Kind 2 diabetes is without doubt one of the commonest and well-studied fashionable ailments. So, new drugs to fight this situation are consistently being developed.
One such sort of treatment known as a glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonist. These meds have change into more and more fashionable not too long ago as a result of although GLP-1 receptor agonists had been initially developed to deal with sort 2 diabetes, they started to point out a really promising profit: vital weight reduction.
Should you suppose you’re a candidate for certainly one of these medicines, learn on to be taught the whole lot you might want to find out about GLP-1 agonists for weight reduction, how they work, who ought to take them, their unwanted side effects, and extra.
What Are GLP-1 Agonists?
Hormones are your physique’s pure messengers. They carry vital messages to totally different organs to maintain your physique functioning usually. Each insulin and GLP-1 peptide are naturally occurring hormones.
The meals you eat will get damaged down into easy sugars (like glucose) in your abdomen.
This sugar then enters the bloodstream and travels all through the physique. Insulin directs the sugar out of your blood into your cells for use as vitality.
However when insulin can’t do its job properly anymore, the sugar stays within the blood, and also you develop sort 2 diabetes.
For this reason individuals with diabetes have higher-than-normal blood sugar ranges. It’s additionally why most diabetes drugs (together with GLP-1 agonists) are focused in direction of blood sugar management.
However like all good planners, your physique all the time has a backup. When insulin begins slacking off (prefer it does in people with diabetes), your physique sends out the GLP-1 hormone to choose up the slack.
When scientists found this good transfer, they got here up with a technique to mimic the physique’s actions. Thus, GLP-1 agonists had been developed.
An agonist is any manufactured substance (like a drug or treatment) that copies or boosts the actions of a naturally occurring substance (on this case, GLP-1) by stimulating its receptor.
How Does GLP-1 Work?
GLP-1 is normally produced within the small gut. It has a four-fold messenger motion:
- It tells the pancreas to extend insulin secretion to handle your blood sugar ranges correctly.
- It additionally tells the pancreas to not launch hormones like glucagon, which may transfer glucose from different storage locations (just like the liver) into the bloodstream.
- It tells your abdomen to digest the meals slowly in order that extra sugars don’t get added to the bloodstream earlier than insulin can clear them out.
- It tells your mind that you just’re full and never hungry in any respect — aka, it decreases starvation and will increase satiety. This prevents overeating and retains you from taking in additional meals earlier than the earlier meal is totally digested.
This remaining motion has caught the attention of most people and has pushed GLP-1 agonists—essentially the most well-known being semaglutide—into the limelight, even amongst individuals with out diabetes.
GLP-1 agonists can lower your urge for food and maintain you feeling full on a regular basis. They could assist you drop a few pounds, particularly when you discover portion management difficult.
Does this imply anybody can take GLP-1 medication to drop a few pounds? Let’s discover the professionals and cons of taking these drugs for weight reduction results.
6 Key Issues of GLP-1 Medication
GLP-1 agonists had been first authorized to be used as sort 2 diabetes treatment by the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2005. These medication are normally obtainable in a liquid kind, together with a needle and syringe.
It’s essential inject them into the fatty tissue below your pores and skin. The commonest injection website is the stomach, adopted by the outer thighs, higher buttocks, and the backs of your arms.
These medication are normally really helpful solely after safer and extra standard strategies like eating regimen and train have failed to provide the specified outcomes.
Even then, GLP-1 agonists aren’t miracle medication and may’t work alone. They have to be accompanied by dietary and way of life modifications for long-term use.
1. Be taught who can and can’t take these medication
To profit from GLP-1 agonist medication, your physique mass index ought to both be 30 or greater or be 27 or greater with a well being complication like:
- Prediabetes or sort 2 diabetes
- Heart problems
- Hypertension
- Excessive ldl cholesterol
- Non-alcoholic fatty liver illness
- Obstructive sleep apnea
- Polycystic ovarian syndrome
Based on MyFitnessPal’s registered dietician, Stephanie Nelson, it’s essential to seek the advice of your well being care supplier earlier than beginning this treatment. It’s because taking any treatment comes with sure dangers and attainable unwanted side effects. An excellent well being care supplier will assist you weigh the dangers you face by taking the treatment versus the dangers of not taking it.
They’ll additionally issue within the well being advantages you’ll obtain by taking the treatment. These medication are greatest suited to people who’re at well being danger associated to their weight. For instance, when you’ve got weight problems, you’re at a greater danger of creating diabetes or coronary heart illness.
However when you’re NOT at well being danger, then these medication aren’t really helpful for you as a result of they put you at pointless danger of unwanted side effects.
You additionally shouldn’t take GLP-1s if:
- You might have a private or household historical past of thyroid most cancers, as they improve the chance of thyroid most cancers.
- You’re pregnant, breastfeeding, or planning to get pregnant.
- You might have extreme bowel illness.
- You’re allergic/delicate to semaglutide.
- You might have a previous or energetic consuming dysfunction.
One other factor to contemplate when choosing GLP-1s is the affect of those medication in your meals consumption.
For instance, GLP-1s impression meals consumption by quieting meals noise and subconsciously getting you to decide on much less salty, sugary, and fatty meals. This speaks to how highly effective your unconscious cues to eat are and the function your mind performs in weight problems.
However it is a double-edged sword since you nonetheless have to be aware and conscious of what you’re consuming to make sure you’re consuming sufficient—which is the place monitoring what you eat is available in.
