Tirzepatide is the main ingredient of the diabetic medication. Mounjaro has helped people lose over 60 lbs (lb), which is at least one-quarter of body weight when taken in conjunction with a lifestyle change in a recent study.
Researchers requested that 806 overweight or obese people with no Type 2 diabetes completely alter their eating and exercise routines for three months. In conjunction with a diet that was low in calories and frequent counseling sessions, 579 people were able to decrease their weight by at most 5 percent. Researchers then randomly assigned people who were part of this group to receive each week a dose of tripeptide or placebo for a period of up to 72 weeks.
At the beginning of this study, subjects weighed an average of 241 pounds. In the end, those taking tripeptide had lost nearly 27,01% of body weight, around 64 pounds, according to the findings, which were published in Nature Medicine. In contrast, those who received placebo shots lost 9 pounds or around 4 percent of their weight.
“The results seen with tripeptide are the best seen so far with any anti-obesity medication and are similar to results seen at one year with bariatric surgery,” says Adam Gilden, MD, who is an associate professor as well as director of Wellness and weight control clinics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora and who was not part of the study.
What Is Tirzepatide?
Tirzepatide is the earliest drug from a new line of medications that target two hormones – GLP-1, a glucagon-like protein (GLP-1) as well as glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide (GIP) GIP, which are responsible for maintaining normal blood sugar levels and transmitting signals from the stomach to the brain in times of need. Are full.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of tripeptide as a treatment for type 2 diabetes in May 2022. The FDA hasn’t yet approved the drug as a weight loss treatment.
However, Mounjaro’s manufacturer, Eli Lilly, which has funded the research, demanded the FDA to approve the study earlier in the year based on result of the results of a separate study that involved people suffering from obesity or Type 2 Diabetes.
Intensive Lifestyle Changes Played a Role in the Remarkable Weight Loss
One of the striking weight loss outcomes observed in the latest study could be due to the drastic lifestyle changes required by participants before receiving tripeptide, according to the principal author of the study, Thomas Wadden, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry within the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Dr. Wadden serves on advisory boards for Novo Nordisk, a maker of the weight loss medication Wegovy (semaglutide), as well as WW, which was previously called Weight Watchers.
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“The drug alone did not produce the full reduction in weight,” Wadden states. “You can’t eliminate the contribution of initial lifestyle counseling to the total weight loss achieved.”
The study does show that participants were able to maintain the weight loss process that was initiated through lifestyle changes, claims Melanie Jay, MD who is Associate Professor and obese researcher from the New York University Grossman School of Medicine in New York City, who was not part of the latest study.
“They were all responders to lifestyle-based therapy, and the medication not only prevented weight regain, but participants continued to lose weight,” said Dr. Jay, who has no financial connection to companies that are involved in weight loss treatments.
In a different study released last year in New England Journal of Medicine in the New England Journal of Medicine, patients who were excess weight or obese who used tripeptide for 72 weeks without changing their lifestyles dropped an average of 21 % of their body mass when they took the highest doses of the medication.