Medical Directory 3.29.26 - Flipbook - Page 24
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| Sunday, March 29, 2026
GLP1s – It’s More Than Weight Loss
Overall Health Improvement Can Be a Benefit, Too
By Linda L. Esterson, Contributing Writer
D
iscussion of significant weight
loss amongst friends sometimes reveals the use of glucagon-like peptide-1s (GLP-1s) drugs
that mimic natural chemical processes in the body. Brands like Ozempic,
Zepbound, Wegovy and Mounjaro
are frequently specified, and celebrity endorsements are rendering them
top-of-mind.
The National Institutes of Health
define GLP-1 as a hormone that is
naturally produced in the gut after
eating that regulates blood sugar,
slows gastric emptying and signals
fullness to the brain. The GLP-1
medications mimic this hormone,
increasing the secretion of insulin,
suppressing the body’s conversion
of stored hormones to sugar and
promoting satiety.
The drugs were originally prescribed – and still are – for patients
with type 2 diabetes, providing
benefits linked to significant weight
loss including appetite suppression,
increased energy and direct neuroprotective effects. Tied to the weight
loss is an improvement in overall
health, and the medical community
is seeing benefits that extend their
use to treating a variety of medical
conditions.
Much of what increases the risk
of cardiovascular disease, for one,
is related to metabolic disease, says
Rebekah Richardson CRNP, CBN,
Bariatric & MIS Clinical Program
manager at the Center for Medical
and Surgical Weight Loss at Northwest Hospital. This means having
more visceral fat in the abdomen,
having less sensitivity to insulin in
the body, having high blood pressure, high cholesterol and inflammation in the body. A high body
mass index is also relative.
“When you lose weight, you reduce your risk of cardiovascular
disease, you reduce your risk of diabetes, you reduce your risk of sleep
apnea, and those are all the medical
conditions that [being overweight]
can really contribute to,” Richardson explains.
Sleep apnea, a disorder indicated by breathing pauses or shallow
breathing during sleep, is most often associated with carrying extra weight. When an obese patient
loses weight, the sleep apnea can
reverse. Zepbound is now being
prescribed for those who are significantly overweight and suffering
from sleep apnea, Richardson says.
Wegovy is also being used to
treat metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), severe
liver disease caused by fat accumulation and inflammation. As the body
