A new study has identified that maintaining meaningful weight loss after starting GLP1-based therapies could play an important role in reducing the risk of multiple obesity-related diseases.
The study indicates that popular weight loss drugs such as semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy, and Rybelsus) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro and Zepbound) may do more than help people lose weight.
The researchers suggest the amount of weight patients lose after starting these medications could strongly influence their future risk of serious obesityrelated diseases.
The findings, presented at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2026) in Istanbul, Turkey, came from a large real-world analysis led by Professor John Wilding of the University of Liverpool in the UK.
The researchers found that patients who achieved the greatest reductions in body weight after starting GLP-1-based medications had substantially lower risks of conditions including obstructive sleep apnea, chronic kidney disease, osteoarthritis, and heart failure.
By contrast, patients who gained weight after starting treatment generally faced worse outcomes. The results add to growing evidence that the health benefits of GLP-1 drugs extend beyond the number on a scale.
Scientists increasingly believe that sustained weight reduction can improve metabolic health across multiple organ systems, including the heart, kidneys, joints, and airways.
In clinical trials, medications such as semaglutide, liraglutide, and tirzepatide consistently produce significant weight loss. But outside controlled studies, long-term treatment can be difficult to maintain because of cost, side effects, medication shortages, or limited insurance coverage.
The team used Optum Market Clarity, a US electronic health record and insurance claims database, to analyse patients who started liraglutide, semaglutide, or tirzepatide between January 2021 and June 2024.
They tracked body mass index (BMI) changes during the first year after treatment began and compared them with later health outcomes through June 2025. First-year BMI change was measured using the difference between baseline BMI and the average BMI recorded between 275 and 455 days after treatment started.
