Recently, Wegovy (semaglutide) — the injectable GLP-1 agonist known to effectively promote weight loss — received FDA approval for a new indication: reducing the risk of diseases of the heart and blood vessels, including heart attack and stroke.
Good news? Definitely.
But revolutionary? Not at all. It’s no surprise that dropping excess pounds promotes heart health.
For decades, we’ve known about the connection between excess weight and heart disease. Half a century of data supports the simple truth that the more excess weight you shed, the less strain on your heart.
Two other injectables — Ozempic, another semaglutide, and Trulicity (dulaglutide) — were already FDA-approved for cardiovascular risk reduction in overweight patients who have diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
But the newly approved Wegovy indication lets doctors extend treatment to an even broader population: overweight or obese people with cardiovascular disease without diabetes. The drug’s potential heart health benefits make it more likely that some insurance companies will cover costs for patients who need financial assistance.
Losing Excess Pounds Helps Your Heart
As a concierge physician, I see how self-inflicted excess calories damage a person’s health. For overweight patients, losing even 5% of their body weight can have enormous benefits. For a 200-pound person, that’s a loss of 10 pounds.
Of course, losing even 10 pounds can be a task, but not an impossible one. That 5% loss may reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke, reduce the need for blood pressure medication, improve metabolic function, and add years to your life.
When GLP-1 agonists came along, they suddenly made weight loss easier. Patients are seeing genuine progress more quickly and much more easily.
But these drugs aren’t magic bullets. Ozempic, Wegovy, Trulicity, Mounjaro, Zepbound, and Rybelsus are meant for use in conjunction with a healthy lifestyle.
The drugs augment your natural weight-loss efforts. They work best with a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity — yes, we mean diet and exercise.
So, to keep these medications at their most effective, you need to make lifestyle changes that are temporarily challenging or uncomfortable. But you’ll see results.
Five Factors You Can Control
Many cardiovascular issues are a byproduct of family history, genetics, and anatomy — factors you can’t control.
But here are five factors you can control to promote weight loss, support any medications you’re taking, and fight cardiovascular disease:
Your concierge physician can help you determine an ideal healthy weight. (Be careful about figuring this out yourself with a BMI calculator. BMI readings don’t account for variations in body type and other factors, so they’re considered fairly rudimentary.)
The Takeaway
Promising data abounds on weight loss and heart disease, and it’s always worth following the latest developments.
Decades of research demonstrate that losing weight decreases the risk of heart attacks and strokes, lowers inflammatory markers, decreases joint wear and tear, and protects against dementia and certain cancers.
Remember that lowered cardiovascular risk is not the result of drugs — it’s a physiological result of being several pounds lighter. After all, over a couple of decades, what’s the impact on your heart of carrying around an extra 20 to 50 pounds?
The FDA acknowledges that weight-loss drugs encourage reduced heart health risks. Will they extend approvals for Mounjaro, Zepbound, and Rybelsus based on cardiovascular benefits? We’ll see what develops.
Questions about weight loss and heart disease? Interested in improving heart health by shedding pounds without medication? Your Priority Physicians are here to help. Reach out today.
