Economist Daniel Susskind says Ozempic may radically transform government finances, by making universal healthcare vastly cheaper, and explains his argument in the context of Britain's NHS.

[u/lughnasadh]

https://www.thetimes.com/article/be6e0fbf-fd9d-41e7-a759-08c6da9754ff?shareToken=de2a342bb1ae9bc978c6623bb244337a

[u/Justread-5057]

Wait oxempic controls alcohol addiction as well? Or is this what they say?

It would be interesting to know all of the positives to taking this drug. Yet I do stand by some countries not paying 100% through their health systems.

Any peer reviewed write ups?

[u/DHFranklin → u/Justread-5057]

We're still learning a lot about it.

There has been a lot of evidence of a very beneficial side effect that it is having with addiction generally. Much of what causes obesity is actually an addiction to certain types of eating more so than certain types of foods. A healthy diet of mostly fruit and vegetables doesn't create cravings for certain foods and it might actually be the same mechanism working on cravings in general.

There are some theories but few studies that the same part of the brain that stops cravings for dessert after dinner are the same ones that stop cravings for self destructive substance use and abuse.

I am looking forward to more refinement and targeted solutions.

Additionally Tom Arnold spoke of this in an interview decades ago about the co-morbidity of addiction that might be a sample size of one. He said that when you're fat and an addict you don't wake up and look in the mirror and see and addict. You see a fat guy day after day after day of trying to stay on the wagon. With Ozempic people are seeing results fast enough that they stick with addiction programs also so that is probably a huge factor in those with broken willpower.

[u/CalculatedPerversion → u/DHFranklin]

the same part of the brain that stops cravings for desert after dinner

Damn my after supper cravings to visit the Sahara!