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by baggachipz
131 days ago
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Seeing all these articles and studies touting GLP-1s as a magic additive to enhance health and well-being has me so skeptical that there haven't been any major downsides found yet. I guess long-term studies are necessary in order to really understand what we're getting on here. I would love for it to be miracle it appears to be, since I hate trying to maintain my desired weight. I don't qualify for GLP-1 due to my BMI being too low, but I sure would like to stop the constant cravings for food and my love of beer. Everyday feels like a struggle to maintain a healthy lifestyle. |
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There are known side effects, mostly gastrointestinal issues, and they don't work for everyone. That being said, I'd recommend you make your own risk assessment and consider getting on GLP-1s if you have the cash to spare. You might find that GLP-1s increase your quality of life so much that it's well-worth it (or that you get terrible nausea and immediately quit, and then you no longer need to wonder).
Potential risks have to be weighed against potential benefits. There are robust RCT results showing GLP-1s reduce all-cause mortality, major cardiovascular events, and stroke among patients with obesity or T2D by 13-14%, and suggestive evidence that some of these benefits apply to non-overweight people, though this hasn't been confirmed in RCTs and is likely smaller in magnitude.
"Cardiovascular and renal outcomes of glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists among patients with and without type 2 diabetes mellitus: A meta-analysis of randomized placebo-controlled trials": https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266666772...
One reason to believe that cardiovascular benefits might apply to non-overweight people is that among the available evidence on overweight and obese people, weight loss doesn't seem to explain all benefits. See Figure 1 or the analysis section of the SELECT trial.
"Semaglutide and cardiovascular outcomes by baseline and changes in adiposity measurements: a prespecified analysis of the SELECT trial": https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6...
The main plausible long-term risk is thyroid cancer. Data from a meta-analysis of RCTs suggests a 55% (large error bars) increase in thyroid cancer risk.
"GLP-1 receptor agonists and the risk for cancer: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials": https://dom-pubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/do...
This is concerning, though it's worth noting that thyroid cancer is rare (1% lifetime incidence) and unlikely to kill you (98% 5-year survival, 99.9% when caught early). No studies have linked GLP-1s to a statistically significant increase in cancer-related mortality. I don't want to be too confident because RCTs have not yet shown this and I'm not an Eli Lilly shill, but cohort studies suggest GLP-1s are associated with reduced risk of other cancers. This is a good overview:
"Glucagon-like peptide-1 medicines and cancer": https://www.nature.com/articles/s43018-025-01110-1