More than 2 in 5 adults in the United States have obesity. This is a serious public health problem that puts them at higher risk of other chronic diseases.

Neuroscientist Dr. “For many people, obesity is a brain disease,” Sanjay Gupta said.

Gupta has spent the past year researching GLP-1 drugs, a class of drugs used to treat diabetes that have been available for about 20 years.

They now help large numbers of people lose weight, sometimes off-label.

While these medications are rapidly growing in popularity (about 1 in 8 U.S. adults have taken Ozempic or similar medications used to treat Type 2 diabetes and obesity), they come with some risks and are not for everyone.

“One of the ways these drugs work is by essentially slowing down your digestion. This allows you to better absorb your energy instead of shoveling away calories,” Gupta explained.

But there are possible side effects, including:

• Nausea

• Vomiting

• Diarrhea

• Constipation

• Stomach ache

These are usually felt when the person first starts taking the medication.

Other rare but serious side effects include gastric paralysis and pancreatitis, Gupta said.

“For people using it for medically necessary reasons, it seems like it’s a situation where the benefits outweigh the risks,” Gupta said.

If your body mass index is 30 or higher or your BMI is 27 or higher and you have at least one weight-related health problem, such as high blood pressure, you may qualify for GLP-1 medications for weight loss.

Most people stop using it after 12 weeks due to cost, side effects or another reason, Gupta said.

“For a significant percentage of people, whether it’s tolerance or something else, it doesn’t seem to work for them either, they don’t seem to get the benefit,” Gupta said.

This drug is not a “magic bullet,” he said. He said the medication should be used along with exercise and a healthy diet to maintain weight.

Many people gain half to two-thirds of their weight back after stopping the medications, but not every patient does, Gupta said. And many were not able to regain all the lost weight.

If you want to learn more about Gupta’s year-long research into this class of drugs, read “Is Ozempic right for you?” The report titled will be broadcast on CNN on Sunday, November 17 at 20:00.