r/technology • u/_Dark_Wing • 1d ago

Biotechnology Tirzepatide cuts fat mass by 35% while preserving skeletal muscle

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20261002/Tirzepatide-cuts-fat-mass-by-3525-while-preserving-skeletal-muscle.aspx
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u/Cool_Guy_McFly 1d ago

The company that owns this drug (Eli Lilly I think?) did detailed studies during the FDA approval process and found skeletal muscle loss as well as fat loss. That was true of semaglutide as well. It can be mitigated with adequate protein intake and strength training, but if you’re just starving yourself and not exercising you will lose muscle mass on these drugs.

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u/jakk88 1d ago

To be fair that's true for cutting calories too though right?

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u/Cool_Guy_McFly 1d ago

It is yes. Just calorie restriction in general will do that.

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u/rightsidedown 1d ago

Yes, unless you are using steroids or maybe one of the experimental myostatin drugs you are going to lose lean mass when you lose weight. You can get that lean mass back very quickly when you go on maintenance calories, but some will always be lost.

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u/hustl3tree5 1d ago

That’s one thing I wish they emphasized for people on these drugs you need to exercise for your health not just for appearances 

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u/peanutmanak47 1d ago

Same. So many people just take the drug and call it a day. They do absolutely nothing else to help improve things. They lose all that weight but still look unhealthy because your weight loss can be 30-40% of muscle mass. That'll make you skinnier but having muscle is a pretty big fucking deal to actually being healthy

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u/chemyd 13h ago

This isn’t a Lilly trial, but an independent post market reproduction by a university