GLP-1 may slow biological aging

I'm always confused with these type of posts because I feel the scientists must know something I don't. Why is it always does GLP-1 help with [general health thing]?

If I understand it correctly, GLP-1 drugs help people with weight loss. People are more healthy when they're not overweight, and GLP-1s help people get down to a healthier weight. So when we ask questions about do GLP-1s help this or that, isn't there a giant confounding variable here? That being overweight causes a litany of health issues has been common knowledge forever now. Thus, my (uninformed, intuitive) guess would just be that GLP-1s, which cause weight loss, also include the subsequent effects of healthy weight loss.

So why are we surprised then that people going from overweight to a healthy weight slows aging, or betters cardiovascular health as I've seen elsewhere? Aren't these already well-studied effects of healthy weight loss? Shouldn't these positive effects obviously just be attributed to weight loss, rather than the thing that causes the weight loss? And why are there articles about this stuff acting like this is unexpected?

I admit I'm a laymen and I hope don't sound too snide or critical here. I'm just kind of puzzled by this out of genuine curiosity.

I'm excited to see more studies done in this context, but without the HIV association. My wife has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Rheumatoid Arthritis. She saw more benefits in inflammation reduction than weight reduction, especially those first two weeks she started taking it. She says her pain levels are night and day difference when on GLP-1 vs off. To me it would then make logical sense that reduced inflammation can have a measurably positive effect on aging.

Isn't being "underweight" generally shown to reduce the speed of aging

>They also reduce visceral and ectopic fat that accumulates around the abdomen and organs, which may help curb the inflammatory and metabolic signals that promote aging.

Interesting, I wonder if someone will do a study where they pair a GLP-1 with tesamorelin to see if there's any synergy there in terms of fat reduction and reduced aging.

> slows down the accumulation of biological aging markers in the DNA of adults with HIV

And if you don’t have HIV?

This feels like the early days of medical marijuana where everything was sunshine and rainbows, and then 10 years later we realize yes, there are still drawbacks.

Let's play spot the conflict of interest. Three of seven authors tied to a company selling biological aging tests. One consults for Merck, GSK, etc.

There seems some promise at times but I also struggle to see the recent slew of "GLP-1s cure X", where X is seemingly any ailment known to man, as much more than the next Big Pharma gold rush where the profits dwarf any eventual regulatory fines, and taxpayers and real patients are left with the costs.

> randomized, placebo-controlled clinical evidence

:)

> data from a...clinical trial of 108 adults with HIV associated lipohypertrophy

:(

Everyone I know that are using these looks gaunt and sickly. They also complain of constant nausea and eat like a bird because eating makes them sick O_o. We’ve all seen the “glow” of people that lost weight with diet and exercise — it is not that. I’m glad they exist but worry about the side effects of long term use and medical professionals not using it as a brief intervention then steering towards lifestyle changes.

It says 42% of treatment group showed slower aging, and reduction in telomere length... is there an effect size published anywhere?

I've lost 6kg of fat (I've maintained muscle mass) in 2 months with only the 0,25mg monthly dose using Wegovy.

This is one of the most interesting ideas in medicine right now

If the DunedinPACE test is so accurate and cheap now, there must be hundreds of people that have a baseline and also measurements after taking GLP’s… also why do you need a double blind if you have this amazing biological ageing test?

Presumably mediated by caloric intake reduction, which is already known to slow aging?

I'd be more suspicious of what side effects this thing has.

scy hub link? anyone?

You know what else slows aging? Eating properly and exercise.

but what about the people with a BMI already under 20?

not like we can take GLP-1 even if it was affordable

btw soluble fiber helps people naturally secrete more GLP-1 but of course not on the same level as a dedicated drug

Jesus Christ is there anything this thing can’t do?

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Of course it does. /s

How much are the pharma companies paying people to project this nonsense to trick people to take these drugs to make money out of it?

This is the new grift.

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They also cause sexual dysfunction while you're taking them. Not a problem I guess when you're overweight, but on weight...it's a huge problem.

If two cars are each three years old, but one has had twice as much gas consumption as the other, which would you expect to show more wear on its comppnents?

Caloric churn is putting the body's systems through their paces - at the very least for everything related to digestion. But really most of life is well described as pieces of a metabolic process.