Diabetes Digest: Medications That Promote Weight Loss In Type 2 Diabetes
Diabetes epidemic has reached unprecedented scale; about 9% of all Americans (30 million people) have diabetes, and the trend continues to rise. At the same time, it is estimated that 85 million individuals have prediabetes. These are staggering statistics with tremendous cost to patients and society. Ninety five percent of all patients have type 2 diabetes, which is due to excessive body weight, especially abdominal adiposity or fat. Unlike individuals with type 1 diabetes who have full insulin deficiency, type 2 diabetes patients produce plenty of insulin. But due to excess adiposity insulin does not work well and so blood sugars rise. Surprisingly, insulin is one of the main therapies for type 2 diabetes. Yet insulin is a powerful ‘building’ hormone that can cause significant weight gain, an undesirable consequence in someone who is already overweight or obese. In addition, insulin can also trigger unwanted hypoglycemia (low blood sugars) manifestation of which could vary from feeling hungry to becoming unconscious or developing seizures. So it is reasonable for patients to use other medications that promote weight loss rather than weight gain in type 2 diabetes. Such two drug classes are ‘GLP-1 agonists’ and ‘SGLT-2 inhibitors’; which both can cause 5-15 lbs weight loss. Individuals with type 2 diabetes could therefore benefit greatly from these therapies compared to insulin. Metformin is a frequently prescribed medication that can also cause weight loss in certain patients, in addition to being inexpensive and having few adverse effects. Presently there are five FDA approved ‘GLP-1 agonists’; Bydureon, Byetta, Tanzeum, Trulicity and Victoza. These medications have several benefits such as appetite suppression, eating smaller food portions, increasin Continue reading >>
Weight Loss Drug Could Prevent Type 2 Diabetes - And Reverse High Blood Sugar
The drug - liraglutide - which increases the amount of appetite-suppressing hormones produced by the gut, was tested on overweight people with prediabetes. This is also known as ‘borderline diabetes,’ and is characterised by slightly increased blood sugar levels. The condition often leads to type 2 diabetes when untreated. Prediabetes affects one in ten people in the UK, and progresses into diabetes in five to ten per cent of patients within ten years. Prediabetes is curable with exercise and a healthier diet, but once it progresses into diabetes, it is significantly harder to treat. Both conditions are linked to poor health - causing condition such as nerve damage, blindness and even amputation. Professor Carel le Roux from Imperial College London and her team have found that a drug already used for obesity and diabetes can help to prevent progression into diabetes when combined with diet and exercise, and could even cure patients of prediabetes altogether. The researchers recruited 2,254 obese adults with prediabetes at 191 research sites in 27 countries worldwide. After splitting participants into two groups, they studied whether adding daily self-administered injections of liraglutide to diet and exercise helped to prevent progression into diabetes, compared to diet and exercise alone. After three years, the researchers found that the patients given liraglutide were 80 per cent less likely to develop diabetes than those in the placebo group. In 60 per cent of those patients, prediabetes was reversed and patients returned to healthy blood sugar levels Fri, August 19, 2016 Diabetes is a common life-long health condition. There are 3.5 million people diagnosed with diabetes in the UK and an estimated 500,000 who are living undiagnosed with the condition. Liraglutid Continue reading >>
Byetta, Victoza, Bydureon: Diabetes Drugs And Weight Loss
Tell me about the diabetes drugs Byetta, Victoza and Bydureon. Can they really help people who have diabetes lose weight? Are there side effects? Answers from M. Regina Castro, M.D. Exenatide (Byetta, Bydureon) and liraglutide (Victoza) are taken by injection, similar to insulin, but they're not insulin. These medications are in a class of drugs called incretin mimetics, which improve blood sugar control by mimicking the action of a hormone called glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1). Among other things, these drugs stimulate insulin secretion in response to rising blood sugar levels after a meal, which results in lowering of the blood sugar. Byetta, Bydureon and Victoza not only improve blood sugar control, but may also lead to weight loss. There are many proposed ways in which these medications cause weight loss. They appear to help suppress appetite. But the most prominent effect of these drugs is that they delay the movement of food from the stomach into the small intestine. As a result, you may feel "full" faster and longer, so you eat less. Byetta is injected twice daily, and Victoza is injected once a day. Bydureon, a newer formulation, is injected once a week. These drugs do have different effects and side effects to consider. Exenatide (Byetta, Bydureon). The most common side effect of exenatide is mild to moderate nausea, which improves with time in most people. Several cases of kidney problems, including kidney failure, have been reported in people who have taken exenatide. Rarely, exenatide may cause harmful inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis). Liraglutide (Victoza). Some studies have found that liraglutide reduces systolic blood pressure and triglycerides, in addition to improving blood sugar control. The most common side effects are headache, nausea and Continue reading >>
