Cliff Notes
- Recent research indicates that weight loss injections, specifically GLP-1 receptor agonists, may offer protective effects against cancer, beyond their weight loss benefits.
- The study highlights that being overweight or obese accounts for over one in 20 cancer cases in the UK, suggesting a significant public health concern.
- Researchers caution that while findings are promising, the study’s observational design limits definitive conclusions about the relationship between these therapies and cancer risk.
Weight loss jabs could almost halve risk of obesity-related cancers beyond slimming down, study suggests | Science, Climate & Tech News
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Weight loss injections could help prevent cancer beyond helping people slim down, new research suggests.
She added: “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.”
Being overweight or obese is the second biggest cause of cancer in the UK, causing more than one in 20 cancer cases, according to the NHS.
In the study, researchers looked at electronic health record data for obese people and those with type 2 diabetes, all with no prior history of cancer, who were treated with first-generation GLP-1 receptor agonists.
Co-lead Professor Dror Dicker, from Hasharon Hospital, Rabin Medical Centre in Israel, suggested the protective effects of the drugs “likely arise from multiple mechanisms, including reducing inflammation”.
Naveed Sattar, professor of cardiometabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow, also cautioned that the study “cannot confirm or refute any links of incretin-based therapies [medicines to treat type 2 diabetes] with cancer as the design was not a trial but rather observational”.
The study was published in the journal eClinicalMedicine, and was presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Malaga.
It comes as the NHS weighs up offering weight loss drugs from pharmacies at the cost of a standard prescription – £9.90.
At the moment, there is a two-year waiting list for Wegovy on the NHS – and last year, research by Sky News showed the rollout is happening far more slowly than planned.
