Flourish As You Age
BRAIN HEALTH
MENTAL MANAGEMENT
A GOOD DEATH
Let's not just fade away; let's FLOURISH as we age!
The MINDRAMP Podcasts focus on three key components that have been shown to contribute to flourishing in the later years of your life. You will find mini-series of episodes that explore each component.
1) Keeping your brain and body healthy - see The Roots of Brain Health
2) Managing your mental states - see Flourishing
3) Planning the kind of death you want to have - (coming 10/1/24))
You will also find the occasional episodes that focus social concerns that I feel have an impact on our well-being, for example "Elections."
Flourish As You Age
A Miracle Cure For Aging? The Benefits & Risks of GLP-1 Drugs
Comments? Send me a text message.
GLP-1 Drugs, like Ozempic and Wegovy, originally developed to treat diabetes, have been found to lower risk-factors for a broad-range of conditions that accelerate the aging process. But there are also risk factors that need to be taken into account.
The benefits of GLP-1 drugs include reduced risk of seizures, heart attack, stroke, other cardiovascular concerns, suicide ideation, self-harm, bulimia and psychotic disorders. They decrease inflammation in the brain and reduce the risk of neurocognitive disorders such as dementia, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
The risks include gastrointesinal problems such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. More concerning, there are rare cases of "paralysis of the stomach," and new information that GLP-1 drugs can have serious adverse effects on the pancreas and kidneys.
If you plan to use GLP-1 drugs, do so with medical supervision and continue to monitor for signs of pancreatitis and abnormal kidney function.
Support our work to promote creative aging. Subscribe to the MINDRAMP Podcast.
HAVE WE FOUND A MIRACLE CURE FOR AGING? The Benefits & Risks of GLP-1 Drugs
Hi there. Welcome to the Flourish as You Age podcast where we explore how to live long and live well, where we examine practical strategies you can use to expand and enrich your quality of life as you age.
In this episode I want to focus on a topic I addressed in a recent Synapse Newsletter concerning the amazing benefits of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. The drugs were originally developed to treat diabetes, but they have been found to lower risk factors for a broad range of age-related conditions. Which is pretty exciting
If GLP-1 drugs really can lower the risk for these conditions, we may have stumbled upon a relatively straight-forward way to improve our health and well-being as we age. But, along with the enthusiasm and optimism we also need to mention some concerns with the drugs.
First, there are some side effects to the use of GLP-1 drugs, some of these side-effect are rare, yet sever. So you need to know about the potential side effects. The drugs should be taken under medical supervision and should be monitored carefully.
The second caveat, is that we need to break the habit of expecting drugs to fix the damage done by bad behavior and bad public policy. Drugs should not replace healthy behaviors and a healthy lifestyle choices and a healthy environment. The So, the GLP-1 drugs should be used to supplement healthy behaviors, not replace them. To get the greatest benefit, the drugs should be taken under medical supervision, and in association with healthy behavior and lifesyle changes.
In a recent Newsletter piece, I focused on new research from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Veterans Affairs (VA) St. Louis Health Care System, called GLP-1 Drugs Offer Brain Benefits but May Pose Other Health Risks.
https://neurosciencenews.com/glp1-drugs-brain-health-28372/
This article from Neuroscience News reports on a study of over 2 million veterans who were being treated for diabetes. The study compared those treated with GLP-1 receptor agonists and those treated with other drugs. Compared to the usual care, treatment with GLP-1 drugs resulted in a broad array of benefits. So, I’m just going to summarize the benefits and risks reported by in this new study from Washington University.
First, the GOOD NEWS
Use of GLP-1 drugs resulted in MODEST improvements in the following areas:
- Weight loss,
- Reduced risk of seizures,
- Reduced addiction to substances such as alcohol, cannabis, stimulants and opioids,
- Reduced risk of heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular concerns,
Decreased suicidal ideation self-harm, bulimia and psychotic disorders like schizophrenia.
- Decreased risk of neurocognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and dementia.
- Reduced inflammation in the brain.
This is quite a remarkable list of benefits.
Again, the researchers point out that these drugs may be most effective when used in conjunction with behavior and lifestyle changes.
Now, for THE BAD NEWS
- It apparently has been well documented in other studies that GLP-1 drugs can cause increased risk of gastrointestinal problems such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. And, in rare cases, paralysis of the stomach. That can’t be good.
- The new information from the Washington University study is that use of GLP-1 drugs can negatively effect the pancreas and the kidney. These adverse effects are uncommon, but they can be very serious. So the drugs should be taken under medical supervision and your physician should be vigilant about looking for signs of pancreatitis and abnormal kidney function.
Kidney problems can apparently occur without symptoms so you don’t realize that anything is wrong until the condition is advanced and, at that point, treatment options are limited.
Now, I should Note that The National Kidney Foundation recommends the use of GLP-1 drugs because they lower known risk factors for chronic kidney disease (CKD). So, if you have CKD and you reduce risk factors, you should be able to slow the progress of the disease. Not cure it, but slow its progress.
These recommendations from the National Kidney Foundation were made before the results of the Washington University research was announced, so its possible the Kidney Foundation will modify their recommendations in the future.
Why do GLP-1 drugs seem to effect such a broad range of conditions. HOW DO THEY WORK
GLP-1 drugs act on receptors in areas of the brain areas that regulate impulse control, reward and addiction. They produce hormones that curb appetite and slow digestion, leading to a greater feeling of satiety. And, they presumably lower craving that contributes to addiction. So they stop us from doing a lot of the stuff that makes us more vulnerable to disease, like overeating, pigging out on junk food and sugar, or becoming addicted to alcohol and drugs.
So, all in all, it is incredibly encouraging that GLP-1 drugs appear to lower a remarkably broad range of risk factors that effect our health and well-being as we age.
The benefits seem too-good-to-be-true! And, whenever something appears to be too-good-to-be-true, my skepticism is activated. Which means, I’m going to keep tracking the science on GLP-1 drugs, hoping they are, in fact, the miracle cure they appear to be. But if concerns arise, I’ll report those as well.
Okay. That’s it for now. A quick look at the benefits and risks of GLP-1 drugs. Here’s hoping you are taking steps to live a long, healthy and happy life.