Weight loss jabs like Mounjaro and Ozempic have been linked with a nearly 50 per cent increased risk of damaged taste and smell, a study has found. 

While the impact of the drugs on people’s appetite has been well-established – with users losing around 15 per cent of their body weight – research has found the jabs can also change the taste and smell of food. 

Mounjaro is available privately to patients with a BMI of 27 with a weight-related condition, like heart disease, high blood pressure or sleep apnoea. 

For those with type 2 diabetes, tirzepatide – sold under the brand name Mounjaro – is licensed for use on the NHS and is typically prescribed if existing treatments prove ineffective. 

Ozempic may be recommended when three other medications have not been effective in managing the condition. 

Currently, an estimated 1.6 million people in the UK are estimated to be on the jabs, collectively known as GLP-1s, with thousands waiting for a new pill form of Wegovy.  

Experts made the link when they looked at the impact of the jabs on patients’ relationship with food. 

They discovered that while around two in every one thousand people with type 2 diabetes will experience changes in their smell and taste, weight loss jabs can almost double the likelihood. 

Weight loss jabs alter people’s perception of taste and smell, research suggest 

The study – published in JAMA Otolaryngology – included data from more than 870,000 patients and 170 healthcare institutions worldwide from 2017-26. 

All participants had a type 2 diabetes diagnosis. Half were prescribed GLP-1s while the control group managed their condition with other diabetes medication. 

Results showed that patients on the jabs were about 50 per cent more likely to report food tasting and smelling different than before.

However, the researchers stressed the side effect is rare. 

People with type 2 diabetes are already more likely to experience problems with smell and taste, as a result of nerve damage and poor blood flow the researchers explained but weight loss jabs may exacerbate the effect. 

These drugs not only act in the gut and brain areas that control appetite, but also on taste bud cells and areas in the brain that process taste, smell and reward. 

‘Taste doesn’t only happen on the tongue,’ Dr Madusha Peiris, an expert in appetite regulation who wasn’t involved in the study explains. 

‘When we eat, we consciously register sweet, bitter, umami and sour but the same nutrients are being ‘tasted’ a second time, lower down, in the gut. 

‘The gut is lined with sensor cells that sample what we eat and in response release hormones like GLP-1 that tell the brain we’re full. So the body is reading food in two places, and taste and fullness are wired into the same nutrient-sensing system.

That shared wiring is why these drugs can reach the senses. With GLP-1 at levels far above normal, you’re pushing a signal the system was built to fire briefly, in the very pathway that links nutrient detection to flavour. It’s not surprising that perception of taste and smell can shift as a result.

‘What this study shows is exactly that association with increased frequency of reported taste and smell disturbances in people taking these medications. But why it happens, the actual cause, is still unknown.’ 

Mounjaro is prescribed for the management of diabetes in specific circumstances 

A 2025 study similarly found that around one in five patients taking Ozempic, Wegovy or Mounjaro report foods tasting saltier or sweeter than before, but the perception of bitterness or sourness was unchanged. 

Users who reported a change in taste were also twice as likely to say they felt fuller – and this was especially true of people who found food sweeter than before. 

Of these, 67 per cent reported a reduction in appetite and were 85 per cent more likely to experience a reduction in cravings compared to those whose taste buds didn’t change.

However, experts are not convinced that changes in taste alone are enough to drive body weight reduction. 

Rather, weight loss depends on a number of factors, such as physical exercise, diet, sleep, stress and long-term eating patterns. 

It comes just weeks after a new pill form of Wegovy was approved for use in the UK. 

The daily pill contains semaglutide, the same appetite-suppressing ingredient used in a number of the jabs – part of a new wave of treatments alongside Mounjaro that have transformed weight loss. 

Take-up of the pill is expected to be monumental, with recent figures suggested that twice as many people would be willing to take a tablet than an injection.  

The health service is considering changes to managers’ contracts so it is easier to hold them to account for failings in maternity care, the NHS England chief executive has revealed.

Sir Jim Mackey said ‘a lot of people often leave’ when things go wrong, making it difficult for the health service to sanction them or force them to co-operate with investigations.

Speaking at a conference hosted by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) think-tank in London today, Sir Jim admitted failings identified in maternity reports have become ‘horribly repetitive’ and likened them to ‘terrible child protection reports and failures’.

He said there is a need to develop clearer expectations and standards for individuals and NHS trusts and ensure they are held to account.

It comes after former midwife Donna Ockenden this week published her report into the biggest maternity scandal in NHS history, which found hundreds of babies and mothers died or were left seriously injured at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.

She said there was a ‘toxic’ culture, in which women were routinely ignored and mistakes covered up.

It is understood that half of the 60 former senior executives and directors she approached refused to answer questions about their role in the scandal.

Sir Jim described the inquiry findings as ‘shocking’ and admitted there is an ‘awful lot in it’ about the NHS’s ‘inability to listen and tailor services to respond appropriately’.

Sir Jim Mackey said ‘a lot of people often leave’ when things go wrong, making it difficult for the health service to sanction them or force them to co-operate with investigations

It comes after former midwife Donna Ockenden this week published her report into the biggest maternity scandal in NHS history, which found hundreds of babies and mothers died or were left seriously injured at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust

He is meeting NHS trust leaders and nursing and medical directors on Tuesday to discuss maternity care and vowed to ‘move very quickly’ to make improvements.

There have been ‘repeated horrors and failures in the service in lots of ways’ with a ‘lot of repetition’ and ‘probably too little action’, Sir Jim said.

‘We’ll just need to be really crisp and clear about who needs to do what to deliver what we need to do,’ he added.

Sir Jim said: ‘Everybody needs to be accountable for their actions. We’re looking at changes we can make to leaders’ contracts.

‘A lot of people often leave, and then it’s very difficult to hold them accountable for what happened on their watch.

‘We’re going to try and make some changes to make it more easy to hold them to account.

‘Where individuals are elsewhere in the service there are processes ongoing to determine whether that is right and what we can do about it, so that everybody’s held accountable.’

Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust, East Kent Hospitals and Mid and South Essex NHS Trust have all faced high profile maternity scandals, with others still rumbling on.

Sir Jim said there have been ‘so many views of different reports’ that it becomes difficult to stay on top of them and know ‘what good looks like’.

The health service will now look to consolidate standards and regulations in light of the separate Amos review into maternity, which is due to be published next week and examines maternity care at 14 trusts.

There will be ‘a single set of actions for the NHS, for every part of the NHS, national, local, individual organisations, our colleagues – professional expectations and standards as well – so that we can hold everybody to upheld the actions,’ Sir Jim said.

He warned ‘professional tribalism’ between doctors and midwives was often a factor in poor maternity care and it is crucial relations are improved between the different factions.

He also highlighted a lack of basic compassion and suggested previous leaders could have done a better job at bringing previous recommendations into one place, so they were easier to implement.

Sir Jim said he had been an NHS chief executive for ’20-odd years’ and would not be able to describe all the organisations and bodies involved in the oversight and regulation of maternity.

He believes there are ‘far too many’ and there is a need to consolidate to get ‘one single version of the truth’.

He said it is a ‘time for action’ and NHS leaders have ‘got to pull together and start doing it now’.

The model of NHS maternity care also needs updating to reflect the fact there are more older mums and more with drug and alcohol issues, he added, rather than working with a system that was designed for the UK as it was 20 or 30 years ago.

Popular supplements touted for alleviating nighttime cramps, lowering blood pressure and boosting heart health have been urgently recalled.

The FDA has warned of an urgent recall of 13,920 bottles of Adndale Magnesium Glycinate Gummies because they may contain melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep. 

Naturally produced in the brain’s pineal gland, melatonin controls the body’s sleep-wake cycle, otherwise known as the circadian rhythm.

While melatonin supplements are generally considered safe, it’s unclear exactly how much of the sleep supplement was found in the magnesium gummies. High doses have been tied to poisoning deaths, especially in children, as well as heart failure. 

The recall was given a Class II designation, which indicates ‘a situation in which use of or exposure to a violative product may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote.’

There have been no illnesses or adverse effects linked to the recalled supplements. 

Adndale Magnesium Glycinate Gummies subject to the recall were sold in 90-count 11.4oz plastic bottles on the brand’s website and third-party online retailers such as Amazon. 

The supplements contain 400mg magnesium, according to the label, and have a serving size of two gummies.  

Nearly 14,000 bottles of magnesium supplements were recalled due to potentially containing undeclared melatonin (stock image)

The recall includes the lot numbers 190824, 240923 and 240929, which have expiration dates of August 19, September 22 and September 28, 2026, respectively. 

Recalled products have the UPC 860008784551 printed on the label.

The FDA has not issued specific guidance for disposing of or stopping use of the supplements, but the agency typically recommends immediately throwing recalled supplements out or returning them to the place of purchase. 

Magnesium is an essential mineral regulating over 300 biochemical reactions in the body, such as muscle and nerve function, blood pressure and glucose control.

It’s found naturally in dark leafy greens, nuts, seeds, legumes and whole grains.  

Magnesium glycinate, the form in the recalled supplements, has been shown to improve sleep quality, as it helps regulate brain chemicals involved in relaxation and wakefulness. 

It also helps naturally produce melatonin and relax muscles, which helps treat leg cramps at night.

These benefits can help promote a restful night’s sleep, but compounded with additional melatonin, users may experience excess drowsiness.   

Recent studies have also pointed to potential dangers linked to melatonin supplements. 

In a study published last year, researchers found that, compared to people with insomnia who didn’t take the sleep supplement, melatonin users were 90 percent more likely to be diagnosed with heart failure within five years.

Users were also three times more likely to be hospitalized for heart failure than their peers who didn’t take it.

And those who used melatonin were nearly twice as likely to die from any cause in five years compared to non-users.

However, experts have stressed that it is important to note the findings showed only associations, not direct causes.

Additionally, in 2022, the CDC revealed how, in the decade leading up to 2021, poison helplines dealt with 260,435 calls about children who had taken too much melatonin – a 530 percent increase from 2012.

In 2012, melatonin was responsible for one percent of pediatric poisonings. That rose to five percent in 2021.

Of the poison reports, two children died, five were put on a ventilator to help them breathe, nearly 300 ended up in intensive care and more than 4,000 were hospitalized.