FRIDAY, June 19, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Ozempic doesn’t only help people lose weight, but might also protect against broken bones, a new study says.

People with type 2 diabetes treated with semaglutide (Ozempic/Wegovy) had a 15% lower risk of bone fractures, according to findings presented Sunday at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Chicago.

"Bone fractures are painful, expensive and can seriously affect quality of life — especially as people get older," lead researcher Jairo Noreña, a former endocrinology fellow at Stanford University Medical Center in California, said in a news release.

"We hope this study encourages monitoring of bone health in weight-loss programs,” Noreña said.

Previous studies have shown that rapid weight loss through GLP-1 drugs like semaglutide might lead to thinner bones and fractures, while more moderate and slower weight loss might preserve bone mass.

For the new study, researchers analyzed health records for 161 million patients treated at U.S. hospitals between 2016 and 2023.

The team compared more than 26,000 patients with type 2 diabetes treated with semaglutide to a control group of more than 33,000 treated with other diabetes medications.

Results showed that semaglutide caused a greater drop in weight compared to the other drugs.

However, the semaglutide group also had fewer fractures — 794 versus 1,045.

"This work is an important early step toward understanding the impact of semaglutide-induced weight loss on bone health in patients with type 2 diabetes," Noreña said.

Findings presented at medical meetings are considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

Harvard Medical School has more on the side effects of semaglutide.

SOURCE: Endocrine Society, news release, June 14, 2026