Photo illustration by Elena Viltovskaia It felt inevitable that two of the biggest wellness buzzwords of our day—microdosing, usually as in psychedelics , and GLP-1 medications—would join forces to make a viral progeny. (Hailey Bieber + NAD, anyone?)
But while it sounds a bit like an AI hallucination, “Microdosing GLP-1” is very real: People are taking tiny amounts of GLP-1, short for glucagon-like peptide 1 and sold under brand names like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro to treat diabetes and obesity.
Some are drawn to it for ongoing weight management and because of the cost; paying for a fraction of the full dosage can be a way of staying on it longer, albeit at a lower effectiveness. But in some circles, microdosing GLP-1 is also being touted as a panacea for inflammation, the next frontier in longevity, and a potential breakthrough for women navigating the changes of midlife . Proponents point to emerging research on its potential to treat arthritis and fatty liver disease , improve cardiac health and prevent or slow the progression of Alzheimer’s . A single X post where scientist Andrew Huberman discusses the topic with a performance medicine doctor has been viewed over 234,000 times.
When you type the search term into Instagram, Kiki Petty’s videos on the subject are among the top results. In her twenties and thirties, Petty struggled with binge eating and endless dieting , “mostly unsuccessfully,” describing herself as “obese.” After having her youngest child at 40, she lost a significant amount of weight on a weight loss program.
Shortly thereafter, though, Petty started experiencing symptoms often associated with perimenopause, such as mood swings, anxiety, irregular periods and hot flashes. “And just maintaining that weight,” she says. “I’d gotten into a groove for about a year post weight loss, and all of a sudden it felt like things were changing, yet I was still doing all the things I needed to do.” She regained about half the weight she’d lost. “We started with the baseline dosing, and what I learned about myself is that I cannot tolerate semaglutide.” Petty, who lives in Nashville, went to her […]
Why People Are Microdosing Ozempic, or GLP-1, In the Name of Wellness
