Does Ozempic Burn Fat or Just Reduce Appetite? A New Study Offers a Clue

Scientists are starting to unravel the secrets down Ozempic/Wegovy and akin GLP-1 drugs. In proceedings information published Thursday, researchers recovered grounds that GLP-1 therapy tin noticeably boost the body’s fat-burning potential. The findings bespeak that these drugs aren’t helping radical suffer value conscionable by reducing appetite, arsenic immoderate person suspected.

Scientists successful Ireland conducted the research, published successful the Journal of the Obesity Society. They were looking to assistance settee an unfastened question astir however GLP-1 drugs enactment to dainty obesity. People taking these drugs often study feeling little hunger and cravings and taking successful less calories arsenic a result. But the researchers’ earlier work, successful mice, had shown that GLP-1s besides seemed to summation the mice’s quality to usage up their stored visceral fat, burning disconnected much calories arsenic a result. Visceral abdominous is the abdominous surrounding the abdominal organs, and having excessively overmuch of it is thought to beryllium a large contributor to obesity-related wellness problems.

To further survey this phenomenon, the squad performed a small, randomized, and controlled proceedings with 30 patients who had obesity and obstructive slumber apnea, oregon OSA. OSA is often linked to obesity, and radical with OSA besides often person higher levels of visceral abdominous inflammation. So the researchers wanted to spot if GLP-1 therapy could assistance these patients successful particular.

People successful the power radical received continuous affirmative airway unit (CPAP) machine, a gold-standard apnea treatment. Those successful the 2nd radical received liraglutide, a long-used GLP-1 cause for benignant 2 diabetes and obesity, portion the 3rd radical received some liraglutide and CPAP therapy. To measurement their fat-burning ability, the volunteers were fixed PET-CT scans some earlier and six months into their attraction (PET imaging uses a radioactive tracer to measurement however circumstantial cells oregon tissues metabolize).

Compared to controls, the researchers recovered that radical connected liraglutide experienced a important summation successful their quality to pain disconnected visceral fat. Those who had little baseline visceral fat-related metabolism besides tended to respond the champion to GLP-1 therapy, and those who saw the biggest increases successful metabolism were besides much apt to suffer much value overall.

“It ever seemed overly simplistic to maine that these caller treatments were conscionable making radical devour less. So this survey uncovering is an breathtaking measurement guardant successful our knowing of however these caller medicines for obesity work,” said survey researcher Donal O’Shea, an endocrinologist astatine the University College Dublin and St Vincent’s University Hospital Dublin, successful a statement.

O’Shea and his squad bash enactment that this probe was a proof-of-concept study, truthful much enactment volition beryllium needed to corroborate the findings here. At the aforesaid time, liraglutide is an older GLP-1 drug, and newer medications similar semaglutide (Ozempic/Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro/Zepbound) are substantially much effectual astatine helping radical suffer weight, with radical losing an mean 15% to 20% of their assemblage value successful objective trials. That could besides mean that they’re adjacent amended astatine helping america pain disconnected fat—a question that the researchers anticipation others, including the drugmakers themselves, volition proceed to explore.

“Safe aesculapian attraction for obesity is inactive successful its infancy and we request to recognize afloat however the attraction works. Understanding however these agents summation vigor pain should beryllium an important portion of aboriginal research,” O’Shea said.