- The Latest in Diabetes Drugs: Less Hypoglycemia, More Weight Loss
- Weight Watchers Jumps Eight Spots To #3 Best Diabetes Diet And Retains Top Spot As Best Fast Weight Loss Diet In 2018 Best Diets Report
- Can Diabetes Be Reversed? Study Claims Weight Loss And Cutting Calories Cure Condition, Even In Long-Term Patients
This Drug Slows Down The Food In Your Stomach To Help You Lose Weight
A drug that keeps your blood sugar in check can help you trim your waistline, too. A diabetes medication called liraglutide can help accelerate weight loss, according to a new study published in The Lancet. In the study, researchers recruited 40 obese adults—those with a body mass index (BMI) above 30—and split them up into two groups. The first received standard behavioral and nutritional counseling to help them lose weight. The second group was given injections of the diabetes drug liraglutide, which reduces blood sugar levels, along with weight loss counseling. After 16 weeks, the liraglutide group lost significantly more weight than the control group—nearly 12 pounds, compared to five and a half pounds. We've known for a while that liraglutide can help accelerate weight loss. Back in 2014, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved prescription injections under the brand name Saxenda for weight loss in people with a BMI of 30 or above, or 27 or above if the person had weight-related health risks like high blood pressure or diabetes, too. How Blood Pressure Causes a Stroke: This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. End of dialog window. But this research added some context for how exactly the drug works: After five weeks, the liraglutide group showed a 70-minute delay in gastric emptying—i.e., how quickly food leaves your stomach—compared to just four minutes for the control group. After 16 weeks, gastric emptying continued to be delayed in the liraglutide group, at about 31 minutes. Prior research on liraglutide has linked its delay on gastric emptying to feeling fuller and eating less. That’s one of the same processes that explains why the drug is prescribed for people with diabetes, too: Beca Continue reading >>
Diabetes Medications And Weight Gain
Both people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes usually gain weight when they begin therapy, either insulin or some type 2 diabetes medications. For many people with type 1, weight gain is advisable due to the loss of lean body mass often accompanying the disease prior to diagnosis and treatment. However, for people with type 2, and increasingly people with type 1 who were overweight or obese before their diagnosis, seeing the numbers on the scale rise is counterproductive. Increasing weight leads to more insulin resistance, which in addition to making diabetes harder to control, escalates cardiovascular risk. There are a variety of reasons weight gain occurs when people start insulin. Some people with type 2 were in poor glycemic control prior to beginning insulin. These folks were seeing the energy from the food they ate end up in their urine stream instead of being stored as fat. As their control improves with insulin, the lost energy finds its way into the fat cells. Treatment for hypoglycemia, if it happens frequently, can also be a source of added pounds when insulin is initiated. Additionally, since an exact replacement for physiological insulin secretion is almost impossible to duplicate, patients may often be taking slightly more insulin than needed over a 24-hour period. Normal circadian rhythm for insulin secretion surges from 4 am to about 7 am then drops, increases a bit around dinner time through 10 pm and declines to its lowest level until the early morning hours. Injected insulin is unable to mirror this profile. Finally, injected insulin follows a slightly different pathway to the cells from insulin that comes from our bodies. Insulin from our bodies is directed first to the liver but insulin that is injected travels first through the blood circulation wher Continue reading >>
Diabetes Medications May Double As Weight Loss Drugs
