there is no evidence that weight loss increases live birth rates in people with regular ovulatory cycles or with fertility treatments."
America's fertility rates are projected to average 1.6 births per woman over the next three decades, according to the Congressional Budget Office's latest forecast released this year.
This number is well below the replacement level of 2.1 births per woman required to maintain a stable population without immigration.
With financial struggles and worries often cited as reasons for people having fewer children, solutions often focus on calling for policies that include making child care, health care, housing and education more accessible.
Others have focused on cultural impacts. For example, Norway is a global leader in parental leave and child care policies, but is still facing a birth rate crisis. Its Birth Rate Committee has pointed largely to cultural changes, including the fact that fewer people are having their first child before the age of 30 because lower rates of couples in their 20s are staying together.
Dr. Jonathan Sher, founding partner of Scotland's Coalition for Healthier Pregnancies, Better Lives and the former deputy director of the Queen's Nursing Institute Scotland, is one of several who have urged countries to look at fertility and pregnancies as a way of tackling birth rates.
He previously wrote that remedies linked to finances are "built on the assumption that people of childbearing potential are increasingly choosing not to become parents."
Sher said that focusing on achieving healthier fertility and pregnancies could save multiple "unhappy endings" which includes miscarriages, stillbirths, therapeutic terminations, very premature deliveries, harm to the mother's health and/or her future reproductive life, as well as babies born with life-limiting birth defects.
"These are pregnancies intended to be full term and produce healthy babies who will grow up to become net assets to their economies and societies," Sher said.
Although saving all of these pregnancies would be impossible, "many of these unwelcome outcomes could, and should, have been prevented through robust, universal, effective policies and practices under the umbrella of preconception and interconception health, education and care," he said.
How Does Ozempic Work?
Ozempic is an injectable prescription drug that was developed to manage blood sugar levels in patients with Type 2 diabetes. It has surged in popularity because of how it assists weight loss.
It is based on a naturally occurring human hormone called glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), which plays an important role in regulating appetite and blood sugar levels. Its active ingredient is a molecule called semaglutide, which mimics the structure of this GLP-1 hormone and activates its receptors.
In doing so, semaglutide induces feelings of fullness while delaying the emptying of the stomach, making users feel less hungry and therefore less likely to overeat.
Jamie Winn, of the online pharmacy Universal Drugstore, previously told Newsweek that "Ozempic may interfere with the absorption of oral contraceptives, which can reduce their effectiveness and lead to an unwanted pregnancy."
"If you are taking Ozempic and an oral contraceptive, it is recommended that you also use a barrier method of birth control such as a condom," Winn added. "Another option is to switch to a long-acting reversible contraceptive such as an IUD."
But, like Jimenez, Winn said: "While Ozempic may increase fertility, caution should be taken if you get pregnant while on this medication. There is not enough information on the use of Ozempic by pregnant women, and there were adverse outcomes in animal studies. Pregnant rats that were given Ozempic had an increased rate of fetal death and birth defects.
"Because it can take up to six weeks for Ozempic to be cleared from your body, it is recommended that you stop Ozempic at least two months before you plan on getting pregnant," Winn said. "If you become pregnant or think you are pregnant while on Ozempic, stop taking the medication and call your health care provider immediately."
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