The negative side effects of weight-loss injections tend to get all the attention. After all, who's going to scroll by a headline about "floppy feet" or an "extremely serious" stomach condition? But for every scary story, there's probably another that touts the benefits—both intended and not—of popular medications like Wegovy, Ozempic, and Zepbound. And could anything be better news than the fact that these drugs could potentially cut some patients' cancer risk by 41 percent? That's what a new study has found.
RELATED: Weight-Loss Drugs Could Reduce Risk of Death by 50%—But Not Ozempic.
Researchers found that weight-loss drugs reduced cancer risk by up to 41%.
The new study, published in the journal EClinicalMedicine, compared glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) and bariatric metabolic surgery (BMS) and how they both affect obesity-related cancer (ORC) in adults living with both obesity and diabetes.
For reference, GLP-1 drugs were first developed to treat type 2 diabetes. Mounjaro and Ozempic are still only approved for diabetes, though they are sometimes taken off-label for weight loss. Zepbound and Wegovy are approved for weight loss.
However, this study looked at the first-generation weight-loss drugs liraglutide (prescribed under the brand names Victoza and Saxenda), exenatide (Byetta, Bydureon), and dulaglutide (Trulicity).
The study enlisted 3,178 Israeli participants, whose health was tracked between 2010 and 2023 and who either had BMS or took a GLP-1 drug. It was noted if anyone was diagnosed with the following obesity-related cancers: multiple myeloma, meningioma, adenocarcinoma of esophagus, stomach, colorectal, liver or bile duct, gallbladder, pancreas, corpus uteri, ovary, renal-cell kidney, thyroid, and postmenopausal breast cancer.
Weight loss in and of itself reduces one's cancer risk, but beyond this, the researchers found that participants who used GLP-1 drugs had a 41 percent lower cancer risk than those who had bariatric surgery.
RELATED: Weight-Loss Drugs Like Ozempic and Wegovy Can Protect Your Heart and Liver, New Research Shows.
How do GLP-1 drugs lower cancer risk?
More research is needed to fully understand the mechanism by which GLP-1 drugs lower cancer risk, but co-lead author Dror Dicker, MD, head of the Internal Medicine, Department and Obesity clinic at the Hasharon Hospital-Rabin Medical Center at the Tel Aviv University, hypothesizes that it could be due to reduced inflammation.
GLP-1 drugs work by mimicking your body's natural GLP-1 hormones, which lower your blood glucose levels, slow digestion, and increase fullness, as Cleveland Clinic explains.
In speaking with The Guardian, Mark Lawler, a cancer research expert from Queen’s University Belfast (who was not involved with the study) said the inflammation theory makes biological sense, "as targeting GLP-1 dampens down inflammation, one of the hallmarks of cancer."
Additionally, experts believe that today's most popular website drugs, such as Ozempic, could further lower cancer risk.
"New generation, highly potent GLP1-RAs with higher efficacy in weight reduction may convey an even greater advantage in reducing the risk of obesity-related cancers, but future research is needed to make sure that these drugs do not increase the risk for non–obesity-related cancers," said Dicker.
Therefore, the researchers hope to complete additional research that takes this observational study to the next steps of randomized trials and larger prospective studies.