may also aid weight loss in overweight people with or without diabetes, a new study shows. The drugs Byetta and Victoza mimic gut hormones that decrease appetite. They are typically prescribed when patients need medication to help control their blood sugar. A new research review, published in BMJ, reanalyzed data from 25 separate studies. The review reveals that the drugs helped overweight people without diabetes shed an average of 7 pounds and those with diabetes lose an average of 6 pounds when injected daily or weekly for at least five months. That makes these agents promising treatments for obesity, study authors say. “It’s not a cure, but it’s a good treatment. And you still need to combine it with lifestyle changes,” says researcher Tina Vilsboll, MD, DMSc, an endocrinologist and associate professor at Gentofte Hospital in Hellerup, Denmark. Vilsboll says the modest weight loss many of her diabetic patients see on the drugs helps encourage them to kick up their diet and exercise programs to lose even more weight. “They use it as a tool for changing their lifestyle,” she says. The medications also appear to lower blood pressure and cholesterol slightly, which may help heart disease risks. But the drugs, known as glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, also come with side effects. They work, in part, by slowing the movement of food through the stomach. That can sometimes cause a good deal of nausea or even vomiting, especially after a large meal. But Vilsboll says that side effect generally fades over time and doesn’t usually cause people to stop taking the medication. Experts who were not involved in the review say they are cautiously optimistic about the drugs’ prospects for weight loss. “We do have an obesity epidemic. Weight loss by Continue reading >>
Your Weight And Diabetes
Diabetes is a group of disorders characterized by chronic high blood glucose levels (hyperglycemia) due to the body's failure to produce any or enough insulin to regulate high glucose levels. There are two main types of diabetes. Type 1 diabetes, which often occurs in children or adolescents, is caused by the body's inability to make insulin or type 2 diabetes, which occurs as a result of the body's inability to react properly to insulin (insulin resistance). Type 2 diabetes is more prevalent than type 1 diabetes and is therefore seen in roughly 90% of all diabetes cases. Type 2 diabetes is predominantly diagnosed after the age of forty, however, it is now being found in all age ranges, including children and adolescents. The impact of diabetes goes beyond chronic hyperglycemia. Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness (diabetic retinopathy), end stage kidney diseases (diabetic nephropathy) and non-traumatic lower extremity amputations (diabetic neuropathy) in working-age adults. People with diabetes are also two to four times more likely to experience cardiovascular complications and strokes. Diabetes and its related complications result in an estimated 200,000+ deaths each year, making diabetes one of the major causes of mortality in the U.S. In 2012, the NIH reported an estimated 29.1 million Americans (9.3% of the population) living with diabetes. Of these, an estimated 8.1 million persons were unaware that they had the disease. How does my weight relate to type 2 diabetes? There are many risk factors for type 2 diabetes such as age, race, pregnancy, stress, certain medications, genetics or family history, high cholesterol and obesity. However, the single best predictor of type 2 diabetes is overweight or obesity. Almost 90% of people living with type 2 diabetes a Continue reading >>
Prescription Medications To Treat Overweight And Obesity
What are overweight and obesity? Health care providers use the Body Mass Index (BMI), which is a measure of your weight in relation to your height, to define overweight and obesity. People who have a BMI between 25 and 30 are considered overweight. Obesity is defined as having a BMI of 30 or greater. You can calculate your BMI to learn if you are overweight or obese. Being overweight or obese may increase the risk of health problems. Your health care provider can assess your individual risk due to your weight. Obesity is a chronic condition that affects more than one in three adults in the United States. Another one in three adults is overweight. If you are struggling with your weight, you may find that a healthy eating plan and regular physical activity help you lose weight and keep it off over the long term. If these lifestyle changes are not enough to help you lose weight or maintain your weight loss, your doctor may prescribe medications as part of your weight-control program. How do weight-loss medications work? Prescription medications to treat overweight and obesity work in different ways. For example, some medications may help you feel less hungry or full sooner. Other medications may make it harder for your body to absorb fat from the foods you eat. Who might benefit from weight-loss medications? Weight-loss medications are meant to help people who may have health problems related to overweight or obesity. Before prescribing a weight-loss medication, your doctor also will consider the likely benefits of weight loss the medication’s possible side effects your current health issues and other medications your family's medical history cost Health care professionals often use BMI to help decide who might benefit from weight-loss medications. Your doctor may prescr Continue reading >>
Does Your Medicine Make You Gain Weight?
