"The groundwork of all happiness is health." - Leigh Hunt

Muscle preservation by GLP-1 weight reduction drugs: big deal or nothing to fret about?

When people drop pounds using drugs like Ozempic and Vigovi, they likely lose muscle in addition to fat, which generally is a concern for older adults. (Shutterstock)

On the surface, the formula for weight reduction seems easy: Eat less and move more..

But giving this recommendation to someone with obesity is like telling someone with depression to cheer up.

Losing weight is not easy.or we wouldn't be facing an chubby and obesity crisis.

Our biology drives us to eat more food when it's available, and our bodies help us prepare for times when we will't by storing excess energy as fat.

Today, low-cost, calorie-dense food is greater than we will handle. The hunter-gatherer pastand lots of of us eat as many calories as we would like.

As a result, the fat that when helped us survive has turn into a threat – one we're only just starting to administer.

This change in food abundance has occurred within the last 100 years or so—an evolutionary blink.

Adjuvant medications

An old woman and a doctor look at the tablet.
Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor antagonists resembling Ozempic, Wegovy, Saxenda or Zepbound could be nearly as good as bariatric surgery in long-term weight control.
(Shutterstock)

It is unlikely that humans would ever gain weight for us, so when a Drug class Making it possible to drop pounds and keep it off is a welcome and helpful development.

Although we at the moment are seeing many latest iterations of a category of scientifically proven drugs. Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonists (you might know them under names like Ozempic, Wegovy, Saxenda or Zepbound), a category of medication which have actually been around for about 20 years, having began their useful life as a treatment for type 2 diabetes. What did

Claiming the magazine Progress of the year in 2023these drugs are an absolute revelation: they provide you with Long-lasting weight loss As long as you Continue taking them.

Medications aren't as effective as bariatric surgery, but they're. Not farthey usually work without surgery. These medications could be nearly as good as bariatric surgery in controlling long-term weight.

Such drugs have proven so popular – whilst injections – and at a price that makes them difficult. To afford some customers – That There is a shortage As an effort to extend production to fulfill manufacturers Growing demand.

All of that is, no less than on the surface, welcome news because chubby and obesity increase the chance of many other health problems, including Certain cancers And Heart disease.

People using these drugs are reporting not only weight reduction, but in addition more energy and more mobility, that are again welcome results.

That said, it's vital to exercise caution and caution about what this primary generation of GLP-1R agonists might mean for our bodies over time.

Fat loss and muscle loss

Losing weight by weight-reduction plan (restricting energy) involves the lack of fat in addition to lean mass, about half of which is normally muscle. gave General principles Three quarters of what we lose is fat and the remainder is lean tissue.

My research focuses on the positive health consequences of maintaining muscle mass, especially as we age and gain weight. Susceptible to sarcopeniaeverlasting age-related lack of muscle mass.

In our research work, my colleagues and I exploit our findings to encourage everyone to exercise, and particularly Resistance training – Load-bearing exercise geared toward gaining or no less than maintaining muscle mass and strength.

Losing muscle can have a big, direct impact on our quality of life. We need power to scale back. Risk of falling And to scale back muscle mass Risk of metabolic diseases Such as type 2 diabetes, which might have serious consequences in old age.

So, although dropping pounds is a fantastic strategy to improve our health, it ought to be a warning against losing muscle, especially in older people.

Exercise and protein

A man uses a resistance band with a physiotherapist.
Without deliberate efforts to exercise for strength and increase protein intake to take care of muscle, older adults particularly may experience muscle loss.
(Shutterstock)

There is little doubt that this newly recognized class of weight reduction drugs is a watershed discovery and will improve lives for generations to come back.

If, as we see from early clinical trials, these drugs advertise. Loss of lean mass Along with fat loss, it can be vital for consumers to bear in mind and for pharmaceutical corporations to regulate future generations of those drugs.

Without a conscious effort to coach for strength and increase their protein intake to take care of muscle, this will have consequences.

Almost after age, the body begins to lose muscle mass. 40 to 45. When we're in our 60s, 70s and 80s, these losses are noticeable.

Let's take a look at a hypothetical example by which a 60-year-old man is obese with 45 percent body fat and weighs 100 kg (220 kilos). If the person loses 20 kilograms (44 kilos) in a yr while taking a GLP-1R agonist—which just isn't unreasonable while taking such drugs—that's about 2.5 to three kilograms (5.5 to six.5 kilos). There could also be muscles in between.

Such a loss could be counterproductive, especially after we consider that the identical 60-year-old will lose about 0.3 kilograms (lower than a pound) of muscle on account of aging. A year.

Does the advantage of weight reduction outweigh the “bad” of muscle loss? It's too early to know whether muscle loss while taking GLP-1R agonists will likely be an issue in the long run, but I feel it's vital to proceed with caution, especially within the elderly, until Test results aren't available.

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