WOMEN taking 'skinny jabs' have been urged to pair them with effective contraception.
It follows claims that the weight loss drugs are fuelling a baby boom.
Women using diabetes or weight loss medications like Ozempic and Wegovy have flocked to social media to report an unexpected side effect - surprise pregnancies.
Ozempic - the active ingredient of which is semaglutide - is prescribed to treat type 2 diabetes and has the added benefit of making users lose weight.
But manufacturer Novo Nordisk released a higher dose of semaglutide under the brand name Wegovy to treat obesity, which was rolled out in the UK last year.
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A number of other weight loss drugs have followed in their stead, including the "King Kong" of fat jabs Mounjaro and a recently trialled injection dubbed the “Godzilla”.
Known as glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RA), the medications work by mimicking a hormone produced naturally by your gut when you eat food, to control blood sugar levels, slow down digestion of food and reduce hunger pangs.
Aside from helping users lose weight, it seems women using the drugs have also began falling pregnant unexpectedly.
Anecdotal evidence has cropped up across social media channels. A Facebook group titled "I got pregnant on Ozempic" has gained almost 800 members, while others have taken to Reddit to discuss unplanned pregnancies after using the jabs.
CAN OZEMPIC BOOST FERTILITY?
Scientific evidence on whether skinny jabs can actually help people get pregnant is currently lacking.
But experts told The Guardian that the drugs might help boost fertility.
Dr Karin Hammarberg of Monash University said: “Women with obesity often have irregular or no periods because they don’t ovulate.
"Once they lose some weight, ovulation becomes more regular and this is how their fertility improves."
As pregnant women were specifically excluded from early clinical trials for Ozempic and similar drugs, little is actually known about the effects of the drugs on expectant mums.
A spokesman for Novo Nordisk - which makes Ozempic and Wegovy - recently told The Washington Post the company was collecting data to evaluate the safety of becoming pregnant while using Wegovy.
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Meanwhile, scientists are also exploring whether semaglutide could help boost ovulation in women with obesity and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) – a condition can make it difficult to get pregnant as a result of irregular periods.
CAN SKINNY JABS AFFECT CONTRACEPTION?
Some women have also reported becoming pregnant while using skinny jabs, despite already using hormonal contraception, The Washington Post reported.
It's lead to speculation that GLP-1 drugs could interfere with the absorption of contraception.
Prof Sir Stephen O’Rahilly, co-director, of the Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science, told The Guardian it could have something to do with the nausea and diarrhoea some people experience while taking GLP-1s.
“People treated with these drugs can develop gastrointestinal side-effects including diarrhoea, so it is not implausible that some women may find that their oral contraceptive pill is, at least intermittently, not as reliably absorbed as it was previously," he said.
He suggested that women keen to avoid pregnancy who are using skinny jabs while on the Pill use additional methods of contraception like condoms "until their weight stabilises".
Meanwhile, Dr Hammarberg noted that women can get pregnant while taking the Pill even when they're not using semaglutide.
“To be doubly sure that unplanned pregnancy doesn’t happen, it may be wise for women who are on Ozempic and similar drugs to use condoms and of course an IUD would also be a very safe option.”
JAB SAFETY CONCERNS DURING PREGNANCY
There is no evidence in humans that fat jabs could affect babies if taken during pregnancy.
But according to Novo Nordisk, animal studies indicate some potential risks to foetuses, as pregnant rats given semaglutide showed foetal structural abnormalities and growth problems.
The company recommends women stop taking Wegovy at least two months before a planned pregnancy.
"This medicine should not be used during pregnancy, as it is not known if it may affect your unborn child," it noted in the preclinical safety leaflet for the drug.
"Therefore, it is recommended to use contraception while using this medicine.
"If you wish to become pregnant, you should stop using this medicine at least two months in advance.
"If you become or are pregnant, think you may be pregnant or are planning to have a baby when using this medicine, talk to your doctor straight away, as your treatment will need to be stopped.
"You should not use this medicine if you are breast-feeding, as it is unknown if it passes into breast milk."
