Weight loss drugs could slash cancer risks by 41% compared to surgery, researchers claim
Obesity contributes to 13 types of cancer, and health experts are worried about the growing toll as obesity rates continue to rise globally.
The new study, published in the Lancet journal eClinicalMedicine, suggests that weight loss drugs such as Saxena or Trulicity could help curb these risks.
Researchers compared nearly 6,400 people with obesity and diabetes who either underwent bariatric surgery or took GLP-1 receptor agonists, which are weight loss drugs that work by mimicking a hormone in the body that makes people feel full for longer.
In the years after their treatments, there were 5.76 obesity-related cancer cases per 1,000 person-years among patients who had bariatric surgery, compared with a rate of 5.64 among those who took GLP-1s.
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Because surgery is more effective at lowering people's weight, the researchers concluded that weight-loss drugs could be even better at preventing obesity-related cancers – to the tune of 41 per cent, they said.
'Our study found a similar incidence of obesity-related cancer among patients treated with first-generation [GLP-1 drugs] and with bariatric surgery… despite the relative advantage of surgery in maximising weight loss,' Yael Wolff Sagy, a study author and a researcher at Clalit Health Services in Israel, said in a statement.
'But accounting for this advantage revealed the direct effect of GLP-1RAs beyond weight-loss to be 41 per cent more effective at preventing obesity-related cancer'.
Notably, though, when the researchers took people's ability to manage their blood sugar levels into account, the medicines' edge over surgery dropped to 13 per cent.
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The benefit from the drugs could be because they help reduce inflammation, the researchers said, adding that newer medicines such as Ozempic, Mounjaro, or Zepbound could have an even greater effect.
'We do not yet fully understand how GLP-1s work, but this study adds to the growing evidence showing that weight loss alone cannot completely account for the metabolic, anti-cancer, and many other benefits that these medications provide,' Sagy said.
The study is the latest to suggest drugs designed to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes could be used for much more than weight loss. Other research indicates they could help people with addiction, dementia, liver problems, and more.
But the analysis has some limitations. Only 298 people were diagnosed with obesity-related cancers during the study period, for example, and it's not clear whether people sustained their initial weight loss over time.
Larger studies with more patients could affect the statistical analysis that identified the 41 per cent risk reduction from medicines compared with surgery.
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Independent experts also noted that the study was observational, meaning the authors reviewed existing data, rather than conducting a randomised control trial where some patients receive a drug and others get a placebo or dummy treatment in order to compare their outcomes.
Randomised trials are considered the gold standard for medical research.
'Larger outcome trials are needed to understand links between such medicines and cancer risks, and several should report over the next five years,' Naveed Sattar, a professor of cardiometabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow in the UK, said in a statement.
'It is better to wait to see further large outcome trials versus placebo to get closer to the truth'.
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Epoch Times
3 hours ago
- Epoch Times
Taiwanese Doctor Expresses Concern Over China's Organ Industry
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'With countless patients in China and worldwide needing organs, there are enormous commercial interests at play.' In March 2006, a whistleblower using the pseudonym Annie, a former employee of Sujiatun Thrombosis Hospital in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, revealed to The Epoch Times the CCP's horrific practice of forced organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners. This exposure had a significant impact on China's organ transplant industry. According to the China Liver Transplant Registry, cited by state media People's Daily, liver transplants peaked at 2,970 cases in 2005 and 2,781 in 2006 but fell by roughly one-third to 1,822 cases in 2007. Huang attributed this decline to the 2006 revelations. 'The reason for the decrease in organ transplants in China in 2007 was the exposure of the CCP's forced organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners,' Huang said. 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Yahoo
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Americans' becoming more aware of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy: Survey
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The Hill
8 hours ago
- The Hill
Americans' becoming more aware of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy: Survey
The number of U.S. adults that are aware of GLP-1 drugs used for weight loss, such as Ozempic and Wegovy, has jumped significantly in the last few years, a new survey shows. The YouGov poll, released Friday, shows that at least 80 percent of respondents have heard at least 'a little bit' about semaglutide, a medication used to treat Type 2 diabetes that also helps a user to shed weight. In March 2023, only 60 percent of Americans were aware of the drug. A year later, in March 2024, that number had jumped to 70 percent, the pollster noted. The latest survey also shows that the share of those who have heard 'a lot' about the medication has nearly doubled since 2023, increasing to 41 percent from 23 percent. Just 36 percent of respondents say they know someone who has taken semaglutide. Around 14 percent listed a family member took the medicine, 16 percent named a friend, 11 percent identified an acquaintance and 7 percent said they had taken it themselves, according to the poll. Several also noted they knew a user in more than one category. Women are more likely than men, 43 percent to 29 percent, to know someone — including themselves — who has taken a GLP-1 agonist drug, per the survey. The weight loss medications — including Wegovy, Ozempic, Zepbound and others — have been available since 2005 but have only in the past few years been used to treat obesity. The drugs work by mimicking a hormone in the body — glucagon-like peptide-1 — that stimulates insulin secretion and reduces appetite. Possible side effects of taking the medication include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and constipation. While semaglutide is currently only prescribed for weight loss or treating diabetes, early research is pointing to possible benefits for a host of other issues, including treatment for addiction, neurodegenerative diseases and conditions that affect the heart, kidney or liver. The latest survey found that roughly a quarter of respondents said they would be 'very' or 'somewhat' interested in taking the medication as a weight loss treatment. About a third of Americans have either taken the drug or said they would be interested in trying it. On the other side, about 17 percent said they were 'not very' interested in the medication and 45 percent signaled they were not at all interested. A separate poll from last September found that around a quarter of adults in the U.S. would consider using weight loss medications without consulting their doctor. The YouGov analysis is based on an online survey conducted from May 22-25 among 1,109 adults in the U.S. The margin of error for the full sample is 4 percentage points.
