Episode Details
Back to Episodes
Weighing the Good and Bad of Weight-Loss Drugs
Description
Drugs known as glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, colloquially called GLP-1 medications, have gone from relatively obscure diabetes treatments to blockbuster weight-loss medications. But is the hype backed up by science? In this episode, freelance science journalist Bethany Brookshire joins host Kendra Pierre-Louis to talk about how these drugs mimic natural hormones, why they’re so effective and what the latest research about their broader health effects says. Plus, we discuss what a recently rolled-out GLP-1 pill, the first of its kind approved for obesity, could mean for the future of weight loss.
Recommended Reading:
Wegovy Weight-Loss Pills Are Now Available in the U.S.—Here’s What That Means“Doctors Are Worried about Prescribing GLP-1s to Certain Patients,” by Bethany Brookshire, in National Geographic. Published online November 20, 2025
E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!
Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for our daily newsletter.
Science Quickly is produced by Kendra Pierre-Louis, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices