TIRZEPATIDE

What is tirzepatide?

Tirzepatide is a newer medication that was initially FDA approved in May 2022 to treat Type 2 diabetes in adults. It’s a once-weekly injection. When used along with a diabetes-friendly diet and regular exercise, it can help lower blood glucose levels. In addition to treating Type 2 diabetes, tirzepatide is also approved for weight loss in adults, under the brand name Zepbound.

How does tirzepatide cause weight loss?

Tirzepatide is thought to promote weight loss by decreasing your appetite and prolonging feelings of fullness. That’s because these effects can cause you to eat fewer calories.

Tirzepatide is unique because it’s the first combination of two classes of medications: a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist and a glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) receptor agonist. Therefore, tirzepatide is known as a dual GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist.

GLP-1 and GIP are both incretin hormones, which are hormones that are released after eating. Tirzepatide works by mimicking their effects. This includes telling the pancreas to release insulin after eating and signaling the liver to lower the amount of glucose it’s making. These effects help lower blood glucose.

In addition to helping lower blood glucose, tirzepatide helps with weight loss in a couple ways:

• It signals to the brain that you’re full — so you eat less.

• It slows the movement of food through your stomach — so you feel full longer.

Other similar injectable weight loss medications only mimic one incretin — GLP-1. It’s thought that because tirzepatide acts like two incretins, it can cause more weight loss than current alternatives. Researchers have studied how effective tirzepatide is for weight loss — for people with and without diabetes.

How much weight do you typically lose on tirzepatide?

While everyone’s experience is unique, many people have lost 15% or more of their starting body weight with tirzepatide.

A clinical trial of over 2,500 people who are considered obese or overweight experienced significant weight loss in the first of tirzepatide’s weight loss studies. Those treated with tirzepatide had an average weight loss of 15% to 20% of their starting body weight over 72 weeks (about 16.5 months). This worked out to an average weight loss of 34 lbs to 48 lbs. Those taking the placebo (an injection with no medication in it) only had an average of 3% weight loss.

What’s more, over a third of those taking the highest tirzepatide dose (15 mg per week) lost at least 25% of their starting body weight (over 58 lbs).

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