Scientists Believe They May Have Discovered a Better Weight Loss Drug Than Ozempic
Over the past few years, Ozempic and similar GLP-1 medications have revolutionized the weight loss industry, helping millions of people who struggled to lose weight lose it fast. However, there are some serious drawbacks to the "miracle" weight loss drug – including less-than-optimal side effects and the fact that many people gain rebound weight after stopping the injections. The good news is, scientists believe they have made a serious weight loss breakthrough that could result in an even more effective drug than Ozempic.
Researchers Unlock "Cheat Code" for Boosting Calorie Burn
Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, believe they have found a "cheat code" for burning calories in the fat-burning mechanism beige fat. Three types of fat cells exist in the majority of mammals, including humans — white, which serves as energy reserves for the body, brown, which burns energy to release heat, and beige, a more efficient combination of them. Scientists already knew that white fat cells naturally turn into beige ones in response to diet or a cold environment. However, they wanted to determine how to manually trigger the mechanism.
In the paper published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the researchers claim they discovered how to "turn ordinary white fat cells, which store calories, into beige fat cells that burn calories to maintain body temperature." The secret? Limiting the production of a certain protein.
RELATED: 20 Things You Need to Know About Ozempic and Weight Loss
Converting White Fat to Beige Fat is Easier Than Previously Thought
"A lot of people thought this wasn't feasible," Brian Feldman, MD, PhD, the Walter L. Miller, MD Distinguished Professor in Pediatric Endocrinology and senior author of the study, explains in a press release. "We showed not only that this approach works to turn these white fat cells into beige ones but also that the bar to doing so isn't as high as we'd thought."
"For most of us, white fat is not rare, and we're happy to part with some of it," he said. Feldman had already determined that a protein, KLF-15, impacts metabolism and the function of fat cells. He teamed up with postdoctoral scholar Liang Li, PhD, to examine how the protein reacted in mice, which retain brown fat throughout their lives.
KLF-15 Protein May Surpass GLP-1 Treatments
They learned that KLF-15 was less prevalent in white fat cells than in brown or beige fat cells. Through their tests, Feldman determined that a different drug targeting the Adrb1 receptor in humans is more likely to work and be more long-lasting than GLP-1 drugs and without side effects like nausea.
"We're certainly not at the finish line, but we're close enough that you can clearly see how these discoveries could have a big impact on treating obesity," he said. And if you enjoyed this article, don't miss 20 Incredible Ozempic Success Stories of All Time.
