"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 some weight using drugs like Ozempic and Vigovi, they likely lose muscle in addition to fat, which could be 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 obese and obesity crisis.

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

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

As a result, the fat that after helped us survive has grow to be 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 equivalent to Ozempic, Wegovy, Saxenda or Zepbound will be pretty much 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 some weight and keep it off is a welcome and helpful development.

Although we are actually seeing many recent iterations of a category of scientifically proven drugs. Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonists (it's possible you'll know them under names like Ozempic, Wegovy, Saxenda or Zepbound), a category of medicine 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 offer you Long-lasting weight loss As long as you Continue taking them.

Medications should not as effective as bariatric surgery, but they're. Not farthey usually work without surgery. These medications will be pretty much as good as bariatric surgery in controlling long-term weight.

Such drugs have proven so popular – at the same time as 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 satisfy manufacturers Growing demand.

All of that is, at the least on the surface, welcome news because obese 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 additionally more energy and more mobility, that are again welcome results.

That said, it's essential 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 frequently muscle. gave General principles Three quarters of what we lose is fat and the remaining 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 take advantage of our findings to encourage everyone to exercise, and particularly Resistance training – Load-bearing exercise geared toward gaining or at the least 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 losing a few pounds is an awesome strategy to improve our health, it must 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 question 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 essential 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 could 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 during 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 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 will be counterproductive, especially once we consider that the identical 60-year-old will lose about 0.3 kilograms (lower than a pound) of muscle as a result of aging. A year.

Does the good thing about weight reduction outweigh the “bad” of muscle loss? It's too early to know if muscle loss while taking GLP-1R agonists might be an issue in the long run, but I feel caution is suggested. must be continued, particularly within the elderly, until trial results can be found.

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