Ozempic dupe costs just $5 at your local gas station — and Gen Zers are ‘addicted’

No need to shell out over $1000 a month for Ozempic — there’s a gas station dupe that’ll cost you just $5.

Zyn nicotine pouches are the trendy new weight loss hack favored by Gen Z users, who tout the doses of flavored powder as a poor man’s semiglutide shot — with some content creators claiming to have shed up to 30 pounds.

Nik Bando, who runs the popular golf fan account ThiccyFowler on Instagram, told fans he dropped the weight by “replacing Zyn with any hunger,” dubbing the phenomenon “O-Zyn-pic” in a video posted on social media earlier this year.

“It works,” he promised.

Bando admitted he has become “addicted” to the $5 pouches, which are placed between the gum and lip to dissolve and be absorbed through the tissue.

Zyn has grown in popularity as an alternative to smoking or vaping. Nicotine is the major appetite suppressant component of tobacco, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Bando isn’t the only one touting the nicotine pouch method — TikToker TrippsAhoy is another content creator recently seen raving to viewers about dropping from 190 lbs. to 140 lbs., using Zyn and other brands.

On Reddit, a user who self-identified as an “overeater” asked if it was worth developing a nicotine addiction in order to curb appetite.

Coming from a family addicted to cigarettes, the user said they’ve witnessed how difficult it would be to quit but found the idea of nicotine pouches “interesting.”

“Would it be the dumbest idea in the world to substitute overeating with a nic addiction?” the anonymous user inquired.

While the responses were divided between pro-Zyn and anti-addiction, University of Minnesota assistant profession Dr. Carolyn Bramante warned against introducing the nicotine pouches into your daily routine, telling Business Insider that there are better treatments for weight loss available that are approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

“It’s important to think about safety,” she noted.

While the pouches don’t require the user to smoke, the trendy product still comes with risks, such as gum damage and the consequences of ingesting nicotine, like an increased chance of cardiovascular disease or problems with the heart, lungs, stomach and more.

Zyn is said to contain more nicotine than a cigarette. Nicotine has long been touted as a viable option for appetite suppression despite.

According to Insider, adverts promoting cigarettes for weight loss date back to the 1920s, when Lucky Strike darts were marketed as healthier than candy and could yield a slimmer waist.

However, Bramante warned the younger generation against falling into the same old patterns.

“We don’t fully understand how nicotine works to regulate appetite in people, specifically with obesity,” she said.

“I would advise them to seek care for obesity treatment from their primary-care clinician and/or an obesity-medicine specialist, with the mindset that it’s a long-term relationship with follow-up and with multiple treatment options that we can now adjust to meet an individual’s needs,” she urged.

Philip Morris International, the owner of Zyn products, isn’t billing the pouches as a weight loss drug at all — it is users who are rediscovering the potential slimming effects of nicotine.

The company told Insider that the product is intended for consumers 21 years or older who already use nicotine and want to continue to using it.

Product analyst Andrea Hernández, author of the Snaxshot newsletter, referenced the youth-oriented marketing — which includes collecting points with every purchase, redeemable for must-haves like Apple AirPods — as one reason why Zyn has taken hold with younger people.

“It’s like… ‘This is something that I can literally buy in a gas station, that I’m still getting points on, that has this byproduct effect that it wasn’t intended for, but I’ve found it,” the expert said.

In a recent post, Hernández called Zyn “Ozempic for the masses,” due to its cheap price tag compared to that of the once weekly jab, which can cost up to $1,300 for some patients.

“People want to lose weight, but it’s something people can’t afford and don’t want to talk about,” Hernández said, referring to the Zyn craze.

“This feels like a discreet way to lose weight.”