The Study
Short-Term Exenatide Treatment Leads to Significant Weight Loss in a Subset of Obese Women Without Diabetes
This study is like a fair test where people were randomly given either the real medicine or a fake one, and no one knew who got which. It shows that the medicine probably caused some weight loss in these women over a few months.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
Scientists tested a drug called exenatide, usually used for diabetes, to see if it helps obese women who don’t have diabetes lose weight.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 556 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1The average weight loss is modest, but some women responded very well—losing nearly 8% of their body weight—which can improve health.
- 2On average, women lost 2.5 kg in 16 weeks.
- 330% lost over 5% of their weight.
- 431% actually gained weight.
- 5Nausea happened in more than half but got better over time.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Diabetes Care
Year
2011
Authors
J. Dushay, Chuanyu Gao, G. Gopalakrishnan, M. Crawley, Emilie K. Mitten, E. Wilker, J. Mullington, E. Maratos-Flier
Related Content
Claims (5)
Some women who are obese but don’t have diabetes lose a good amount of weight on a drug called exenatide for 16 weeks, but almost as many actually gain weight — showing it works very differently from person to person.
Lots of obese women who aren't diabetic feel nauseous when they start taking a drug called exenatide for weight loss — about 56 out of every 100. But the queasiness usually gets better over time, and how much weight they lose doesn’t seem to depend on how bad the nausea is.
Taking a drug called exenatide twice a day for about four months helps obese women who don’t have diabetes lose around 2.5 kilograms on average, and they start seeing results in just two weeks.
Taking a drug called exenatide for 16 weeks helps obese women who don’t have diabetes lose about 1.7 cm from their waist, even if they don’t change their diet or exercise.
Even if obese women lose weight on a drug called exenatide, their metabolism doesn’t slow down like it usually does when people lose weight from dieting — so this drug might skip the usual 'metabolic slowdown' people hit.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.