Highlights

  • In a trial tracking more than 17,600 people over the age of 45 who are overweight or obese and have cardiovascular disease, those who took semaglutide died at a lower rate from all causes.
  • In the same trial, semaglutide also lowered chances of heart failure symptoms and cut inflammation regardless of whether or not participants lost weight.
  • The medication is a prescription drug that mimics the hormone GLP-1 to make people feel less hungry.

Some high-profile researchers now believe that a drug used to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity called semaglutide could also slow the process of aging. When speaking about semaglutide—better known as Ozempic—Professor Harlan Krumholz from the Yale School of Medicine made the following statement in a BBC press release:

The drug “…has far-reaching benefits beyond what we initially imagined.”

This remark comes after the publication of several new studies that are based on the Select Trial, such as one published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The Select Trial includes 17,600 human participants over the age of 45 who were given 2.4 mg of semaglutide for more than three years. It was funded by Ozempic’s manufacturer, NovoNordisk, and subjects were obese or overweight and had cardiovascular disease but not diabetes. Researchers who have analyzed results coming from the Select Trial have found that semaglutide could be used to treat an array of age-related illnesses linked to heart failure, Alzheimer’s, arthritis, and even cancer.

“It wouldn’t surprise me that improving people’s health this way actually slows down the aging process,” Professor Krumholz told the European Society of Cardiology Conference 2024, where studies coming from the Select Trial were presented.

“These ground-breaking medications are poised to revolutionize cardiovascular care and could dramatically enhance cardiovascular health,” added Professor Krumholz.

Studies Based on the Select Trial Suggest Semaglutide Reduces Chances of Age-Related Death

As for the findings of the studies based on the Select Trial, those who took semaglutide died at lower rates from all causes, including cardiovascular disease and COVID, over the course of more than three years. Also, people taking the drug were just as likely to catch COVID but were less likely to die from it. Furthermore, semaglutide consistently reduced the risk of adverse cardiovascular events, such as heart failure. Semaglutide was also associated with improved symptoms in patients with cardiovascular disease as well as lowered systemic inflammation, regardless of whether people lost weight.

Although the manner in which semaglutide may lower chances of death and potentially stave off aging are uncertain, its association with lowered inflammation may provide a hint. If semaglutide does lower chronic inflammation, it may work against age-related systemic inflammation (known in aging science as inflammaging). In that regard, inflammaging is one of the hallmarks of aging—physiological characteristics that arise during aging—the targeting of which may slow or reverse aging processes. In this way, semaglutide may work against age-related chronic inflammation, among possibly other hallmarks of aging, to delay the aging process.

Semaglutide Is an Injectable Prescription Drug that Suppresses Hunger

Semaglutide is an injectable prescription drug available in many countries, including the US. It suppresses appetite by mimicking the hormone GLP-1, which makes people feel more full and less hungry. Some experts have warned, though, that the drug is not a replacement for eating well and exercising and should only be given under medical supervision. Like other medications, it comes with side effects, the most common of which are nausea, an upset stomach, bloating, and gas.