What is Semaglutide?
Semaglutide is a potent glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist, a medication that acts like a hormone known to control appetite. It is used as an anti-diabetic medication for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus, when the body’s metabolism either does not produce enough insulin or use insulin effectively, and thus cannot properly regulate the level of sugar in the blood [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12].
What Does Semaglutide Do?
Semaglutide stimulates the pancreas to release the right amount of insulin to reduce high blood sugar. When blood sugar is regular, insulin allows the body's cells to use it for energy and to move sugar from the blood into other body tissues. Semaglutide also slows digestion. As a result, blood sugar control leads to weight loss [4].
Beyond the treatment of type 2 diabetes, semaglutide also has new promising possible clinical implications.
Preliminary results suggest its potential for use in:
- Type 1 diabetes mellitus
- Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
- Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis
- Kidney disease
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Pulmonary diseases
Nevertheless, hard evidence about its usefulness and safety in these new possible implications is lacking, and more information is required to make a conclusive statement on its long-term efficacy and potential safety in its new implications [1].
Semaglutide can be administered by injection under the skin in one of two FDA-approved versions:
- Ozempic, to lower blood sugar in those with type 2 diabetes,
- and Wegovy, to those over the age of 12 who are obese or sit just above the obese threshold, as is the case for those with a body mass index of 30 or more and who have medical complications (hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol) as a result of their weight [6].
Benefits of Semaglutide For Weight Loss
One of the most effective weight-loss drugs is semaglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist. Its effect is primarily due to reduced appetite and hunger, decreased energy intake, improved control over eating behaviour, and reduced relative food palatability [13].
Its most obvious advantage is that it can produce substantial weight loss – in one trial of people without type 2 diabetes, the mean weight loss was as much as 12.1%, and the absolute body weight loss was 12.3 kg, with 33.4% of people losing 20% or more, compared with 2.2% with the placebo [14].
In addition to reducing weight, BMI, and waist circumference, semaglutide has been associated with other cardiometabolic risk factors. In one meta-analysis, semaglutide-associated reductions in BMI were ‘dramatic’, at 3.19, with a similar ‘dramatic’ reduction in waist circumference (7.21 cm) [15].
Beyond weight loss, semaglutide also improves cardiovascular risk factors and physical functioning. In a semaglutide trial, the most significant weight loss of any obesity drug was reported, with 15% of baseline weight loss at 68 weeks, with improvements in cardiovascular risk factors and improvements in physical functioning [16].
But while it does promote weight loss – semaglutide is currently being investigated to ascertain its long-term safety – it also seems to result in drops in lean mass for some subjects, with losses ranging from almost 0 to 40% of total weight loss in one particular study [17].
What is B12?
Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) is a water-soluble vitamin essential for many physiological processes. We require it but cannot produce it ourselves, so we must eat or supplement it [18].
What Does B12 Do?
Vitamin B12 is essential for forming red blood cells, a healthy nervous system, the metabolism of proteins and fats, synthesis of DNA and optimising brain function. In fact, it is the only B vitamin that is not an organic base or salt but a mineral [18].
B12 is a co-enzyme involved in numerous metabolic reactions needed to maintain cellular metabolism and synthesise DNA. It is also an anti-reactive oxygen species (ROS) as a superoxide scavenger. B12 deficiency involves several diseases, including megaloblastic anaemia, which can be cured by complementing B12 [19].
Besides, B12 is a precursor or necessary to cellular metabolism, such as DNA synthesis, methylation, and mitochondrial metabolism [20]. In addition, B12 is even a key to multiple ailments, such as pernicious anaemia, neurology diseases, obesity, diabetes, dyslipidaemia, and foetal development complications [21].
Semmaglutide With B12 For Weight Loss
There is not enough evidence to verify whether the combined use of Semaglutide and B12 helps directly to lose weight. Scientific studies supplied do not mention Semaglutide combined with B12 for weight loss.
Yet, Semaglutide also induces weight loss. Semaglutide is an antidiabetes and weight loss drug that lowers food intake, slows gastric emptying, and stimulates insulin secretion [8]. In a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials, Semaglutide was associated with substantial changes in relative and absolute body weight over the long term. At the most extended follow-up, 33.4% of patients randomised to receive Semaglutide lost ≥20 per cent of their weight, compared with 2.2% receiving placebo [14].
One study found that Semaglutide was associated with reduced weight loss outcomes: absolute value of weight loss, percentage of weight loss, body mass index, and waist circumference [15].
But now we know that – while it can reliably help people lose weight – all glucagonlike peptide-1 receptor agonists like semaglutide also typically cause gastrointestinal adverse effects; in one trial, participants on semaglutide saw more gastrointestinal adverse events than those on placebo [14].
In conclusion, while Semaglutide effectively promotes weight loss, there is currently no specific evidence regarding combining Semaglutide with B12 for weight loss. More evidence needs to be obtained to formulate conclusions about whether there is a relationship.