Ozempic’s Newest Miracle: Dramatically Cutting Dementia Risk

A new study published Tuesday in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease tracked nearly 1.7 million Americans with Type 2 diabetes for three years, finding that people taking semaglutide—the active ingredient in the popular fat burning drugs Ozempic and Wegovy—had their risk of developing Alzheimer’s-related dementia cut by 40 to 70% compared to those on other diabetes medications.

“We show that semaglutide was associated with a significantly reduced risk of overall ADRD (Alzheimer’s disease-related dementia) incidence with a hazard ratio ranging from 0.54 (0.49–0.59) compared with insulin, 0.67 (0.61–0.74) compared with metformin, to 0.80 (0.72–0.89) compared with older generation glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists (GLP-1RAs),” the study reads.

“These findings provide evidence supporting protective effects of semaglutide on dementias in patients with T2D (Type 2 diabetes).”

The numbers get more interesting when you dig deeper.

Against vascular dementia—the second most common form after Alzheimer’s—semaglutide showed particularly strong protective effects. But it didn’t work for everything. Frontotemporal dementia and Lewy body dementia showed little change in the drug’s effects.

This isn’t some happy coincidence. Scientists believe that semaglutide achieves this brain-protecting effect through multiple pathways.

Beyond controlling blood sugar and promoting weight loss, the drug appears to reduce inflammation throughout the body, including the brain.

Some preclinical studies suggest it might even help clear out the toxic proteins that gum up neurons in Alzheimer’s disease.

“Additionally, GLP-1 receptor agonists (like semaglutide) have shown neuroprotective effects,” Manisha Parulekar from Hackensack University Medical Center told Medical News Today. “Preclinical studies (in animals) have demonstrated that GLP-1 receptor agonists can protect neurons, reduce inflammation in the brain, and improve cognitive function.”

In other words, semaglutide essentially tackles multiple dementia risk factors at once, like a Swiss Army knife for metabolic health.

Of course, there’s a catch. These findings are based on observational data from medical records—essentially, sophisticated people-watching rather than controlled experiments—and researchers made a point to note this.

“Future works are needed to establish the causal relationships through randomized clinical trials and to characterize the underlying mechanisms.”

So the medical establishment isn’t ready to prescribe Ozempic as dementia prevention just yet.

Dr. Abraham Snaiderman cautioned against using it for unapproved conditions until clinical trials prove the connection. “This is a great study, but don’t go buying the medications yet,” for conditions other than diabetes and obesity, he told CBC.

Common side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea remain, and long-term safety for brain protection needs more study.

But miracle or not, the news comes as a breath of fresh air for the Novo Nordisk stock, which bounced from a bearish correction that tanked its price 15% last week.

With over 55 million people living with dementia worldwide—a number expected to hit 78 million by 2030—any intervention that cuts risk by half would reshape public health.

About 50% of dementia cases are considered preventable by targeting known risk factors, each contributing just 1-7% to overall risk.

A single drug that hits multiple targets simultaneously could change that math dramatically.

Xu’s team isn’t stopping with semaglutide. They’re already planning to investigate whether tirzepatide—the ingredient in newer drugs Zepbound and Mounjaro—might work even better.

Economic analyses are also in the works to determine if prescribing these pricey medications for prevention could actually save money compared to treating full-blown dementia later.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair