The number of people who are poisoning themselves as a result of the unsupervised use of slimming medication is ballooning, toxicological centre NVIC has said.

The centre has received some 105 reports of poisoning so far this year compared to 75 in 2024 as a whole and just 41 in 2023, the AD reported on Friday.

Most cases involved semaglutide, which is the active ingredient in registered brands Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus, and which had been bought by users online without doctors’ advice.

Symptoms include nausea and vomiting as well as stomach and bowel problems. “And these are just the cases reported by family doctors or specialists. There are many more that we don’t hear about,” NVIC head Dylan de Lange told the AD.

De Lange said that in several cases, people ended up severely dehydrated and in need of emergency care. “People who really overdo it risk getting gastroparesis, which affects the stomach muscles so food is not processed properly,” he said.

According to De Lange, the unsupervised use of the appetite suppressants is mounting. “People are buying them online or getting them in other ways. With this type of medication, you have to start very slowly, increasing the dosage until you get to the level that fits you,” De Lange said.

The increased use of the medication has prompted more studies into rare but serious side effects such as acute kidney failure, liver infections, muscle wasting, and eye blood vessel infections which can lead to blindness, he said.

Some 120,000 people in the Netherlands were prescribed slimming drugs in 2024.

Weight-loss drugs in the Netherlands are currently only covered by insurance for individuals with a body mass index of at least 35 and type II diabetes. However, in a government backed survey earlier this year, 90% of respondents said weight loss drugs should be included in the basic insurance package.