Ozempic better than insulin in lowering the risk of certain cancers: study

Type 2 diabetes patients can significantly lower their risk for 10 obesity-related cancers if they take Ozempic instead of insulin to manage the disease, new research finds.

The study included 1.65 million people with Type 2 diabetes who were prescribed insulin, metformin or an Ozempic-like drug between March 2005 and November 2018.

Type 2 diabetes — which affects more than 34 million Americans — occurs when the body doesn’t produce enough insulin or doesn’t use insulin well, resulting in high blood sugar.

Metformin, injectable insulin and drugs like Ozempic that mimic the appetite-suppressing hormone GLP-1 can help people with Type 2 diabetes control their blood sugar levels. Ozempic has been shown to cause greater weight loss than metformin, while weight gain is a common side effect of insulin therapy.

In this latest study, researchers from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland followed participants for 15 years. They found that GLP-1 drug users, compared to insulin patients, reduced their risk for esophageal, colorectal, kidney, pancreatic, gallbladder, ovarian, endometrial and liver cancers as well as meningioma (a tumor that forms in the head) and multiple myeloma (a rare blood cancer).

GLP-1 drugs did not lower the odds of postmenopausal breast cancer or thyroid cancer compared to insulin use — and the reduced risk for stomach cancer was not statistically significant, according to the findings published Friday in JAMA Network Open.

Ozempic’s safety information warns of the possibility of thyroid tumors and worsening kidney problems for those already experiencing issues.

Compared with metformin, GLP-1 drugs were not associated with a decreased cancer risk but the study found they did pose an increased risk of kidney cancer.

Ozempic and similar medications have become very popular in recent years for helping people drop lots of weight and keep their blood sugar in check. They have also been linked to a lower risk of heart attacks and alcoholism.

The Case Western research is not the first to suggest that Ozempic can protect against cancer.

A study published in December found that GLP-1 drugs decrease the risk of colorectal cancer in people with Type 2 diabetes compared to insulin or metformin.

The authors of the new study call for further exploration of Ozempic’s ability to prevent certain cancers.

Their research comes as the drug was recently linked to a higher risk for a rare blindness condition. Ozempic users have also reported changes in their tastes, faces and desires.