New study links weight loss jabs to longer lifespan if you start taking them at certain age
With weight loss drugs taking the health industry by storm in recent years, new findings point to the medication potentially having an impact on a person’s life expectancy.
This comes after a study linked GLP-1 medication, which millions of people are now using as a form of weight loss treatment, to a longer life.
In the study, which was published and funded by the National Institutes of Health, it should that the GLP-1 drug semaglutide ‘extended lifespan in older, healthy mice by tempering the detrimental effects of aging’.
A team of researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, then compared the effects of the treatment to those of reduced food intake, with them discovering that the medication ‘mimicked the anti-aging benefits of calorie restriction, conferring even greater benefits in some areas’.
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Rafael de Cabo, Ph.D., a senior investigator at the NIH’s National Institute on Aging (NIA), said: “Most chronic diseases are deeply rooted in the aging process. If GLP-1 agonists do indeed slow it down, then a wide range of clinical benefits is exactly what you’d expect to see.”
As reported by Science Media Centre, in another paper, scientists shared how women who start the treatment at around the age of 62 could see incredible benefits to their life expectancy.
How was the study into life expectancy and GLP-1 medication conducted?
For the research, experts administered semaglutide to one group of 20-month-old female mice for five months, while another group had a ‘24% calorie-restricted diet that matched the treated animals’ feeding pattern’.
The study explained: “The authors drew numerous parallels between the two groups, with most physiological measurements remaining stable. However, semaglutide-treated mice surpassed baseline levels in exploratory behavior, spatial memory, and blood-sugar maintenance. The groups also differed in metabolic rate, which was reduced in the calorie-restricted animals but largely unchanged in the semaglutide-treated mice.”
Danica Chen, Ph.D., who is a corresponding author of the study and professor of metabolic biology and nutrition at UC Berkeley, stated: “These differences point to the possibility that GLP-1 drugs tap into a biological pathway independent of calorie restriction. Uncovering this potential route and the benefits that may specifically stem from it is an important direction for future research into the development of longevity-enhancing interventions.”
Chen went on to highlight to that there is the potential for future clinical investigations to explore benefits in healthy aged individuals.