In this video, Zhaoping Li, MD, PhD, of the UCLA School of Medicine in Los Angeles, breaks down the newest weight loss drug for the stars, semaglutide (branded as Ozempic for type 2 diabetes treatment and Wegovy for weight managment).

Amid a surge in demand for the GLP-1 agonist, Li discusses a supply shortage, weight-loss misconceptions, and an NIH study that could change the way we think about dieting.

The following is a transcript of her remarks:

Ozempic, or Wegovy, is a new class of medication that belongs to GLP-1 agonists. It was first developed as a medication to treat type 2 diabetes, and now we know it also has an indication for weight loss.

GLP-1 agonist is actually an endogenous hormone. When we eat, particularly with protein-rich food, the level of our endogenous GLP-1 goes up, it creates satiation or fullness, and that is the reason we're giving ourselves additional injections -- to enhance the effect of endogenous hormones.

With that being said, it is a higher dose of our own hormones. It has been shown to be safe from all the experience we have treating type 2 diabetes. As to using it as a weight loss drug, it has been on the market for over 2 years, and it has been generally safe as well.

Requests for GLP-1 agonists as weight loss drugs have significantly increased. That's because over 70% of us have a weight problem, and we all also struggle to find an easy solution. So, this is just another tool in the box. We have seen this kind of enthusiasm in the past for any new drug that can be potentially helpful for weight management. There's no exception for GLP-1 agonists.

With the supply chain issues together with the new indication [for weight loss], there has been a shortage of this class of drug across the board on the market. That is just fanning the issue of people really trying very hard to get this drug. It may also make people feel that this is more of a miracle than anything else.

My passion is to help everyone not only manage weight, but have a better life and feel better about themselves. We all need to invest in our own health, and the one-size-fits-all approach in the last 20 or 30 years has proven to be not effective. We are all different, it's not just that we have different genetic background, cultural background, different height, different weight, but we are truly dynamically different, even when we compare ourselves today from yesterday, from 1 week ago.

That's the reason NIH this year in January launched a first-ever discovery study called Nutrition for Precision Health. The goal actually is testing 12,000 people with one standard meal to see who you are and what your body's response is. After that, everyone will be on three different diets, and we will check metabolically which diet fits you and your body.

In a sense, there are people who may be better off with the Mediterranean diet or the best diet we think is healthy, but meanwhile there are people who would benefit from a ketogenic diet, or there are also those of us who are just okay with what we are doing day in, day out.

So, that is just a new beginning of discovery and science. Hopefully in five or 10 years, instead of me telling you that you've got to do portion control or go on the keto diet or do intermittent fasting, we can really do a test and to see at this time what your body's best reaction is to it. It could be nothing to do with diet, [maybe] you just need to simply sleep better or go to bed today, not until tomorrow (meaning early morning at 2 o'clock in the morning).

So, it is a rapidly evolving field, and we are really at the spearhead in trying to get a better answer.