Lucy Devine
A doctor has issued a warning to people who use weight loss jabs over the 'golden dose'.
The use of GLP-1 medication, such as Ozempic and Mounjaro, has skyrocketed in the last few years, and work by mimicking hormones that signal your brain to feel full.
It also aids in slowing digestion as both drugs work to slow down the rate at which food leaves the stomach, giving the user that fuller feeling for longer.
Also prescribed to those with type 2 diabetes, the drugs can improve the body’s response to insulin to help regulate blood sugar levels and fat storage.
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While most people use the treatment correctly, one doctor has issued a warning over the 'golden dose' - also known as the 'fifth dose'.
The golden dose refers to extra fluid at the bottom of each injectable pen.
However, to get the most out of each pen, people are using the extra medicine as a 'fifth dose' - but it comes with some pretty big risks.
In fact, social media is filled with people reporting unpleasant side effects from accidentally taking too much of the drug, after miscalculating the dose.
Now, one doctor has spoken out about the dose, appearing on This Morning where he answered some questions about what it is and why it's not advisable to take it.
Dr Hussain Al-Zubaidi explained: "The golden dose you talked about is utilising the buffer fluid that's in the injection. So, in order for the injection to give all of its doses and to make sure that every dose contains the full dose, there's a little bit extra, that's there to be wasted.
"People try to utilise that, and there is no evidence base that that is somehow a 'golden dose' or gonna' bring about anything. So be careful."
When co-host Alison Hammond asked exactly how it works, Dr Hussain said: "Essentially, squeezing it out with the final click which isn't there if that makes sense.
"Which just isn't something I would do, because you're now changing the dose and there's a reason why we give those set doses.
"Because they've been studied, they've been looked at, whole ranges get explored and then specific ones get used.
"And there's a reason why specific doses get used."
Tyla has reached out to the manufacturers of Ozempic and Mounjaro for comment.
In response, Novo Nordisk - the manufacturers of Ozempic - said: "Novo Nordisk does not condone, suggest, or encourage misuse of any of our medicines outside of their approved indications.
"It is important to note that the decision to prescribe these medicines in any dosage should be made by a healthcare professional.
"The approved doses of semaglutide are the only dose strengths that have been studied as maintenance doses in our phase 3 clinical development programs. Whilst there may be a residual amount of medicine left, this does not correspond to a full dose. Any excess solution in the pen should be discarded."
Meanwhile, Elli Lily, which manufactures Mounjaro, said: "The Mounjaro (tirzepatide) KwikPen is designed to deliver a fixed volume of Mounjaro solution at each dose.
"The KwikPen contains sufficient solution to allow for the necessary priming before each injection and the delivery of a total of 4 doses (one dose given weekly for a 28-day supply of medicine).
"Medication will remain in the KwikPen cartridge following the delivery of the 4 fixed doses, however, an additional complete dose cannot be dialled. The KwikPen must be discarded after 4 doses or 30 days after first use."