Semaglutide (Brand name Wegovy/Ozempic) and Tirzepatide (brand name Monjauro & Zepbound) are injectable medications which when used in combination with diet and exercise, helps with blood sugar control, appetite control, and potential weight loss. Semaglutide and Tirzepatide belong to a class of medications called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists, which mimic the hormone GLP-1 in your body to lower blood sugar levels after you’ve eaten a meal.
What are GLP’S? They aren’t just an appetite suppressant. We have GLP-1 receptors all through our body. In our gut, in our brain, our pancreas, our heart, our blood & muscles. GLP-1 medications will bind to these receptors and stimulate them. They stimulate the satiety centers in the brain so that we feel more satisfied and they also slow down gastric emptying so that the food is moving through us slower and we feel fuller quicker. What we typically see with someone who is taking a GLP-1 medication is that they eat throughout the day, many times, it’s just they eat way less because they are getting fuller much quicker.
Also GLP-1 medications, unlink stimulants, are going to help manage other chronic disease states. They bind to the pancreas and help regulate glucose levels, this is really important for people with PCOS, insulin resistance, pre-diabetes and diabetes. Insulin resistance can affect our hunger hormones, leptin, and treating that with a GLP-1 medication can help regulate those hunger hormones. In more recent studies, this class of medications is also showing benefit for all sorts of other chronic health conditions including improvement in some types of chronic kidney disease, improvement in cardiovascular disease including less heart attacks and strokes. There may also be a benefit for memory and inflammation in the body.