Outside weight loss and diabetes control, how do GLP-1 drugs impact the body?

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2026-04-01 02:00

International

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International researchers have done a deep dive on the evidence on how GLP-1 RA diabetes/weight loss drugs such as Ozempic and Mounjaro can impact the body outside their core functions of weight loss and diabetes management. The team collated 60 previous meta-analyses of 1751 randomised clinical trials looking at over 100 potential health outcomes in 3.5 million people. They say overall, there was consistent evidence that GLP-1 RAs were linked to gastrointestinal problems including nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. There was some evidence that these drugs could potentially reduce the risk of some infections and respiratory disease, the researchers say. The studies also looked at potential links with gastrointestinal disease and issues with the biliary system (e.g. gallbladder disease) but they say evidence on this was limited.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: The First Hospital of China Medical University, China

Funder: This work is supported by grant 82470826 from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Dr Li).

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