Diabetes medications are effective at lowering blood glucose, but they also can cause you to gain weight. "Weight gain is a frequent yet unrevealed side effect of insulin and a few other categories of blood glucose lowering medicines," says Marty Irons, R.Ph., CDE, a clinical community pharmacist in Vermont and member of the Diabetic Living editorial advisory board. Irons says weight gain doesn't have to be permanent, and your health-care provider should help you balance blood glucose control with your weight. Avoid extra pounds caused by medication with these easy-to-follow tips: How to Prevent Medication-Related Weight Gain If you're prescribed a diabetes medication that may cause weight gain, here's how to avoid this unwanted side effect: Speak up and ask questions. Ask your health-care provider why you need a particular medication that may cause you to gain weight instead of one that may promote weight loss. "Primary-care providers can be slow to adopt newer medications and often rely on tried-and-true fixes," says Marty Irons, R.Ph., CDE. Ask for help and a plan. "Work with an educator to develop a plan to nip weight gain in the bud and get the support you need along the way," says Jennifer Okemah, R.D., BC-ADM. Reduce calorie intake. Avoid weight gain by making small changes. Use measuring tools to get the right portion sizes, and lighten up on salad dressing, mayonnaise, and margarine to save calories. Adjust calorie intake as needed. Burn more calories. Increase physical activity to help burn more calories. Create a calorie deficit of at least 500 calories per day, suggests Anne Daly, R.D., BC-ADM, CDE. Get moving at least 30 minutes on most days. Don't overtreat lows. Eating too much to treat hypoglycemia can raise blood glucose too high and add excess calories Continue reading >>
Type 2 Diabetes Faqs
Common questions about type 2 diabetes: How do you treat type 2 diabetes? When you have type 2 diabetes, you first need to eat a healthy diet, stay physically active and lose any extra weight. If these lifestyle changes cannot control your blood sugar, you also may need to take pills and other injected medication, including insulin. Eating a healthy diet, being physically active, and losing any extra weight is the first line of therapy. “Diet and exercise“ is the foundation of all diabetes management because it makes your body’s cells respond better to insulin (in other words, it decreases insulin resistance) and lowers blood sugar levels. If you cannot normalize or control the blood sugars with diet, weight loss and exercise, the next treatment phase is taking medicine either orally or by injection. Diabetes pills work in different ways – some lower insulin resistance, others slow the digestion of food or increase insulin levels in the blood stream. The non-insulin injected medications for type 2 diabetes have a complicated action but basically lower blood glucose after eating. Insulin therapy simply increases insulin in the circulation. Don’t be surprised if you have to use multiple medications to control the blood sugar. Multiple medications, also known as combination therapy is common in the treatment of diabetes! If one medication is not enough, you medical provider may give you two or three or more different types of pills. Insulin or other injected medications also may be prescribed. Or, depending on your medical condition, you may be treated only with insulin or injected medication therapy. Many people with type 2 diabetes have elevated blood fats (high triglycerides and cholesterol) and blood pressure, so you may be given medications for these problem Continue reading >>
Diabetes Medication Victoza Could Be Next Weight Loss Drug
