Mounjaro benefits and side effects explained: All you need to know

Weight problems is a significant well being concern on this planet, as tens of millions of individuals have extreme fats deposits of their our bodies. In 2022, 890 million folks had been discovered to be dwelling with weight problems, in response to the World Well being Group. So, it comes as no shock that pharmaceutical corporations and authorities businesses globally are attempting to give you an answer. That has brough weight reduction medication into the image. Most of those prescribed medicines assist by mimicking the hormones that play a key position in regulating urge for food and starvation. Mounjaro is one such remedy, which is used to handle sort 2 diabetes and likewise has weight reduction advantages. Know all about the advantages and unwanted effects of Mounjara, a weekly injectable drug, earlier than utilizing it to shed weight.

What’s Mounjaro?

Mounjaro is the model title for tirzepatide, a once-weekly injectable remedy authorized by the US Meals and Drug Administration for sort 2 diabetes. Additionally it is used off-label for weight reduction, which suggests it’s prescribed for a objective aside from what it’s been authorized for.

“In contrast to earlier GLP-1 agonists like semaglutide, which is offered beneath totally different manufacturers, together with Ozempic, Mounjaro acts on two incretin hormones GIP (glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide) and GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1),” says endocrinologist Dr Archana Juneja. This fashion, it enhances its efficacy for each glycemic management and weight reduction.

What are the advantages of Mounjaro?

Listed below are the important thing advantages of Mounjaro:

1. Manages diabetes

It helps in managing sort 2 diabetes by growing the manufacturing of insulin within the physique. This in flip helps in decreasing blood sugar, as the quantity of sugar your liver produces decreases. “It stimulates the pancreas to launch extra insulin in a glucose-dependent method, that means it primarily works when blood glucose ranges are excessive, decreasing the chance of hypoglycemia,” explains the skilled.

2. Helps with weight reduction

Mounjaro has demonstrated vital weight discount in non-diabetics as properly. A brand new research, offered on the European Congress on Weight problems in Spain in Could 2025, discovered {that a} weekly dose of tirzepatide can result in vital and constant weight reduction for as much as 3 years in overweight or chubby adults who will not be diabetics. “This medication works on the mind’s hypothalamus, which controls starvation. It helps to suppress urge for food and decelerate gastric emptying, resulting in early satiety and aiding weight reduction,” says the skilled.

Mounjaro doses

The doses enhance step by step, however be certain that to observe your physician’s recommendation.

• The really helpful beginning dose is 2.5 mg, which must be injected beneath the pores and skin of your abdomen, thigh, or higher arm as soon as weekly, as per the FDA.
• 4 weeks later, the dose might be elevated to five mg.
• The utmost dosage is 15 mg, which ought to be injected subcutaneously as soon as weekly.

When you miss a dose, a jab must be given as quickly as attainable inside 4 days after the missed dose.

Does Mounjaro trigger hair loss?

Hair loss isn’t a identified or frequent aspect impact of Mounjaro itself. Nevertheless, speedy weight reduction, which is frequent with tirzepatide, can result in telogen effluvium, a brief hair loss drawback. “This kind of hair loss is often reversible and never straight tied to the burden loss drug’s mechanism,” says Dr Juneja. When you expertise hair loss whereas taking Mounjaro, you have to be checked for dietary deficiencies like iron, zinc, vitamin B12 and protein.

What are the unwanted effects of Mounjaro?

Listed below are a number of the unwanted effects of Mounjaro:

• Nausea: It’s a frequent aspect impact, skilled whenever you begin taking this weight reduction drug. “It’s usually as a result of delayed gastric emptying brought on by the remedy, and often improves because the physique adjusts to the drug,” says the skilled.
• Vomiting: It happens in some folks, significantly if the dose is elevated too rapidly. It’s the physique’s response to adjustments in digestion and urge for food regulation.
• Diarrhea: Unfastened or frequent stools may result from adjustments in intestine motility, which is the stretching of the muscle tissue within the gastrointestinal tract.
• Constipation: If not diarrhea, some folks could expertise slowed bowel actions or have issue passing stool on account of adjustments in digestion.
• Indigestion: A sense of discomfort or burning within the higher stomach after consuming could also be felt whereas utilizing Mounjaro.
• Pancreatitis: Irritation of the pancreas is a uncommon, however critical aspect impact of this weight reduction drug. It may well result in extreme stomach ache, nausea and vomiting.
• Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar): Mounjaro alone has a low threat of inflicting hypoglycemia. “Nevertheless, if utilized in mixture with insulin or sulfonylureas (anti-diabetic medicines), the chance will increase. Sweating, dizziness and confusion are a few of its signs,” says the skilled.
• Liver toxicity: It’s uncommon, however hepatotoxicity, also called liver toxicity, could also be related to tirzepatide use. Throughout a research, printed within the European Journal Of Case Studies In Inner Drugs, researchers discovered that liver toxicity was skilled after escalating doses of tirzepatide.