Kind 2 diabetes is without doubt one of the commonest and well-studied trendy ailments. So, new drugs to fight this situation are always being developed.
One such kind of remedy is named a glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonist. These meds have turn out to be more and more common not too long ago as a result of despite the fact that GLP-1 receptor agonists had been initially developed to deal with kind 2 diabetes, they started to point out a really promising profit: important weight reduction.
In case you assume you’re a candidate for one among these medicines, learn on to be taught all the pieces you must find out about GLP-1 agonists for weight reduction, how they work, who ought to take them, their uncomfortable side effects, and extra.
What Are GLP-1 Agonists?
Hormones are your physique’s pure messengers. They carry essential 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 power.
However when insulin can’t do its job effectively anymore, the sugar stays within the blood, and also you develop type 2 diabetes.
Because of this 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 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 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 remedy) that copies or boosts the actions of a naturally occurring substance (on this case, GLP-1) by stimulating its receptor.
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How Does GLP-1 Work?
GLP-1 is often produced within the small gut. It has a four-fold messenger action:
- 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 totally digested.
This last 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 folks with out diabetes.
GLP-1 agonists can lower your urge for food and hold you feeling full on a regular basis. They might show you how to shed pounds, particularly in case you discover portion management difficult.
Does this imply anybody can take GLP-1 medicine to shed pounds? 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 accepted to be used as kind 2 diabetes remedy by the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2005. These medicine are often obtainable in a liquid kind, together with a needle and syringe.
You might want to inject them into the fatty tissue underneath your pores and skin. The commonest injection web site is the stomach, adopted by the outer thighs, higher buttocks, and the backs of your arms.
These medicine are often really useful solely after safer and extra typical strategies like weight-reduction plan and train have failed to supply the specified outcomes.
Even then, GLP-1 agonists aren’t miracle medicine and may’t work alone. They should be accompanied by dietary and life-style adjustments for long-term use.
1. Study who can and can’t take these medicine
To learn from GLP-1 agonist medicine, your body mass index ought to both be 30 or greater or be 27 or greater with a well being complication like:
- Prediabetes or kind 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 remedy. It is because taking any remedy comes with sure dangers and attainable uncomfortable side effects. A superb well being care supplier will show you how to weigh the dangers you face by taking the remedy versus the dangers of not taking it.
They’ll additionally issue within the well being advantages you’ll obtain by taking the remedy. These medicine are greatest suited to people who’re at health risk related to their weight. For instance, when you’ve got weight problems, you’re at a higher risk of creating diabetes or coronary heart illness.
However in case you’re NOT at well being danger, then these medicine aren’t recommended for you as a result of they put you at pointless danger of uncomfortable side effects.
You additionally shouldn’t take GLP-1s if:
- You may have a private or household historical past of thyroid most cancers, as they enhance the chance of thyroid most cancers.
- You’re pregnant, breastfeeding, or planning to get pregnant.
- You may have extreme bowel illness.
- You’re allergic/delicate to semaglutide.
- You may have a previous or lively eating disorder.
One other factor to contemplate when choosing GLP-1s is the affect of those medicine in your meals consumption.
For instance, GLP-1s impact food intake 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 this can be a double-edged sword since you nonetheless should be acutely 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 must keep disciplined about making nutritious meals decisions and tracking your calories to forestall malnutrition and obtain wholesome weight reduction.
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2. Know the GLP-1 medicine obtainable and their effectiveness
Many GLP-1 drugs can be found on the U.S. market. Nonetheless, solely the next three are at present accepted by the FDA to be used as weight-loss medicine:
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 folks: common lower in physique weight of seven.9% and 14.9%, respectively, with smaller waists and decrease complete levels of cholesterol, systolic blood stress, and triglycerides
- Research review 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 resolution for the primary 4 weeks
- Upkeep dose: 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, or 15 mg from week 5 (primarily based on remedy 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 accout their potential uncomfortable side effects
GLP-1 agonists include an extended listing of potential adverse effects resembling:
- Digestive system: abdomen ache, nausea, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea, heartburn, indigestion, flatulence, bloating, belching, and gastroesophageal reflux
- Nervous system: headache, dizziness, fatigue, temper adjustments, and suicidal habits or ideation
- Low blood sugar and diabetic retinopathy in folks with diabetes
- Allergic reactions
- Drug interactions
- Coronary heart price adjustments
- 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 uncomfortable side effects will be resolved by way of dietary adjustments like consuming smaller meals, rising fiber consumption, and staying hydrated.
Enjoyable Reality: MyFitnessPal gives a FREE 7-day GLP-1 Vitamin Plan, made in collaboration with specialists from our scientific advisory board. Study extra!
4. Perceive the insurance coverage protection of those medicine
Insurance coverage protection for GLP-1 agonists like semaglutide relies on a number of elements, resembling the kind of remedy, plan, supplier, and well being situation.
GLP-1s are typically lined 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 kind 2 diabetes.
Medicare doesn’t cowl these medicine for weight reduction, however in some states, Medicaid does.
Be sure you verify along with your supplier earlier than beginning this drug. Some plans could require prior authorization or a documented analysis. You may additionally 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) supply savings programs 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. Based on the corporate, most individuals with business protection for this drug pay lower than $25 per month.
5. Know the weight problems remedy 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 foods.
- Make small, sustainable adjustments to vitamin.
- Add extra protein and fiber to your weight-reduction plan.
- Lower down on high-sugar drinks. Drink extra plain water as a substitute.
- Ensure to get ample, high-quality sleep.
- Transfer your physique extra — whether or not it’s by way of train, taking a stroll, and even doing chores.
- In excessive instances, think about 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 accout the utmost remedy length for GLP-1
Research exhibits that folks achieve round two-thirds of their misplaced weight again inside a 12 months after stopping GLP-1 dietary supplements. So, these medicine will not be your best option for long-term weight reduction.
Obesity is taken into account a continual situation. Medication like GLP-1s suppress cravings, enhance insulin sensitivity, and mute obesity-promoting pathways within the physique. However these results will be reversed as soon as the drug is stopped.
Briefly, GLP-1s can be utilized for the remedy of weight problems however can not remedy it fully. That’s why you must be mentally ready to be on GLP-1s doubtlessly for all times in case you want to obtain everlasting advantages.
The Backside Line: GLP-1s Aren’t Proper for Everybody
Choosing the proper drug depends on many elements like your well being standing, drug tolerance, price range, and insurance coverage protection. Communicate to your well being care supplier earlier than beginning any drugs.
On the finish of the day, weight-reduction plan and train are simply as essential in a profitable weight reduction journey. For a straightforward begin, introduce small adjustments like planning your meals, monitoring your energy, or creating an train routine.