Weight-loss drugs have become hugely popular in recent years, and new research suggests they may be even more effective in future, with fewer side effects.
Semaglutide, part of a group of drugs called GLP-1, was first approved by the FDA to treat type 2 diabetes in 2017 but only in 2021 was it approved as a weight-loss treatment. Demand for semaglutide, sold under brand names such as Ozempic, Ryversus and Wegoby, and another GLP-1 drug called tirzepatide (also known as Maunjaro and Zepbound), quickly soared, and a poll published in May found that one in eight American adults had been prescribed a GLP-1. Many famous people Celebrities including Oprah, Kelly Clarkson and Charles Barkley have begun sharing their weight loss efforts using the drug and similar ones.
However, these medications don’t work for everyone and can have unpleasant, even dangerous, side effects. Recent study In a study looking at semaglutide’s weight-loss effects, 7 of 12 male subjects responded to the drug, compared with 24 of 28 women. More than half of the subjects in the same study experienced some side effects, including nausea, constipation, abdominal pain, and diarrhea, but in most cases, these were classified as mild to moderate. A larger study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association last year found that use of the drug was associated with an increased risk of pancreatitis, intestinal blockages, and diabetes. Gastroparesis is a condition that blocks the movement of food from the stomach to the small intestine. (Read more: What you need to know about the connection between gastroparesis and Ozempic)
Researchers at the University of Michigan think they may have found a solution in the form of a nervous system protein. The proteins, called melanocortins 3 and 4, are found mainly on the surface of neurons in the brain and play important roles in regulating food intake and the body’s energy balance. They found that blocking MC3R or enhancing MC4R in mice that were also given a GLP-1 drug increased weight loss by up to five-fold compared with mice that only received the GLP-1 drug. The results were published Monday. Journal of Clinical Investigation.
“We found that activating the central melanocortin system made animals hypersensitive to the effects of not only GLP-1 but all of the anti-feedant hormones that we tested,” said study co-author Roger Cohn. press release.
The researchers also looked at parts of the brain of the GLP-1-treated mice that may be involved in nausea and found no increased activity when these proteins were stimulated, but mice given only GLP-1 showed a significant increase in activity in those parts of the brain.
Coincidentally, an entirely separate study published last week also showed the drug was effective at reducing nausea, but that study was also only in mice, so it’s unclear whether it applies to humans.
It’s unclear when a drug that can mimic this experiment will be available for the general public, but Cohn said he’s optimistic that the results in mice will apply to humans. “The melanocortin system is highly conserved in humans,” he said in a statement. “Everything we’ve observed studying these proteins in mice over the past few decades has also been found in humans, and we suspect these results may be applicable to patients.”
