The biggest heart health breakthrough since statins? Largest study to date shows Ozempic can dramatically lower risk of major heart problems regardless of weight lost

Game-changing weight-loss vaccines could reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke regardless of how many kilos a patient loses, a promising study has suggested.

Semaglutide, the powerful ingredient behind Wegovy and Ozempic, has long been hailed as a monumental breakthrough in the war against obesity.

But evidence has emerged in recent years to suggest the drugs can be lifesaving for a range of other conditions, including heart disease, asthma and even alcohol addiction.

Now, in a large global study (the largest and longest trial to date examining the cardiovascular benefits of semaglutide), British scientists have found that such benefits were evident regardless of how much weight patients lost with the drug.

Researchers found that HE Initially, the amount of weight lost did not predict who would have fewer heart problems.

However, reduced waist size (a sign of less belly fat) accounted for about a third of semaglutide’s overall heart health benefit, reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke by almost a fifth.

The findings suggest the jabs could provide broader benefits for patients, so they should not be restricted to just severely obese patients, the scientists said.

But experts, who described the findings as ‘profound’, warned that further research was vital to prove exactly why the jabs had this effect.

Professor John Deanfield, cardiologist at University College London and lead author of the study, said: ‘Abdominal fat is more dangerous to our cardiovascular health than total weight.

‘So it’s not surprising to see a link between a reduction in waist size and cardiovascular benefit.

‘But this still leaves two-thirds of semaglutide’s heart benefits unexplained. These findings reshape what we think this drug does.

‘It is labeled as a weight loss shot but its benefits to the heart are not directly related to the amount of weight lost.

‘It is actually a drug that directly affects heart diseases and other diseases of aging.’

He added: ‘This study has implications for how semaglutide is used in clinical practice.

‘You don’t need to lose a lot of weight and you don’t need a high BMI to get cardiovascular benefits.

‘If your aim is to reduce cardiovascular disease, it does not make sense to restrict its use only for a limited period of time and to those with the highest BMI.

‘At the same time, the benefits need to be weighed against the potential side effects.

‘Given the wide range of people for whom this medicine and similar drugs may help, it is particularly important to investigate side effects.’

The global trial was conducted in 41 countries and included 17,604 patients aged at least 45 who were overweight or obese.

Half were given the highest possible dose of semaglutide (2.4 mg) each week, the other half fake medicine known as placebo.

They found that patients with a body mass index (BMI) score of 27 (the average BMI score for adults in the UK to be classified as overweight) saw similar benefits as those with the highest BMI score.

Writing for a prestigious magazine LancetThe benefits were also largely independent of how much weight people lost in the first four months of treatment, they said.

However, researchers noticed a difference between reduced waist circumference as measured by waist circumference and heart benefits.

They noted that ‘an estimated 33 percent of the observed benefit in major adverse cardiovascular events was due to reduction in waist circumference.’

This reduced the risk of an event such as a heart attack or stroke by 14 percent.

Responding to the study’s findings, cardiovascular expert Professor Tim Chico A medical doctor from the University of Sheffield, who was not involved in the research, said: ‘This shows that the benefits of the drug are not just because it causes weight loss.

‘The implications of this and other similar studies are profound.

‘The average man or woman in the UK has a body mass index of over 27, so most people with heart disease may benefit from adding semaglutide to their existing medication, which usually includes aspirin, statins, blood pressure-lowering drugs and other blood thinners.

‘Evidence from this and other studies suggests that we should consider giving these drugs to large numbers of people who are likely to get a meaningful benefit.’

Professor Azeem Majeed, an expert in primary care and public health at Imperial College London, added: ‘The findings reinforce the use of semaglutide not just as a weight loss tool but as a disease-mitigating treatment for high-risk patients.

‘In the future, this could potentially lead to expanding the use of semaglutide beyond strict BMI limits and encouraging its earlier use in the prevention of cardiovascular disease.’

Semaglutide injections have been shown to help users lose up to an average of 33 lbs (15.3 kg) over 68 weeks.

They work by suppressing appetite by tricking the brain into thinking it is full and, as a result, helping people lose weight.

Semaglutide has been available on the NHS since 2019 and in the US since 2017 for people with type 2 diabetes to manage their blood sugar levels.

Another semaglutide drug, under the brand name Wegovy, was also approved for weight loss in the UK in 2022 and the US in 2021.

The NHS in England will administer a weight-loss vaccine to 240,000 people who need it most over the next three years.

Two in three Britons are classed as overweight or obese, and NHS figures show people now weigh around a stone more than 30 years ago.