Sort 2 diabetes is among the most typical and well-studied trendy ailments. So, new drugs to fight this situation are consistently being developed.
One such sort of medicine known as a glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonist. These meds have turn out to be more and more well-liked not too long ago as a result of despite the fact that GLP-1 receptor agonists had been initially developed to deal with sort 2 diabetes, they started to indicate a really promising profit: vital weight reduction.
When you assume you’re a candidate for one in all these medicines, learn on to be taught every thing it’s worthwhile 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 essential messages to completely 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 power.
However when insulin can’t do its job nicely anymore, the sugar stays within the blood, and also you develop sort 2 diabetes.
This is the reason folks with diabetes have higher-than-normal blood sugar ranges. It’s additionally why most diabetes drugs (together with GLP-1 agonists) are focused in the direction of blood sugar management.
However like all good planners, your physique at all times has a backup. When insulin begins slacking off (prefer it does in of us with diabetes), your physique sends out the GLP-1 hormone to select up the slack.
When scientists found this good transfer, they got here up with a approach to mimic the physique’s actions. Thus, GLP-1 agonists had been developed.
An agonist is any manufactured substance (like a drug or medicine) 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 often 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 simply’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 absolutely digested.
This last motion has caught the attention of most of the people and has pushed GLP-1 agonists—essentially the most well-known being semaglutide—into the limelight, even amongst folks with out diabetes.
GLP-1 agonists can lower your urge for food and hold you feeling full on a regular basis. They could assist you shed weight, particularly should you discover portion management difficult.
Does this imply anybody can take GLP-1 medication to shed weight? Let’s discover the professionals and cons of taking these drugs for weight reduction results.
6 Key Concerns of GLP-1 Medication
GLP-1 agonists had been first authorized to be used as sort 2 diabetes medicine by the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2005. These medication are often accessible in a liquid kind, together with a needle and syringe.
It is advisable inject them into the fatty tissue beneath 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 often really helpful solely after safer and extra standard strategies like food plan and train have failed to supply 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 life-style modifications for long-term use.
1. Study who can and can’t take these medication
To learn 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
In accordance with MyFitnessPal’s registered dietician, Stephanie Nelson, you could seek the advice of your well being care supplier earlier than beginning this medicine. It’s because taking any medicine comes with sure dangers and doable unwanted side effects. A superb well being care supplier will assist you weigh the dangers you face by taking the medicine versus the dangers of not taking it.
They’ll additionally issue within the well being advantages you’ll obtain by taking the medicine. These medication are greatest fitted to people who’re at well being threat associated to their weight. For instance, when you have weight problems, you’re at a greater threat of creating diabetes or coronary heart illness.
However should you’re NOT at well being threat, then these medication aren’t really helpful for you as a result of they put you at pointless threat of unwanted side effects.
You additionally shouldn’t take GLP-1s if:
- You could 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 could have extreme bowel illness.
- You’re allergic/delicate to semaglutide.
- You could have a previous or lively consuming dysfunction.
One other factor to think about 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 position your mind performs in weight problems.
However it is a double-edged sword since you nonetheless have to be acutely aware and aware 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, it’s worthwhile to keep disciplined about making nutritious meals selections and monitoring your energy to stop malnutrition and obtain wholesome weight reduction.
2. Know the GLP-1 medication accessible and their effectiveness
Many GLP-1 drugs can be found on the U.S. market. Nonetheless, solely the next three are at the moment authorized by the FDA to be used as weight-loss medication:
Semaglutide (Wegovy)
- Sort: 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 folks: common lower in physique weight of seven.9% and 14.9%, respectively, with smaller waists and decrease complete levels of cholesterol, systolic blood strain, and triglycerides
- Analysis evaluation 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
- Sort: injectable
- Frequency: weekly
- Beginning dose: 2.5 mg in 0.5-mL liquid resolution for the primary 4 weeks
- Upkeep dose: 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, or 15 mg from week 5 (primarily based on therapy response and drug tolerance)
- Efficacy findings:
- Manufactured-sponsored SURMOUNT-3 trial: complete imply weight lack of 26.6% over 84 weeks
- Manufactured-sponsored SURMOUNT-4 trial: complete imply weight lack of 26% over 88 weeks
3. Take into account their potential unwanted side effects
GLP-1 agonists include a protracted checklist of potential adversarial results equivalent 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 habits or ideation
- Low blood sugar and diabetic retinopathy in folks with diabetes
- Allergic reactions
- Drug interactions
- Coronary heart fee modifications
- Gall stones
- Pancreatitis
- Kidney injury
- Elevated threat of thyroid most cancers
In accordance with heart specialist and MyFitnessPal scientific advisor Danielle Belardo, MD, most gut-related unwanted side effects may be resolved via dietary modifications like consuming smaller meals, growing fiber consumption, and staying hydrated.
Enjoyable Truth: MyFitnessPal provides a FREE 7-day GLP-1 Vitamin Plan, made in collaboration with consultants from our scientific advisory board. Study extra!
4. Perceive the insurance coverage protection of those medication
Insurance coverage protection for GLP-1 agonists like semaglutide is dependent upon a number of elements, equivalent to the kind of medicine, plan, supplier, and well being situation.
GLP-1s are generally coated by insurance coverage, however provided that deemed medically mandatory. 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.
Make sure to verify together with your supplier earlier than beginning this drug. Some plans might require prior authorization or a documented analysis. You might also want to satisfy sure well being standards or pay some copayment quantity.
Wegovy and Saxenda value $1,349.02 per month-to-month package deal.
Zepbound prices round $1,059.87 monthly.
Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly (the producers) provide financial savings applications for folks with out insurance coverage protection.
With this, it can save you round $500 a month for a four-week provide of Wegovy or Zepbound. In accordance with the corporate, most individuals with business protection for this drug pay lower than $25 monthly.
5. Know the weight problems therapy alternate options to GLP-1
Listed below 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 vitamin.
- Add extra protein and fiber to your food plan.
- Lower down on high-sugar drinks. Drink extra plain water as a substitute.
- Ensure that 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 circumstances, take into account different weight reduction therapies 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 therapy period for GLP-1
Analysis exhibits that individuals acquire round two-thirds of their misplaced weight again inside a 12 months after stopping GLP-1 dietary supplements. So, these medication will not be your best 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 may be reversed as soon as the drug is stopped.
In brief, GLP-1s can be utilized for the therapy of weight problems however can’t remedy it fully. That’s why it’s worthwhile to be mentally ready to be on GLP-1s doubtlessly for all times should 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, finances, and insurance coverage protection. Communicate to your well being care supplier earlier than beginning any drugs.
On the finish of the day, food plan and train are simply as essential 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.