Can You Drink Diet Soda While on Ozempic?
Yes, you can drink diet soda while taking Ozempic, but it is recommended that you talk to a healthcare provider beforehand. Although it does not contain sugar, diet soda contains artificial sweeteners. However, make sure to be aware of your sugar levels, which might influence your body. If you want personalized advice, speak to your clinician.
What Is Ozempic?
Ozempic, also known by its scientific name semaglutide, is a prescription medication used to treat type 2 diabetes.
Ozempic belongs to the group of drugs called glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists [1, 2].
Semaglutide is the active ingredient in ozempic and the one that makes it efficient [1, 2]. It regulates blood sugar levels. In addition to this, it is recommended to combine it with a healthy diet and regular exercise [1].
Ozempic is administered as an injection under the skin [1, 2]. The medication works by the principle of mimicking the GLP-1 hormone, which is naturally found in our bodies. This hormone helps to lower blood sugar levels by increasing the amount of insulin your body produces after eating a meal. Therefore, it reduces the amount of sugar released into your blood and slows down the time it takes for food to move through your stomach. Overall, this prevents your blood sugar from spiking rapidly after you eat [3].
Apart from regulating blood sugar levels, it is also being prescribed to reduce the risk of heart-related problems, such as heart attacks and strokes for people with type 2 diabetes and heart diseases [1, 3]. Here it works by the same mechanism as described above [3].
Although its primary use is for patients with type 2 diabetes, sometimes Ozempic gets prescribed off-label for weight loss [2, 3]. Essentially, Ozempic reduces your appetite, which leads to a decrease in the number of calories you consume [3]. This off-label use has gained popularity, as evidenced by the significant increase in search volume for Ozempic over 5 years [4].
Even though Ozempic can be of use to many people, it does not have to be the right choice for everyone. Make sure to consult your health history with your healthcare provider, as certain health conditions like thyroid tumors, multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, diabetic retinopathy, and conditions that affect the kidneys and pancreas may make ozempic unsafe to use [5].
Read about whether Ozempic can lower your testosterone levels or whether ozempic may have effects Hashimoto's disease .
Can You Drink Diet Soda While Taking Ozempic?
Based on the available information, it does not look like there is any known interaction between ozempic and diet soda.
One study conducted by Sylvetsky et al. found that diet sodas changed the GLP-1 response to oral glucose [6]. This may potentially suggest that diet soda may enhance the effects of GLP-1, however, more research is needed to confirm this.
Although diet soda may not directly interact with Ozempic, regular consumption of diet soda has been associated with higher levels of eating, shape and weight concerns [7]. Adding to this, regular diet soda drinkers have been reported to have lower overall diet quality compared to non-soda drinkers [8].
So the conclusion is that yes, you can probably drink diet soda while taking Ozempic, but as always, it's best to discuss your dietary habits and medication use with your healthcare provider.