Weight Control at WeightControl.com

Women Increasingly Using Weight Loss Meds Shortly After Giving Birth

This shift has happened incredibly fast, and many clinicians may not realize how common postpartum GLP-1 use has already become.

WeightControl.com Interview with:

Mette Bliddal
Lektor, ph.d
Department of Clinical Research
Associate Professor, KI, OUH, Research unit of Gynaecology and Obstetrics
University of Southern Denmark

WeightControl.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: We began noticing that more new mothers were starting weight-loss medication shortly after giving birth. Once semaglutide was approved for weight loss, the numbers rose fast. That caught our attention, especially because so little is known about using these medications during a time of major physical and hormonal changes, natural weight loss, and breastfeeding, and because the effects on breastfed infants remain unclear. This made it important to understand how common this use has already become.

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Study Finds Weight Regained After Obesity Meds Discontinued

These medications appear to act as ongoing tools for weight maintenance, suggesting they should be viewed as chronic therapies rather than short-term interventions.

WeightControl.com Interview with:
Eric C. Nemec PharmD MEHP BCPS
Director of Research and Assessment
Associate Professor
Master of Physician Assistant Program
Sacred Heart University
Office location: 4 Hospital Plaza, Tandet Center, Stamford, CT 06902

WeightControl.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: When we started this project, we knew that glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) were highly effective for weight loss; however, there was limited evidence regarding the sustainability of that weight loss after treatment cessation.

Our study systematically reviewed and meta-analyzed randomized controlled trials to determine the extent of weight regain after GLP-1RA discontinuation. The key finding was that significant weight is regained after stopping therapy, and this regain was proportional to the amount initially lost.

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JAMA Network Open Study Evaluates Which Patients Are More Likely To Discontinue Obesity Medications

Patients without insurance coverage for GLP-1 drugs face unique challenges in staying on these treatments, so their inclusion in research on adherence is essential.

WeightControl.com Interview with:
Patricia Rodriguez PhD MPH
Principal Applied Scientist
Truveta Research

Ty J. Gluckman, MD, MHA
Center for Cardiovascular Analytics
Research and Data Science (CARDS)
Providence Heart Institute
Providence Health System
Portland, Oregon

Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD
Healthcare Transformation Institute
Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy
Perelman School of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

WeightControl.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: “Millions of Americans could benefit from GLP-1s, but clinical trials suggest that patients need to stay on these drugs to experience sustained benefits. We were interested in using data from patients across the country to understand whether patients are staying on these drugs, and what barriers may exist to continued use.

We looked at about 125,000 patients who started GLP-1 medications and found that a majority of patients stop taking them within one year. About 65% without type 2 diabetes (T2D) stopped within one year, compared with 47% of those with T2D.

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GLP-1 Receptor Agonists Found Effective for Weight Loss Among Adults Without Diabetes

Since there is a lack of head-to-head trials on these agents, future research should explore their comparative efficacy (e.g. semaglutide vs. tirzepatide vs. retatrutide).

WeightControl.com Interview with:

Areesha Moiz BSc
Centre of Clinical Epidemiology, Lady Davis Institute
Jewish General Hospital, and Division of Experimental Medicine
McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Division of Experimental Medicine
McGill University

WeightControl.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: GLP-1 receptor agonists have been used for type 2 diabetes management for almost two decades. Trials conducted in this patient population also showed some weight loss effects, leading to them being investigated in patients with overweight or obesity and without diabetes. With all the recent buzz around Ozempic (semaglutide) these past few years, we were interested in seeing what other agents in this class of drugs were out there, how they performed for weight loss, and how safe they were.

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Healthy Diet May Help With Pain Management, Regardless of Person’s Size

Fhe study found that diet quality could affect pain differently in men and women. Women who consumed a higher quality diet reported lower pain and had better physical function. This effect was less pronounced in men.

WeightControl.com Interview with:
Dr. Alison M Hill | PhD, APD, RNutr, MDiet, BAppSci (Human Movement) Hons.
Senior Lecturer in Nutrition
UniSA: Clinical and Health Sciences
Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition and Activity (ARENA)
University of South Australia

WeightControl.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Chronic pain is a common and disabling health problem, estimated to affect 20-30% of people worldwide. Those who experience chronic pain often have a higher weight compared to the general population. Food choices that influence the overall quality of a person’s diet may contribute to an individual’s pain by affecting their weight or triggering bodily processes such as inflammation.

