Obesity and GLP-1

Obesity is an important public health issue that has been on the rise over the last decades. It calls for effective prevention and treatment. Bariatric surgery is the most effective medical therapy for weight loss in morbid obesity, but we are in need for less aggressive treatments. Glucagon-like-peptide-1 receptor agonists are a group of incretin-based drugs that have proven to be productive for obesity treatment. Through activation of the GLP-1 receptor they not only have an important role stimulating insulin secretion after meals, but with their extrapancreatic actions, both peripheral and central, they also help reduce body weight by promoting satiety and delaying gastric emptying. Liraglutide in a dose of 3 mg is currently the only drug of this group that is approved by the FDA to treat obesity, with weight losses up to 8.5 kg in relatively short periods of time. Here we review the data so far collected of GLP-1 use for obesity with and without diabetes, including the recent data of oral semaglutide.

Automated summary

GLP-1 receptor agonists have proven to be effective for obesity treatment by promoting insulin secretion after meals and delaying gastric emptying, with liraglutide being the only drug approved by the FDA for obesity treatment.