United States: According to recent reports, pharmaceutical innovations have opened up a novel path for weight loss and the creation of drugs based on gut hormones, like GLP-1 and GIP.
More about the news
These hormones control appetite, and the drugs that are developed from them, semaglutide (Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro), have proved useful in shedding extra pounds.
However, like most drugs, both of these options offer a new hope with certain complications concerning the body in general.
GLP-1-based medications make patients become less hungry; they make them eat less food and thus shed some weight, dailygalaxy.com reported.
What more has been found?
It indicates that clinical trials reveal fairly high discipline, as some participants can achieve a 10-20 percent reduction in body weight.
This dramatic reduction is a big improvement in the treatment of obesity, especially for people who have failed to keep off the excess weight with exercise and dieting alone.
However, it needs to be realized that not all weight loss is associated with it.
It has been suggested that between 20-33 percent of weight loss consists of nonfat tissue, which comprises muscles and bones, which are useful body structures that are instrumental in health.
Muscle bone and Bone mass
Muscle and bone play an important role in carrying on physical and metabolic health activities:
Muscle Mass helps maintain blood glucose concentrations and hence plays an important role in preventing diseases such as type 2 diabetes.
When muscle mass is lost, people have more difficulty regulating their blood sugar levels and may suffer nerve damage, heart disease, or poor circulation.
Bone mass is useful for physical activities and does not allow bones to fracture easily, dailygalaxy.com reported.
The decline in bone mass increases the likelihood of getting seriously injured, especially for people of advanced age.
That such fat-free tissues are lost is not exclusive to GLP-1 drugs. It also happens with bariatric surgery and other forms of drastic calorie reduction dieting.
It is vital to identify such factors and their underlying cause in order to prevent them from occurring in the long term for the benefit of health.