Medicines used to treat obesity may also help protect the brain. In a review published in Science, researchers explain how a better understanding of the effects of these drugs could lead to new treatments that protect memory and other important cognitive abilities.
Drugs such as semaglutide and tirzepatide are already used to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes, but they also influence biological processes important for brain function. At the invitation of Science, researchers from the University of Gothenburg and the University of Copenhagen assessed the available evidence.
Animal studies show that GLP-1 drugs can affect memory and learning, but results in humans are mixed. Patient chart studies have linked GLP-1 treatment to a lower risk of dementia in people with type 2 diabetes, although they cannot establish whether the drugs themselves account for the difference.
In Novo Nordisk’s EVOKE and EVOKE+ clinical trials, semaglutide did not slow disease progression in patients with early Alzheimer’s disease, despite changes in several biomarkers of the disease.
Potential benefits for the brain
These results do not exclude the possibility that the drugs could protect brain function in other patients. People with obesity or type 2 diabetes may experience difficulty with attention, planning, and processing speed. These issues are often related to metabolic and vascular health and may therefore respond better to treatment.
Stina Börchers is the journal’s first author and a researcher affiliated with the University of Gothenburg and the University of Copenhagen.
It must be determined whether these treatments can help obese or diabetic people preserve their cognitive abilities, particularly if treatment begins before cognitive problems set in. It is also important to identify which patients could benefit. »
Stina Börchers, first author of the journal
Towards new treatments
Researchers want to understand whether the drugs’ potential effects on the brain result from improved metabolism, direct effects on the brain, or a combination of both.
Christoffer Clemmensen is the lead author of the review and head of a research group at the University of Copenhagen.
“Obesity drugs are becoming more and more sophisticated, providing new opportunities to understand how metabolic regulation influences brain function. By unraveling the direct and indirect effects of these drugs on the brain, we may ultimately be able to develop treatments specifically aimed at preserving cognitive function,” explains Christoffer Clemmensen.
Researchers are calling for clinical trials to track memory and other cognitive abilities from the start of treatment. They also highlight the importance of monitoring elderly and frail patients, for whom rapid weight loss and loss of muscle mass could impair physical function and reduce the potential benefits of treatment.
Gn Health