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Many people taking a popular diabetes medication have been experiencing weight loss as one of the side effects. Low blood sugar levels brought 59-year-old Anda Lam to her doctor's office years ago, but the conventional treatment worsened her Type 2 diabetes. She said she was feeling sick and started gaining weight. She continued to gain weight until one day her doctor recommended that she try another drug called Liraglutide or Victoza. Two months later, she was surprised to find out she had lost eight pounds. Dr. John de Beixedon said Victoza contains medication similar to the hormone GLP-1, which makes people less hungry and helps prevent the liver from making excess sugar. It also regulates insulin. Some known side effects of the drug are gastrointestinal, such as vomiting, gallstones and nausea, but doctors said the nausea can be managed if people start with small doses and work their way up. "If you do that over time, over a few weeks, there is a lot less nausea and people are much more compliant with the medication," de Beixedon said. Researchers decided to study Victoza as a weight loss drug. After one year, they found those on the drug lost 10 percent of their body weight compared to those getting a placebo. The diet drug, named Saxenda, will come in a higher dosage. It will be indicated for non-diabetic people with a BMI of 30 or above. De Beixedon calls the medication a win-win. "You would both prevent people from developing a diabetic state and also get them to lose weight and further keep them from developing a diabetic state," he said. The new diet drug is not a pill, but rather an injectable liquid like Victoza. It comes with a very fine needle that is injected into the abdomen once a day. Lam said she plans on staying on Victoza until Continue reading >>
New Weight Loss Formula: Popular Diabetes Drug Melts Pounds, Studies Show
If the FDA says yes, a major new weight loss drug may hit the market this year. A high-dose formulation of liraglutide, the popular diabetes drug from Novo Nordisk melts up to 10 percent of body mass, studies show. Liraglutide, available in 1.2 mg and 1.8 mg doses as Victoza, is already a huge success for Novo Nordisk. The company has now filed with the FDA seeking approval for a 3.0 mg dose after studies found major weight loss benefits (in conjunction with diet and exercise.) In clinical trials, liraglutide helped those taking it lose 5 to 10 percent of their body mass, according to research published in the International Journal of Obesity. And while this study looked at people with diabetes, a previous study published in the Lancet tested the drug in non-diabetics and found similarly impressive weight loss. In late December, Novo Nordisk filed two submissions for liraglutide, a new drug application (NDA) with the FDA, and a Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) with the European Medicines Agency, according to Drug Discovery & Development. But some folks may not have to wait even that long. In February, Novo Nordisk made the unusual move of targeting Mexico for an initial approval of high-dose liraglutide. And others may not wait at all; while the studies warn against using liraglutide "off-label" for weight loss, it seems certain that patients will seek to use Victoza for that purpose. Liraglutide works by mimicking a hormone known as GLP-1, which slows digestion and stimulates the body's natural production of insulin. Victoza has been very successful for Novo Nordisk, with sales jumping 58 percent in 2012, and climbing an additional 14 percent in the third quarter of 2013. Experts are projecting that liraglutide would have blockbuster potential as a weight loss Continue reading >>
Can The Diabetes Drug Trulicity Cause Weight Loss?
