How Semaglutide Helps Muscles Work Better During Weight Loss
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Introduction
Losing weight is good for health, but keeping the weight off is often difficult. Many people regain weight after losing it. One reason is that the body becomes more efficient at using energy, which means it burns fewer calories after weight loss. Scientists wanted to see how a medicine called semaglutide affects muscle energy use during weight loss.
What is Semaglutide?
Semaglutide is a type of medicine that helps people lose weight. It works by controlling hunger and helping the body use energy better. It belongs to a group of medicines called GLP-1 receptor agonists. People who take semaglutide can lose about 10-15% of their body weight in one year. However, when they stop taking the medicine, they often regain some weight.
Why Muscle Energy Matters
Muscles use oxygen to create energy. This process happens in small parts of the cells called mitochondria. When muscles become more efficient, they need less oxygen to make the same amount of energy. This can be good because it saves energy, but it also means the body burns fewer calories, which might lead to weight regain over time.
The Study
Researchers at the University of Utah studied mice that were fed a high-fat diet to make them overweight. After 12 weeks, some mice were given semaglutide every day for 1 or 3 weeks. The researchers measured changes in their body weight, fat, and lean muscle mass. They also checked how well the muscles' mitochondria were working.
Main Findings
1. Semaglutide Helps Lose Fat and Muscle Mass
The mice who got semaglutide lost a lot of fat and some muscle mass. After 3 weeks, their body weight dropped by about 23%, and fat mass dropped by about 42%.
2. Muscles Became More Energy Efficient
The muscles of mice treated with semaglutide needed less oxygen to produce the same amount of energy. This means the mitochondria in their muscles were working more efficiently.
Interestingly, this improvement was seen when the muscles were studied in a natural-like setting (with all muscle structures intact), but not when the mitochondria were isolated from the muscles. This shows that the full muscle environment is important for these changes.
3. Small Changes in Mitochondrial Proteins
Researchers found small changes in two proteins (LYRM7 and TTC19) that help build part of the mitochondria’s energy-making machinery. However, most of the mitochondria’s proteins and structures stayed the same.
Why It Matters
This study suggests that semaglutide does more than just help people eat less—it also changes how muscles use energy. More efficient muscles burn fewer calories, which might explain why people tend to regain weight after stopping semaglutide.
At the same time, better energy efficiency could have benefits, like better blood sugar control and reduced stress inside cells.
What’s Next?
Scientists still have questions. For example:
- How long do these changes in muscle efficiency last?
- Can other treatments help maintain weight loss after stopping semaglutide?
- Do these changes happen in humans the same way they do in mice?
Understanding these details could help improve weight loss treatments in the future.
Conclusion
Semaglutide not only helps people lose weight, but it also makes muscles work more efficiently. While this helps during weight loss, it could also make it easier to regain weight after stopping the treatment. More research is needed to find ways to keep the benefits while reducing the chances of weight regain.