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Can you drink alcohol on Mounjaro or Ozempic?

GLP Guidebook teamUpdated 5 Oct 202613 sourcesWritten from published sources
The short answer

No US label bans alcohol on Mounjaro (tirzepatide) or Ozempic (semaglutide), but health bodies advise against it. India's ESI 2025 guideline and the UK's NHS advise avoiding alcohol; the NHS says it can worsen nausea. With insulin or a sulfonylurea, drinking raises low-blood-sugar risk for up to 24 hours.

Before you go further
  • GLP‑1 medicines such as Mounjaro and Ozempic are prescription-only in India, not sold over the counter.12
  • A government statement on 1 Apr 2026 said only endocrinologists, internal-medicine specialists and cardiologists can prescribe them.12
  • The risks are in Guide 5: Side effects and risks.
  • Nothing here promises any result.

Do Mounjaro and Ozempic interact with alcohol?

We found no warning about drinking alcohol in the US labels for Mounjaro (revised August 2026) or Ozempic (revised May 2026).1,2

Mounjaro's label mentions alcohol once, as benzyl alcohol, an ingredient in the 4-dose pen and vial.1 Ozempic's label mentions it only as the swab you clean your skin with.2 We found no public Indian label for either medicine.1,2 So the reasons for care come from their side effects and from other diabetes medicines.

Why can drinking make the side effects worse?

Alcohol may worsen feeling sick (nausea) and acid reflux on GLP‑1 medicines such as Mounjaro and Ozempic, says a 2025 US advisory.4

Nausea is already very common (more than 1 in 10) on both, say their US labels.1,2 In the labels' diabetes trials, 12% to 18% on Mounjaro had nausea, against 4% on a dummy injection (placebo).1 On Ozempic it was 16% to 20%, against 6%.2 India's ESI 2025 obesity guideline lists "avoid alcohol" among its tips for stomach side effects.3 The NHS medicine pages for tirzepatide and semaglutide say it's best not to drink, as it can worsen sickness.13

Both labels report kidney injury, mostly in people dehydrated by vomiting or diarrhoea.1,2 Diabetes UK suggests water between drinks to avoid alcohol's "dehydrating effects".5 Both labels warn about a swollen pancreas (pancreatitis).1,2 The NHS lists drinking a lot of alcohol among its 2 most common causes.6

Is drinking riskier if you take them for diabetes?

Yes, if you also take insulin or a sulfonylurea such as glimepiride, because both raise your chance of low blood sugar (a hypo).1,2

Both labels say Mounjaro or Ozempic with insulin or a sulfonylurea raises the risk of hypos, including severe ones.1,2 The US glimepiride label says hypos are more likely "when alcohol is ingested".7 Diabetes UK says alcohol makes it harder for your body to recover when sugar is falling.5 That risk can last up to 24 hours after drinking.5 The type 2 diabetes path covers sulfonylureas and hypos.

Get help now: call 112 for stomach pain that is severe or won't go away. It may spread to your back, with or without vomiting.1,2 If someone with diabetes seems drunk, it may be a hypo. The two are easy to mix up.5
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Can Mounjaro or Ozempic make you drink less?

Semaglutide, the medicine in Ozempic, cut some drinking measures in 3 small trials of people with alcohol use disorder. We found no tirzepatide results yet.8,9,10,11

A 9-week US trial of low-dose semaglutide in 48 adults cut drinks per drinking day and craving, not drinking days.8 A Danish trial gave 108 adults with obesity talk therapy plus semaglutide 2.4 mg weekly (above Ozempic's 2 mg top dose) or placebo for 26 weeks. Heavy-drinking days fell 41 percentage points, against 26 on placebo.2,9 An 8-week trial of semaglutide tablets in 50 adults missed its main measure, craving, but cut heavy-drinking days.10

Of 7 tirzepatide (Mounjaro) trials involving alcohol on ClinicalTrials.gov, none had posted results by 5 Oct 2026. One was due to end its main phase in August 2026. A 5-person study, not yet recruiting, will test how tirzepatide changes how the body handles alcohol.11 Neither US label lists alcohol use disorder among its approved uses.1,2

