A new clinical study suggests that semaglutide—the active ingredient in popular weight-loss medications such as Ozempic and Wegovy—may help slow biological aging, adding to the growing list of potential health benefits associated with the widely prescribed drugs.
Researchers found that participants who received semaglutide showed slower changes in several biological aging markers measured through DNA-based “epigenetic clocks.” The findings come from the first randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial to provide evidence that the medication may influence biological aging, although the research focused on adults living with HIV and was not designed to determine whether the same effects occur in the general population.
Semaglutide is already approved to help treat obesity and type 2 diabetes and has been shown to reduce the risk of certain cardiovascular events. Scientists believe the drug’s ability to reduce inflammation, improve metabolic health and decrease excess body fat may contribute to the observed changes in biological aging markers.
Researchers cautioned that the findings are preliminary and that larger studies involving more diverse groups of people will be needed before concluding that semaglutide can slow the aging process more broadly. Still, the results add to growing scientific interest in whether GLP-1 medications may offer health benefits beyond weight loss.
