'Di injection wey fit make pesin lose weight and also reduce heart attack risk'

One injection wey dey designed to tackle obesity fit reduce di risk of heart attacks and strokes in pipo regardless of di amount of weight dem lose while on di drug, according to one new study wey just come out.

Researchers look di effects of semaglutide - one prescription drug wey dey supress appetite - and dem dey sell am under brand names like Wegovy, Ozempic and Rybelsus.

Dem say di anti-obesity jabs fit also benefit di cardiovascular health of millions of adults.

Prof John Deanfield, wey lead di team of researchers, say di generic drug fit get a positive impact on blood sugar, blood pressure or inflammation, as well as direct effects on di heart muscle and vessels.

Di five-year University College London (UCL) study use data from a Select trial, run by semaglutide manufacturer Novo Nordisk, to examine 17,604 adults over di age of 45 from 41 countries.

As e tok ahead of presenting di study to di European Congress on Obesity (ECO) for Venice, Prof Deanfield say dia findings get "important clinical implications".

E say na very important discovery - wey be like wen dem introduce statins in di 1990s.

"We finally don figure out say e get drug class wey fit change di biology of dis disease to benefit a lot of pipo. Dat na major breakthrough and e don transform cardiology practice.

"We now get dis class of drugs wey fit equally transform many chronic diseases of ageing."

Prof Deanfield analysis of Select examine di amount of time before patients suffer major cardiovascular events - such as heart attack or stroke - or weda dem develop heart failure.

After 20 weeks of being on semaglutide, 62% of patients lose more dan 5% of dia bodyweight compared with 10% for di placebo group.

However, di risk of reduction of heart attacks, stroke or heart failure dey similar to patients wey lose more dan 5% of dia bodyweight and for those wey lose less dan 5%, or gain weight.

Prof Deanfield say: "Around half of di patients wey I see for my cardiovascular practice get levels of weight wey dey equivalent to those for di select trial and dem dey likely to derive benefit from taking semaglutide on top of dia usual level of guideline-directed care."

Wen e tok to BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Prof Deanfield say di drug get a “potentially important place” in di treatment for obesity.

“Plenti pipo dey wey dey live with overweight or with obesity, wey dey struggle to improve dia weight, and dis drugs, for dat reason alone, don produce an important clinical opportunity," e tok.

“But dis na drugs wey go also improve dia background medical problems. Dat one dey really exciting”.

For August, researchers wey dey work on di Select trial find say semaglutide dey reduce di risk of a heart attack or stroke in obese pipo with cardiovascular disease by a fifth.

Prof Deanfield study na one of two studies wey dey based on di Select trial wey dem dey present for di ECO in Italy.

Di second one, led by Prof Donna Ryan, of Pennington Biomedical Research Centre in New Orleans, look at di long-term effect of semaglutide on weight.

Wegovy get di same ingredient as Ozempic - a diabetes medicine wey dem say be Hollywood "skinny jab" of choice.

However, experts bin don previously warn say e no be quick fix or a replacement for eating well and exercising, and dem suppose only offer am under medical supervision.