Trulicity works by stimulating insulin production and inhibiting glucagon. It also slows down digestion and causes weight loss to the point it's also known as "Trulicity weight loss drug" among people who are interested in weight loss. The good thing is that you need to take it only once a week, it's injected. A lot of people initially experience a myriad of side effects on Trulicity. Nausea, diarrhea, stomach pain, bloating, indigestion, and a lack of appetite are all pretty common. Few people on Trulicity will say they didn't experience any of these. You shouldn't get urticaria, breathing difficulties, swelling, or bad pain on your upper abdomen though. If you do, you need a doctor. Just Say No 4 months ago Don't fall for it. Promoted as a wonder drug for diabetes, Trulicity actually comes with a whole host of unpleasant side effects, not to mention dangerous consequences in the long term. Cancer is probably the worst, and this is not unique to Trulicity but applies to GLP-1 drugs in general. As for the weight loss, yes, you may lose weight on Trulicity, but that is because it makes you sick as a pig the whole time you are on it, so you don't feel like eating. That is not a healthy way to achieve weight loss at all. There are better ways to go about weight loss. My rule of thumb is this: If in doubt, consult the manufacturer of the drug. They're not allowed to make wild and untrue claims about the results of their products, or they'd have the FDA on their backs. :) In this case, the manufacturer makes it very clear that Trulicity is not a weight loss drug. It is a diabetes drug that encourages your body to increase its own insulin production. That is what its primary purpose is. Studies, they say, show that most people using Trulicity will lose between two and six pou Continue reading >>
- Lilly's Trulicity (dulaglutide) Label Updated to Include Use in Combination with Basal Insulin for Adults with Type 2 Diabetes
- Weight Watchers Jumps Eight Spots To #3 Best Diabetes Diet And Retains Top Spot As Best Fast Weight Loss Diet In 2018 Best Diets Report
- Type 2 diabetes can be cured through weight loss, Newcastle University finds
Diabetic Medicines That Cause Weight Loss
Diabetes is a metabolism disorder that affects nearly 24 million Americans. In healthy people, after eating, food breaks down, gets converted into blood sugar and is then transported to cells by a hormone called insulin. People with diabetes either do not make any insulin, or make an unreliable amount, resulting in cells not getting the energy needed to function properly. In most cases, medications used for treating this disease will either cause weight gain or promote some weight loss. Video of the Day Metformin is one of the most commonly prescribed medications used for treatment of Type 2 diabetes. It’s used to increase insulin sensitivity, control blood sugar levels and help the body absorb glucose from food and the liver. Recently, researchers have been studying use of metformin for obesity treatment. According to a 2011 article published by "Redbook" magazine, glucophage, the generic drug name, can help reduce appetite. In a 2001 study published in the journal “Heart Disease,” 80 percent of nondiabetic women who took metformin on a low-calorie, modified-carb diet lost 10 percent of their body weight in 12 months. Most were successful in keeping the weight off after four years. Byetta, known generically as exenatide, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2005 for treatment of Type 2 diabetes. Exenatide is administered by injection and helps metabolize blood sugar levels. In studies conducted by the company that produces the brand-name drug, patients who used Byetta for more than 30 weeks along with other diabetes medications lost 4 lbs. Patients taking a 10 mcg dose of Byetta alone lost 6 lbs. over 24 weeks. According to MayoClinic.com, exenatide reduces the amount of food needed, because blood sugar gets processed more efficiently. As of 2011, Continue reading >>
Anti-diabetes And Anti-obesity Medications: Effects On Weight In People With Diabetes
Choosing medications for people with diabetes involves consideration of a number of factors, including effects on weight. Improvements in glucose control are often linked to weight gain, but this does not have to be the inevitable result of diabetes treatment. Adding a drug that either promotes weight-loss or is weight neutral to one that promotes weight gain and providing medical nutrition therapy can be considered. The current approach to the treatment of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes is to achieve the best possible glucose control. Past clinical trials have shown that glycemia plays a key role in the prevention of both macro- and microvascular complications.1–5 The current American Diabetes Association (ADA) guidelines suggest a glycemic goal of having a hemoglobin A1c (A1C) < 7%, but also state that an A1C of ≤ 6% should be a goal if it can be achieved without risk of complications.6,7 During the past 20 years, a number of new medications to control blood glucose have been introduced, and new approaches to the use of older medications have been developed. In prescribing any medication, however, one must consider benefits versus risks. In terms of the treatment of hyperglycemia, certainly toxic side effects are of concern, as is hypoglycemia. One major area of concern, however, is the effect of such drugs on weight. Weight and diabetes, especially type 2 diabetes, are closely related. Obesity is a major risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes, and the current increase in obesity in our society has fueled a major increase in the expression of this disease.8 Not only does weight, through the mechanism of insulin resistance, aggravate hyperglycemia, it also increases the risk for hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and other conditions that lead to cardiovasc Continue reading >>