Whereas taking GLP-1 drugs, you might want to keep disciplined about making nutritious meals decisions and monitoring your energy to stop malnutrition and obtain wholesome weight reduction.
2. Know the GLP-1 medication obtainable and their effectiveness
Many GLP-1 drugs can be found on the U.S. market. Nonetheless, solely the next three are at present authorized by the FDA to be used as weight-loss medication:
Semaglutide (Wegovy)
- Kind: injectable
- Frequency: weekly
- Beginning dose: 0.25 to 1.7 mg for the primary 16 weeks
- Upkeep dose: 2.4 mg
- Efficacy findings:
- Producer-sponsored research of 803 and 1,961 individuals: common lower in physique weight of seven.9% and 14.9%, respectively, with smaller waists and decrease whole levels of cholesterol, systolic blood stress, and triglycerides
- Analysis assessment in 2021: weekly dose of Wegovy led to weight discount results in a number of research
Liraglutide (Saxenda)
Tirzepatide (Zepbound)
- Twin GLP-1/glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) receptor agonist
- Kind: injectable
- Frequency: weekly
- Beginning dose: 2.5 mg in 0.5-mL liquid answer for the primary 4 weeks
- Upkeep dose: 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, or 15 mg from week 5 (based mostly on remedy response and drug tolerance)
- Efficacy findings:
- Manufactured-sponsored SURMOUNT-3 trial: whole imply weight lack of 26.6% over 84 weeks
- Manufactured-sponsored SURMOUNT-4 trial: whole imply weight lack of 26% over 88 weeks
3. Take into account their potential unwanted side effects
GLP-1 agonists include an extended listing of potential adversarial results comparable to:
- Digestive system: abdomen ache, nausea, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea, heartburn, indigestion, flatulence, bloating, belching, and gastroesophageal reflux
- Nervous system: headache, dizziness, fatigue, temper modifications, and suicidal conduct or ideation
- Low blood sugar and diabetic retinopathy in individuals with diabetes
- Allergic reactions
- Drug interactions
- Coronary heart charge modifications
- Gall stones
- Pancreatitis
- Kidney harm
- Elevated danger of thyroid most cancers
Based on heart specialist and MyFitnessPal scientific advisor Danielle Belardo, MD, most gut-related unwanted side effects might be resolved via dietary modifications like consuming smaller meals, growing fiber consumption, and staying hydrated.
Enjoyable Truth: MyFitnessPal affords a FREE 7-day GLP-1 Vitamin Plan, made in collaboration with specialists from our scientific advisory board. Be taught extra!
4. Perceive the insurance coverage protection of those medication
Insurance coverage protection for GLP-1 agonists like semaglutide is determined by a number of elements, comparable to the kind of treatment, plan, supplier, and well being situation.
GLP-1s are typically lined by insurance coverage, however provided that deemed medically needed. For instance, some suppliers cowl them in the event that they’re used to deal with sort 2 diabetes.
Medicare doesn’t cowl these medication for weight reduction, however in some states, Medicaid does.
You’ll want to test together with your supplier earlier than beginning this drug. Some plans could require prior authorization or a documented prognosis. You may additionally want to fulfill sure well being standards or pay some copayment quantity.
Wegovy and Saxenda price $1,349.02 per month-to-month package deal.
Zepbound prices round $1,059.87 per thirty days.
Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly (the producers) supply financial savings applications for individuals with out insurance coverage protection.
With this, it can save you round $500 a month for a four-week provide of Wegovy or Zepbound. Based on the corporate, most individuals with industrial protection for this drug pay lower than $25 per thirty days.
5. Know the weight problems remedy options to GLP-1
Listed here are some methods for weight administration if GLP-1s aren’t for you:
- Go for home-cooked as a substitute of ultra-processed meals.
- Make small, sustainable modifications to diet.
- Add extra protein and fiber to your eating regimen.
- Reduce down on high-sugar drinks. Drink extra plain water as a substitute.
- Ensure to get enough, high-quality sleep.
- Transfer your physique extra — whether or not it’s via train, taking a stroll, and even doing chores.
- In excessive instances, take into account different weight reduction remedies like surgical procedure or drugs that trigger weight reduction (like phentermine).
- Search recommendation from professionals like a registered dietician, psychologist, endocrinologist, or bodily therapist to obtain personalized care tailor-made to your wants.
6. Take into account the utmost remedy period for GLP-1
Analysis exhibits that individuals acquire round two-thirds of their misplaced weight again inside a yr after stopping GLP-1 dietary supplements. So, these medication might not be your most suitable option for long-term weight reduction.
Weight problems is taken into account a continual situation. Medication like GLP-1s suppress cravings, improve insulin sensitivity, and mute obesity-promoting pathways within the physique. However these results might be reversed as soon as the drug is stopped.
Briefly, GLP-1s can be utilized for the remedy of weight problems however can’t treatment it fully. That’s why you might want to be mentally ready to be on GLP-1s doubtlessly for all times when you want to obtain everlasting advantages.
The Backside Line: GLP-1s Aren’t Proper for Everybody
Selecting the best drug depends on many elements like your well being standing, drug tolerance, funds, and insurance coverage protection. Converse to your well being care supplier earlier than beginning any drugs.
On the finish of the day, eating regimen and train are simply as vital in a profitable weight reduction journey. For a straightforward begin, introduce small modifications like planning your meals, monitoring your energy, or creating an train routine.