This study of Australian adults explored whether diet was directly linked to pain, and if factors like weight, or body fat, impacted this relationship. Additionally, the study looked at differences between men and women as chronic pain is more prevalent in women.

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Henry Ford Study Finds Less Alcohol Intake in Patients on Obesity Medications

Lisa Miller-Matero, PhD
Associate Scientist & Associate Director of Health Services Research
Henry Ford Health

What was exciting was that those who were drinking at higher or even what is considered hazardous levels had a greater likelihood of reducing alcohol use.

WeightControl.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: We partnered with colleagues at Weight Watchers (WW International) on this project after they began receiving reports from their members that they noticed reduced desire for alcohol use. Though there has been some research conducted in animal studies, research in humans has been lacking, especially examining changes in alcohol use.

Ohio State University Studies Changes in Food Waste Among New Weight Loss Drug Users

When an increasingly large segment of consumers is buying less food and perhaps wasting less food, it can reverberate through the food system

WeightControl.com Interview with:
Brian E. Roe, Ph.D.
Associate Chair
Fred N. VanBuren Professor of Farm Management
The Ohio State University

WeightControl.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: The use of anti-obesity medications (AOMs) is on the rise in the United States with the introduction of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists to the pharmaceutical market. It is estimated that 6% of the U.S. adult population is on a GLP-1 medication while as many as 12% have been on one at some point. While it is well-documented that people eat less food when on the drug, little is known about its impact on how much food consumers waste, which is critical because about a third of food purchased is never consumed.

Sex Differences in Fat Metabolism after Fasting

WeightControl.com Interview with:
Stéphanie Abo, PhD
Applied Mathematics
University of Waterloo

WeightControl.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Our study examines how men and women process food differently, particularly how each sex responds to a high-carb versus a high-fat diet. Obesity and related conditions, like type 2 diabetes, are major global issues, and nutrition plays a key role in managing these conditions.

Men and women metabolize fats and carbohydrates differently, especially during fasting and exercise. Using a mathematical model and computer simulations, we investigated sex differences in the processing of glucose and fat and identified candidate pathways behind these sex-specific differences. This research can help improve personalized nutrition and diet strategies for both men and women.

Cleveland Clinic Study Identifies Factors Associated with Weight Loss Success on Semaglutide or Liraglutide

Researchers found that four in 10 patients (40.7%) were persistent with their medication one year after their initial prescription’s fill. The proportion of patients who were persistent with semaglutide was 45.8% versus 35.6% in patients receiving liraglutide.

WeightControl.com Interview with:
Hamlet Gasoyan, Ph.D.
Lead author of the study and Researcher
Center for Value-Based Care Research
Cleveland Clinic

WeightControl.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Recently, injectable forms of GLP-1 RA medications such as semaglutide have been more commonly prescribed, in part related to their ability to demonstrate clinically significant weight reduction. However, outside of randomized trial settings, data on weight loss with semaglutide or liraglutide for obesity is generally limited to 6 months of follow-up, based on brand names approved by the FDA for type 2 diabetes only, or cohorts that exclude patients who did not persist with the medication.

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Monell Scientists Locate Region of Brain Activated by GLP1 drugs That Can Reduce Food Intake Without Nausea

Because we found that GLP1 drugs can activate a neuron population in the brain to reduce food intake without nausea, the implication is that future obesity drugs could be developed to selectively promote satiety without the negative side effects.

WeightControl.com Interview with:

Amber L. Alhadeff, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Monell Chemical Senses Center &
Department of Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104

WeightControl.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: GLP1-based weight loss drugs have become extremely popular, but we don’t have a good understanding of how they work. Further, many people who take these drugs experience nausea and other gastrointestinal side effects – some more severe than others.

Because of this, we became interested in understanding whether the appetite loss and weight loss stem from the same or different neural circuits as those that mediate the nausea.

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