Can You Mix Semaglutide and Alcohol?

Semaglutide has been getting a lot of attention for helping people lose weight and manage diabetes.

There is much information online about how semaglutide interacts with different foods you eat. But what happens when you mix semaglutide with alcohol?

We all know that alcohol is bad for you. And if you take semaglutide, it’s important to understand how it might interact with alcohol. This applies both to people who have moderate alcohol consumption and those who suffer from drinking problems.

Read on to find out how alcohol can mess with your blood sugar levels and how semaglutide can potentially cure alcohol use disorder.

What is Semaglutide?

Semaglutide is a weight loss drug and an active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy that mimics a hormone in your body called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). This type of medications reduce appetite and regulate your blood sugar levels.

Semaglutide is usually used to treat diabetes and obesity, also known as weight management.

People like GLP-1 receptor agonists weight loss drugs like semaglutide because they are incredibly effective. If you take semaglutide, you can lose up to 15-20% of your body weight. Combine it with a calorie-deficit diet and exercise, and you can see even better results!

Mixing Semaglutide and Alcohol

You need to know that if you’re taking semaglutide for weight loss, in general, you can drink alcohol. But you must know how the two interact to avoid adverse effects on your body.

There are two points to consider here. The first is how alcohol affects blood sugar levels, which is critical for people taking semaglutide.

The second point is one of the more recent promising studies, and that is how semaglutide may help with the treatment of alcohol abuse.

Alcohol Can Mess With Blood Sugar Levels

Alcohol drinking can negatively affect your body, like causing liver damage, weight gain, and increasing the risk factors of alcohol use disorder (AUD). AUD is when someone can’t control their alcohol intake, which can lead to serious health problems.

In addition to that, alcohol has negative effects on blood sugar levels that can last for several hours and be dangerous.

Immediately after you drink alcohol, you may experience a temporary spike in blood sugar levels, especially if the alcohol is mixed with sugary drinks such as soda or juice, or if it is beer and sweet wines.

After the initial spike, alcohol can cause blood sugar levels to drop. This happens because alcohol affects your liver. When you’re consuming alcohol, your liver is busy processing the alcohol and may not release enough glucose into the bloodstream, causing your blood sugar levels to drop.

If you take semaglutide, which already lowers blood sugar levels, drinking alcohol can increase the risk of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), especially if you drink on an empty stomach or drink excessively.

If your blood sugar drops too low, you might experience dizziness, confusion, sweating, or even fainting.

Semaglutide Might Cure Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD)

There’s some promising research showing that semaglutide might help reduce alcohol cravings and the amount of alcohol people drink. This could be a game-changer for people who need treatment of alcohol use.

Semaglutide works by affecting the brain’s reward system, which is linked to the pleasure you get from drinking alcohol. By affecting the hormone dopamine, semaglutide makes alcohol less appealing, which could help people drink less.

What Does the Research Say?

In a clinical trial with people who took semaglutide, patients reported greater reductions in alcohol drinking. This shows that semaglutide not only helps people lose weight but also reduces their alcohol consumption.

While there’s still a lot to learn about how alcohol and semaglutide interact in the human body, early research with animal models looks promising.

In a recent study conducted by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) with collaborators from The Scripps Research Institute, researchers explored whether semaglutide could reduce alcohol consumption. They tested it on mice and rats and found that semaglutide reduced binge drinking in both animals. It also lowered alcohol intake in rats that were dependent on alcohol.

“In conclusion, the GLP-1 analogue semaglutide decreased alcohol intake across different drinking models and species and modulated central GABA neurotransmission, providing support for clinical testing of semaglutide as a potentially novel pharmacotherapy for AUD.” – the research abstract states.

This study showed that semaglutide affected brain activity related to addiction–it suppressed the rewarding effects of alcohol and reduced alcohol consumption.

Can Semaglutide Cure Alcohol Use Disorder

Studies like the one above show that semaglutide may become a medicine for treating alcohol use disorder. Since it helps reduce alcohol cravings, it could help people who are struggling with both obesity and heavy drinking.

By reducing alcohol intake, semaglutide could make a big difference in someone’s health and quality of life.

But for now, we need more research to fully understand how semaglutide will affect alcohol use. Future clinical trials on humans will show whether semaglutide can be used as a medication for alcohol disorder treatment.

Final Thoughts

Semaglutide became popular for helping people lose weight and manage diabetes, but its potential as an alcohol use disorder medication is just starting to be researched.

As more studies with human patients are done, we might see semaglutide being used off label to help people with alcohol use disorder symptoms.

For now, though, the best thing to do is to be cautious about drinking alcohol while on semaglutide, stay informed about how it might affect you, and talk to your healthcare provider if needed.