RisksThe risks, in brief
  • Stomach effects are very common. Nausea in 12% to 18% on Mounjaro vs 4% on placebo, and 16% to 20% on Ozempic vs 6%.1,2
  • Pancreatitis. Severe stomach pain that won't go away, sometimes spreading to the back.1,2
  • Dehydration from vomiting or diarrhoea can hurt the kidneys.1,2
  • Hypos with insulin or a sulfonylurea.1,2
Full detail in Guide 5: Side effects and risks →

Read the full picture

Related questions

What is tirzepatide? Is semaglutide the same as Ozempic? How long do Mounjaro side effects last? Can you drink tea and coffee on a GLP-1 medicine? Which symptoms on a GLP-1 need urgent care?
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Sources

  1. Eli Lilly. Mounjaro (tirzepatide) US prescribing information, revised 08/2026. US label, not the Indian one: we found no public Indian label. Sections 1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.5, 6.1 (Table 2), 11. pi.lilly.com
  2. Novo Nordisk. Ozempic (semaglutide) US prescribing information and instructions for use, revised 05/2026. US label, not the Indian one: we found no public Indian label. Sections 1, 2.2, 5.2, 5.5, 5.6, 6.1 (Table 1). novo-pi.com
  3. Madhu SV, Kapoor N, Das S, Raizada N, Kalra S. ESI clinical practice guidelines for the evaluation and management of obesity in India: an update (2025). Indian J Endocrinol Metab 2025;29:355-365. Table 6. doi:10.4103/ijem.ijem_680_25 · PMID 40917319
  4. Mozaffarian D et al. Nutritional priorities to support GLP-1 therapy for obesity: a joint advisory (ACLM, ASN, OMA, TOS). Obesity 2025;33:1475-1503. US advisory. doi:10.1002/oby.24336 · PMID 40445127
  5. Diabetes UK. Alcohol and diabetes (content last reviewed 17 Dec 2024). diabetes.org.uk
  6. NHS. Acute pancreatitis (page last reviewed 11 Mar 2026), "Causes of acute pancreatitis". nhs.uk
  7. Glimepiride tablets US prescribing information (DailyMed), revised 9/2026. Section 5.1. US label. dailymed.nlm.nih.gov
  8. Hendershot CS et al. Once-weekly semaglutide in adults with alcohol use disorder: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Psychiatry 2025;82(4):395-405. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2024.4789 · PMID 39937469
  9. Klausen MK et al. Once-weekly semaglutide versus placebo in patients with alcohol use disorder and comorbid obesity: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet 2026;407:1687-1698. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(26)00305-3 · PMID 42070571
  10. Schacht JP, Sakai JT, Raymond K, Shelton R. Oral semaglutide for alcohol use disorder: a randomized clinical trial. Am J Psychiatry 2026;183(9):636-645. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.20260003 · PMID 42522065
  11. ClinicalTrials.gov. Search: condition "alcohol", intervention "tirzepatide" (7 studies, none with posted results, checked 5 Oct 2026). Tirzepatide for Alcohol Use Disorder (NCT06994338), still recruiting, primary completion estimated 31 Aug 2026. clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06994338. Impact of GLP-1 Receptor Agonist Therapy on Alcohol Pharmacokinetics (NCT07758231): tirzepatide (Zepbound), 5 participants, not yet recruiting. clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07758231
  12. Press Information Bureau (PIB) Research, Government of India. GLP-1 drugs: use, risks, and regulation (backgrounder), 1 Apr 2026. static.pib.gov.in
  13. NHS (UK). Tirzepatide and Semaglutide medicine pages, "Food, drink and alcohol" (both last reviewed 15 May 2026). UK advice. nhs.uk/medicines/tirzepatide · nhs.uk/medicines/semaglutide

Last checked 5 Oct 2026 · Next review due 5 Oct 2027 · Report an error

How this answer was made. Written by the GLP Guidebook team from the sources above. It's general information, not medical advice. Talk to a qualified doctor before starting, stopping or changing any medicine. How we write