A study presented at the world’s largest cancer conference found that patients who take weight loss drugs are 19% less likely to develop 13 obesity-related cancers, including ovarian, liver, colorectal, pancreatic, and breast cancer while halving the chance of developing bowel cancer in patients with type 2 diabetes. Experts are saying weight loss jabs from brands like Ozempic and Wegovy could potentially “delay” or even prevent cancer.
The Case Western Reserve University in the US state of Ohio led the study which looked at research involving 34,000 obese people. Over a 15-year period, the study compared cancer rates among patients who used the weight-loss jabs for at least a year to; those who had undergone bariatric surgery; to those who had no treatment.
They found that not only do the jabs play a potential role in preventing and treating cancer, but also found that patients were half as likely to die over a 15-year period compared to patients not taking weight loss drugs, or GLP-1 receptor agonists (RA). The research also found that those who had undergone bariatric surgery saw their risk of cancer fall by 19%, although those who used their jabs lost “significantly” more weight.
“Our findings are significant in that they could change the paradigm of obesity management by suggesting early intervention with GLP-1 RAs could delay or prevent obesity-related cancer development,” said study co-authors Dr. Cindy Lin and Dr. Benjamin Liu.
The authors add that laboratory and mice research has shown that “GLP-1s cause the death of cancer cells and prevent them from multiplying” while other studies have suggested that they reduce inflammation. However, scientists also believe that other factors could play into their patients' good health including reducing a patient’s desire to smoke or drink alcohol, and the prevention of inflammation.
“Obesity is a risk factor for nearly all cancers, in both men and women,” said Dr. Mitchell Lazar, the director of the institute for diabetes, obesity and metabolism at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. “Thus the revolution in the medical treatment of obesity has enormous potential to prevent new cancers, reduce the severity and growth rate of existing tumors, and synergise with new cancer-specific therapies.”
In May of last year, it was reported that a small study conducted at Maynooth University in Ireland found that GLP-1 analogs like semaglutide could restore naturally occurring anticancer cells. These study authors explained that people with obesity are at a greater risk of developing cancer because their natural killer (NK) cells are rendered useless.