Most bizarre Ozempic side-effect yet: Some patients could turn to risky sex and gambling in a phenomenon experts call ‘impulse control disorder’ [Video]

11:48 EDT 28 May 2024, updated 11:49 EDT 28 May 2024

Slimmers were today warned that weight loss jabs could trigger and unexpected and bizarre side effect: reckless behaviour.

Game-changing injections such as Ozempic and Wegovy, hailed by the likes of Elon Musk and Jeremy Clarkson, are proven to help people shed up to two stone. 

But according to experts, the treatment could cause some users to act ‘out of character’, engaging in risky sex, compulsive gambling or even making rash major life decisions such as filing for divorce. 

They believe changes levels of the brain chemical dopamine, possibly linked to the jabs, may be behind the issue, contributing to the ever-growing list of downsides.

The researchers, from London, say patients should be warned about the potential of these bizarre reactions, known collectively as impulse-control disorder, before starting on the drugs.