Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/K3jUwpv4zXE A viewer on YouTube asks the following question: I am not type two diabetic but my doctor has given me farxiga for weight loss cause I am 225 lbs and 5' 2 with a bmi of 39.9. Would you consider this drug safe for just weight loss? I responded to her with the following: Farxiga is not FDA-approved for any use in non-diabetics.  There are no published experimental studies on its use for weight loss in non-diabetics.   The only available data on Farxiga and weight loss was in diabetics.  This drug and its sister medication Invokana, both sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors, cause blood sugar to spill out through the kidneys and trigger weight loss. A study reported in 2014 showed that, when Farxiga 10 mg was taken daily for 6 months, there was an average weight loss of only 1 kg or 2.2 pounds over that entire 6 months.  Not impressive!  A more recent study combined the Farxiga with insulin but in type 1 diabetics and clocked only a 3.8% weight drop. Weigh that meager