“Doctors today have a pill for everything!” They don’t, of course. But it’s one way of expressing how far medicine has advanced. Now, research has found a long-sought medicinal ‘Holy Grail’ – a pill that burns fat faster than GLP-1 meds…
Works differently
The new pill works, “in a completely different way from well-known GLP-1-based medications such as Ozempic that are given through injections,” an abstract of the study report begins.
GLP-1 drugs influence hunger by altering communication between the gut and the brain, and they can cause side effects that include appetite loss, decreased muscle mass, and multi-symptom gastroin-testinal discomfort.
What they did
Karolinska Institutet (KI) and Stockholm University (SU) are two of Stockholm, Sweden’s leading universities specializing in medicine and health.
A joint team of researchers first conducted mouse-based experiments to determine whether their pills worked – and produced no nasty side effects. The results were promising. So they progressed to human trials.
A Phase I clinical trial involving 48 healthy volunteers and 25 individuals with type 2 diabetes indic-ated that the treatment is also well tolerated in humans. A broader -based Phase II clinical trial, involving a larger participant pool is in the works.
What they found
Instead of acting on hunger pathways, the new compound boosts metabolic activity directly within skeletal muscle. It improved blood sugar levels and body composition while avoiding the drawbacks commonly linked to today’s GLP-1-based treatments.
The takeaway
“Our results point to a future where we can improve metabolic health without losing muscle mass. Muscles are important in both type 2 diabetes and obesity, and muscle mass is also directly cor-related with life expectancy,” said Tore Bengtsson, professor in the Department of Molecular Bio-science, Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University.
My take
As I hinted in the opening paragraph of this post, scientists and fatties alike have been searching for at least a hundred years for a weight loss treatment that can be delivered in a simple pill. Now it’s found one. This exciting new approach is clearly positioned to supersede currently-popular GLP-1 type treatments.
But that’s okay. The GLP-1 weight loss system is turning out to have some potentially serious side effects. The list includes a wide range of aggravations including nausea, headaches, vomiting, diar-rhea, headaches, fatigue and appetite loss. Nevertheless, overweight and obese folks who had been unsuccessful in losing weight, or keeping it off – and rushed to embrace the ‘miracle’ of GLP-1 treat-ments – will soon have a much better, healthier alternative.
~ Maggie J.