Do weight-loss pills help your heart?
Cardiovascular Risk Reduction Associated with Pharmacological Weight Loss: A Meta-Analysis.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Pharmacological weight loss significantly reduced cardiovascular mortality but did not reduce all-cause mortality.
Common belief: losing weight = living longer. This study shows you can dramatically reduce heart deaths without extending total lifespan, suggesting other causes of death aren’t affected.
Practical Takeaways
If you're obese and at risk for heart disease, discuss weight-loss medications with your doctor—they may cut your heart death risk nearly in half.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Pharmacological weight loss significantly reduced cardiovascular mortality but did not reduce all-cause mortality.
Common belief: losing weight = living longer. This study shows you can dramatically reduce heart deaths without extending total lifespan, suggesting other causes of death aren’t affected.
Practical Takeaways
If you're obese and at risk for heart disease, discuss weight-loss medications with your doctor—they may cut your heart death risk nearly in half.
Publication
Journal
International journal of clinical research & trials
Year
2019
Authors
Jesse A. Kane, Talha Mehmood, I. Munir, H. Kamran, P. Kariyanna, Angelina Zhyvotovska, D. Yusupov, U. Suleman, D. Gustafson, Samy I McFarlane
Related Content
Claims (6)
When people take medicine to lose weight, their body inflammation goes down and their metabolism gets better, which helps lower their chance of heart problems.
When obese adults take medicines designed to help them lose weight, their blood sugar levels go down a little — even if they don’t change how they eat or exercise.
Taking weight-loss medications doesn't seem to help obese adults live longer than those who don't take them — the numbers show no real difference in death rates.
When obese adults take medicines to lose weight, they’re much less likely to die from heart problems — about half as likely — probably because losing weight helps their blood pressure, sugar, and other heart-related numbers get better.
When obese adults take weight-loss medications, they tend to lose more weight than those who take a sugar pill, and this difference is real and meaningful.