A study from UT Southwestern has found that liraglutide, a common weight-loss drug, may also benefit heart health by reducing two types of harmful fat linked to heart disease.
The drug, when combined with lifestyle changes, was shown to significantly lower visceral fat (deep belly fat) and ectopic fat (fat stored in organs like the liver and heart).
The study focused on people who were overweight or had obesity and were at high risk of heart disease. Over 40 weeks, 185 participants received a once-daily injection of liraglutide, along with lifestyle guidance. The results showed that:
- Visceral fat (belly fat) was reduced twice as much as overall body weight
- Liver fat dropped six times more than overall body weight
- The effect was the same for people with and without prediabetes
- Blood sugar and inflammation levels also improved in participants without diabetes
Why Is This Important?
Visceral fat is a dangerous type of fat stored deep in the abdomen, surrounding vital organs like the liver, pancreas, and intestines. It increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.
Ectopic fat is another harmful type of fat that builds up in places that usually contain very little fat, such as the liver, heart, and pancreas. This kind of fat is also linked to serious health problems.
The results suggest that liraglutide not only helps with weight loss but also directly reduces the fat that contributes to chronic diseases. This may help explain why the drug has been shown to benefit heart health in previous studies.
Obesity and Heart Disease
Obesity is a growing health crisis, affecting 1 in 4 adults and 1 in 5 children. Excess visceral and ectopic fat play a major role in the development of heart disease and diabetes. While diet and exercise remain key strategies for weight management, identifying those at the highest risk and offering additional treatments like liraglutide may be an effective approach.
What’s Next?
More research is needed to better understand how liraglutide can be used to target heart disease risk and whether it should be recommended for people without diabetes but with excess visceral fat.
For now, this study provides strong evidence that reducing visceral and ectopic fat is an important step in lowering heart disease risk—and that liraglutide may be an effective tool in achieving that goal.
The study, conducted by Parag Joshi and his team, was published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.
If you care about weight loss, please read studies that hop extract could reduce belly fat in overweight people, and early time-restricted eating could help lose weight.
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