The The latest weight loss medicationsWegovy and Zepbound are very popular. But doctors are still learning about all the ways it affects the body, both beneficial and harmful, beyond weight loss.
in Report published in Natural medicineDr. Ziad Al Ali, chief of research and development at VA St. Louis Healthcare System and a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University School of Medicine, and colleagues conducted a comprehensive analysis of health outcomes associated with drugs known as GLP-1 receptor agonists. These medications began as a diabetes treatment to lower blood glucose levels and are now approved to help people without diabetes lose weight.
But because they have been in use for longer as a treatment for diabetes, Al-Ali’s team studied the health records of more than 2 million people with diabetes in a Veterans Affairs database, some of whom were taking GLP-1 drugs and others who were taking other diabetes medications. Treatments. They tracked health outcomes over about four years for 175 different conditions, including infections, substance abuse issues, Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, and gastrointestinal disorders.
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The group found that people who take GLP-1 drugs have a lower risk of developing a number of health conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, addiction, seizures, blood clotting problems, heart disease and infectious diseases, compared to people who take other medications. Types of diabetes treatments. People who took GLP-1 drugs also had increased gastrointestinal problems, low blood pressure, and arthritis, as well as some kidney disease and pancreatitis, most of which were already known side effects of the drugs.
“What this study shows is that treating obesity and metabolic syndrome potentially has a broad health profile,” Al Ali says. “We know that obesity is bad for many things, and now we have empirical evidence that treating obesity leads to good health benefits across the board beyond just weight loss. But there are also risks, and we hope these findings will stimulate discussion with people and their providers.”
Many of the health benefits mentioned in the new paper are known. Recently, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). consent Adding to Wegovy’s label that the drug can also reduce the risk of heart disease by 20% in people with obesity, for example. In December 2024, the FDA also announced He added According to Zepbound’s poster, it can reduce symptoms Obstructive sleep apnea.
Other health benefits, including reducing Alzheimer’s disease It is currently being studied by drug manufacturers. (In the current analysis, Al-Aly found that people who take the medications have a 12% lower risk of developing the neurodegenerative disorder.)
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Many body tissues contain receptors for GLP-1, which explains its many health effects. The study included people taking different types of medications in this class — semaglutide (Wejovi, Ozempic) and terizpatide (Monjaro, Zypound). While tirzepatide targets two hormones – GLP-1 and GIP – Al Ali says the predominant effect of tirzepatide is likely to be on GLP-1.
Examining all the health effects of a new drug class like GLP-1s could be a new way for agencies like the Food and Drug Administration to get an early understanding of the potential benefits and harms of a new drug. “We hope we have provided an example of how these new statistical techniques and methods can be used to help us build a map of the new drug landscape,” Al Ali says.
Since all people in the study were obese, it is not clear to what degree the health benefits were related to weight loss, and what effects are likely to be independent of weight. “You can think of obesity as the mother of all ills,” Al Ali says. It is possible that “people take GLP-1s to lose weight, and as a result of losing weight, they feel better.” But it’s also possible that GLP-1 benefits the body in other ways, he says.
For example, there are GLP-1 receptors in areas of the brain that regulate impulse control and reward. This is how scientists believe these drugs work to suppress appetite: by inhibiting reward signals associated with food. Similar pathways could explain why drugs have suppressive effects on addiction to alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, and opioids. GLP-1s also have anti-inflammatory effects, Al Ali says, which can stabilize the function of cells lining blood vessels and help reduce the formation of clots.
Scientists like Al Ali are just beginning to understand the wide-ranging effects these drugs have on the body. Questions remain: The study was not designed to test whether different doses of drugs could provide greater health benefits, for example. In the coming years, newer formulations that target three hormones in the same family — rather than one or two — may offer more effective health benefits.
“The story of GLP-1 is being written every day,” Al Ali says. “Our group and others have many more years – even decades – to really flesh it out [that story] “Completely.”
