Comment by gavinray
10 hours ago
As another person commented, we currently believe the primary mechanism behind the pleitropic effects of GLP-1's to be a reduction in systemic inflammation and direct improvements in vascular/endothelial function.
The best paper I've seen on this was the recently published and very aptly named:
"Pleiotropic effects of GLP-1 receptor agonists — a narrative review of extra-metabolic outcomes in adults" (2026)
https://journals.viamedica.pl/medical_research_journal/artic...
Yeah entirely possible that GLP-1s are the closest thing to exercise in a pill.
Exercise does not result in loss of lean mass unless done at a severe deficit. If someone has a low baseline of lean mass, exercise usually boosts it even when a person is in a deficit, but if they are in a surplus, the lean mass boost is more significant.
GLP-1s don't.
Fat is inflammatory, especially visceral fat, so reducing that fat naturally reduces inflammation.
There’s a feedback loop with inflammation and fat. We’ve been telling people for decades to break the cycle by losing weight, but we also have studies that say you can only sustain about 7.5% weight loss per year. Anything more tends to rebound.
Then GLP-1 comes along and we stop fat negativity/positivity overnight.
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Pleio-, many; -tropic, having effects; pleitropic effects, many effects effects.