Semaglutide, a drug used for diabetes and weight loss, may start protecting the heart in as little as three months—even before significant weight loss occurs.
New findings presented at the 32nd European Congress on Obesity show that semaglutide can lower the risk of major heart problems such as heart attacks and strokes, even in the early weeks of treatment. These findings build on earlier research from 2023 that showed long-term benefits of semaglutide in people with heart disease.
Early Heart Health Benefits
Researchers looked at health data from over 17,000 adults who were overweight or obese and already had cardiovascular disease. About half received weekly semaglutide injections, while the other half received a placebo.
The new analysis focused on the first six months after starting treatment. Within just three months, people taking semaglutide already had a lower risk of major heart events—such as non-fatal heart attacks, strokes, or death from cardiovascular causes. These benefits continued and even improved after six months.
Protection Begins Before Weight Loss
One key finding is that semaglutide’s heart health benefits appeared before people lost much weight. Semaglutide is usually started at a low dose and gradually increased over 16 weeks to the full 2.4 mg dose.
By four weeks, people taking semaglutide had lost about 1.1% more body weight than those on placebo. At 12 weeks, the difference was about 3.6%. However, even before reaching full dosage or losing a lot of weight, the risk of serious heart problems was already lower for those on the drug.
At six months, the semaglutide group not only had fewer heart attacks and strokes, but they were also less likely to die from any cause or experience heart failure that required hospital visits.
What Experts Are Saying
Dr. Patrick Kee, a cardiologist not involved in the study, commented on the findings:
“The benefits of semaglutide showed up very early—within just three months—and stayed strong into the six-month mark.” He added that while researchers still don’t fully understand how semaglutide works so quickly, the results are very promising for people with heart disease and obesity.
Dr. Cheng-Han Chen, another cardiologist who wasn’t involved in the research, noted that even patients who don’t lose much weight may still benefit. “This study suggests there are heart benefits from semaglutide that go beyond weight loss,” he said.
Limitations and What’s Next
The full details of the secondary analysis are not yet published, so some questions remain. For example, the results may not apply to people without heart disease or those under 45. Also, fewer than 30% of the study participants were women, and there were relatively few Black participants, which may limit how widely the results can be applied.
Researchers say future studies should look at how semaglutide affects different groups and explore why the drug works so quickly to improve heart health.
A Step Toward Heart Disease Prevention
Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the U.S., with one in five deaths in 2022 linked to it, according to the CDC.
These early findings suggest that semaglutide could play a larger role in preventing deadly heart conditions—especially in people who are overweight or obese and already have heart problems. And since the benefits may start even before major weight loss, semaglutide could offer a new way to protect the heart early in treatment.
Related Topics:
- Infertility In Women Linked To Increased Heart Disease Risk
- Sleep Deprivation Increases Inflammation, Raising Heart Disease Risk
- Extreme Work Stress Raises Women’s Risk Of Heart Disease, Experts Warn
