What You’ll Learn:
- Why fatty liver disease needs to be detected and treated.
- What causes fatty liver disease to develop.
- What new research reveals about the effect of GLP-1 semaglutide medications on fatty liver disease.
- How semaglutide can improve fatty liver disease.
- The limitations for correcting some types of fatty liver disease and advanced symptoms.
- How new classes of GLP-1 medications could be even more beneficial for some types of fatty liver disease.
- How to test your GLP-1 levels and assess risk for fatty liver disease.
Fatty liver disease is a condition that can be reversed - if you know that it’s a problem and correct it early enough.
As the name suggests, fatty liver disease is a condition that develops when fat accumulates in liver cells. Once the fat reaches 5-10% of the liver’s weight (just one third of a pound) it can have a negative impact on liver function. This is bad news for your entire body. When fat builds up it’s harder for the liver to process nutrients, purge toxins, regulate blood sugar and manage fats.
Although it doesn’t take much for the liver to become impaired, you won’t realize it’s happening. Fatty liver disease is a condition that typically doesn’t present symptoms until it’s advanced. It can silently cause fibrosis, which is the technical term for tissue scarring, and a number of related problems.
Fortunately, new research shows that GLP-1 semaglutide medication can help correct fatty liver disease, and providers like Choose Health make it possible to test liver function bio-markers that can indicate if the condition could be a problem.
How Fatty Liver Disease Develops Makes a Difference
Fatty liver disease can be the result of a number of problems, some of which are genetic and others that are based on lifestyle. The biological factors that are involved include:
- Insulin resistance that causes the liver to take in and store more fat
- Increased delivery of body fat to the liver
- Reduced fat export from the liver
- Oxidative stress that damages liver cells
- Chronic low-grade inflammation
Think of fatty liver disease like a traffic jam. There’s too much fat coming in and not enough leaving, so the liver gets backed up with fat.
Anyone who is obese, has type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance or metabolic dysfunction is at a higher risk of developing fatty liver disease. Certain lifestyle choices can also increase a person’s risk.
How GLP-1 Semaglutide Helps With Fatty Liver Disease
When you consider the causes and risk factors for developing fatty liver disease it makes sense that GLP-1 medications can help with the condition. In early stages, fatty liver disease can improve or even resolve fully with:
- Weight loss (5–10% of body weight)
- Improved insulin sensitivity
- Better metabolic control
These are all proven benefits of GLP-1 semaglutide medications that have been used for years to help people lose weight and regulate insulin. But in order to get FDA approval as a treatment for fatty liver disease clinical studies needed to be done to provide definitive proof. That proof has come in a few new studies for a type of GLP-1 known as semaglutide.
Semaglutide received accelerated approval from the FDA for metabolic-associated steatohepatitis (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease) after a study known as the ESSENCE Trial showed that Wegovy (a GLP-1 receptor agonist):
- Resolved fatty liver disease with inflammation (MASH) without worsening fibrosis in 63% of patients.
- Improved fibrosis without increasing inflammation in 37% of patients.
- Both resolved MASH and improved fibrosis for 33% of patients.
Improvements in the bio-markers ALT and AST (indicators of liver function) as well as reduced inflammation were noted. The results were significantly better than a placebo group, proving that semaglutide medication can be a very effective treatment for fatty liver disease, and that the metabolic benefits of improved insulin sensitivity and weight loss alone can be profound.
Given that 6% of adults are known to have metabolic-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) and the number of affected people is growing, the FDA granted accelerated approval. This allows drugs treating serious, unmet medical needs to be approved based on a beneficial endpoint rather than direct clinical benefit. Access to promising therapies are possible, but post-marketing trials are needed to confirm the clinical benefit. If the clinical benefit isn’t confirmed FDA-approval could be withdrawn.
What the Latest Research Shows About GLP-1’s Fatty Liver Disease Limitations
As amazing as GLP-1 is for the liver, there are limitations to what it can do. It’s not FDA-approved for alcohol-associated fatty liver disease (AFLD), one of the two primary types of the disease. It also can’t correct cirrhosis that comes in the later stages.
Limitations For Alcohol-Associated Fatty Liver Disease
The reason why the benefits from GLP-1 medications are limited is because alcohol-associated fatty liver disease won’t get better unless a person significantly reduces their alcohol consumption or quits drinking completely. Any improvements that will be made will be undone with further drinking, whether it’s moderate, chronic or binge drinking.
Consuming alcohol not only damages liver cells, it also impairs fat metabolism in the liver. The impairment causes fat to accumulate in the liver. This can happen even in people who aren’t overweight. You can have an average body mass index but have higher than average liver fat accumulation.
Anyone who is finding it difficult to curb their alcohol consumption should consider getting assistance. That could mean joining an intensive outpatient program (IOP) or medication-assisted treatment. Today, it’s possible to get a naltrexone prescription online to help curb alcohol cravings and get drinking under control.
Limitations For Cirrhosis
Cirrhosis is a symptom of advanced liver damage. It’s late stage fibrosis in which a significant amount of liver tissue has turned into scar tissue that is irreversible. Cirrhosis forms after prolonged liver disease and conditions that damage the liver, such as chronic alcohol use or hepatitis. To date, there is no known way to treat and improve cirrhosis.
What’s to Come With GLP-1s For Treating Fatty Liver Disease
One important thing to keep in mind is that the research into GLP-1s for fatty liver disease has just begun. There are a number of ongoing research studies testing the long-term effects and new studies that are just getting underway. The ESSENCE Trial itself is still being conducted to gauge how semaglutide impacts fatty liver disease over time.
New types of GLP-1 medications will also likely have a significant impact on how fatty liver disease is treated. The next generation of GLP-1 drugs that are being tested combine GLP-1 activity with other receptor targets for greater benefit. Some of the current studies include:
In other words, Wegovy’s FDA-approval was just the beginning. With an estimated 30% of Americans having some level of fatty liver disease, GLP-1 medications could prove to be a huge gamechanger for millions of people.
Do You Need a GLP-1 Boost to Support Your Liver Health? Find Out With At-Home Tests
Choose Health is at the forefront of at-home blood testing kits that can dramatically transform how you improve your health. We’re among the first providers to offer GLP-1 testing kits that measure bio-markers that give you in-depth analysis of your GLP-1 production.
By analyzing your blood sugars, liver enzymes, kidney function and more you’ll know if you can benefit from GLP-1 medications. Before you spend hundreds on GLP-1 semaglutides, take the Choose Health GLP-1 at-home test for a fraction of the cost.
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