Doctors should not rush to prescribe a newer class of diabetes drug off-label for weight loss, an expert says, despite new research extolling the drugs’ potential virtues as slimming agents.
A meta-analysis published Wednesday provides some of the strongest confirmation yet that the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonists exenatide and liraglutide can produce clinically significant weight loss, even in non-diabetics.
Reviewing 25 trials, researchers found the average weight loss after 20 weeks or more of treatment was 2.8 kg for overweight and obese patients with diabetes, and 3.2 kg for those without.
GLP-1R agonists also led to improvements in total cholesterol and systolic and diastolic blood pressure, the researchers wrote in the BMJ (online). There were however several adverse effects — mainly diarrhoea,...
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