As more data emerges that obesity drugs like Wegovy can reduce complications from heart and kidney problems as well, scientists have been wondering whether these benefits are driven by weight loss alone or also by other mechanisms.
A new study suggests that one possible contributor is the drugs’ ability to reduce inflammation independent of weight loss.
In mice experiments, scientists found that the treatments, known as GLP-1-based drugs, acted through the brain to reduce inflammation throughout the body. This was over a short period of time before the mice lost weight, according to the study, published Monday in Cell Metabolism.