{"id":435533,"date":"2025-09-19T07:26:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T07:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/435533\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T07:26:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T07:26:10","slug":"scientists-say-new-dna-test-could-reveal-which-weight-loss-drug-works-best-for-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/435533\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists say new DNA test could reveal which weight loss drug works best for you"},"content":{"rendered":"

Researchers say weight loss treatments should reflect biology, not just body size \u2013 and a new study<\/a> suggests they might be right. Published in Cell Metabolism, the research shows that a simple genetic test could help predict how people respond to weight loss drugs, including GLP-1s<\/a>. <\/p>\n

How does the test work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The test focuses on someone\u2019s calorie to satiation (CTS), which essentially measures how much food it takes for a person to feel full. It then links this biological trait to treatment success. <\/p>\n

In 2021, Andres Acosta, M.D., Ph.D., a gastroenterologist at Mayo Clinic and the study\u2019s senior author, developed and defined a series of obesity phenotypes to describe specific eating patterns. These included \u2018hungry brain\u2019, which refers to people with obesity who tend to eat very large meals, and \u2018hungry gut\u2019 \u2013 those who eat average portions but snack frequently throughout the day. <\/p>\n

What to Read NextRelated StoryWhat did the study find?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In this new study, the team studied the satiation of almost 800 adults with obesity by asking them to participate in an all-you-can-eat meal of lasagna, pudding and milk<\/a> until they felt \u2018Thanksgiving full\u2019. They identified huge calorie intake variation, with some people stopping after 140 calories and others consuming more than 2,000.<\/p>\n

After finding that factors like body weight, height, body fat percentage, waist-to-hip ratio, age, and appetite-related hormones such as ghrelin and leptin, had a small role, the researchers turned to genetics for a better explanation. <\/p>\n

Using machine learning, the team focused on 10 genes known to influence food intake, combining the variants into a single metric called the CTS-GRS (Calories to Satiation Genetic Risk Score).<\/p>\n

Calculated from a blood or saliva sample, the score provides a personalised estimate of an individual\u2019s expected satiation threshold. Researchers then calculated this metric in clinical trials of two FDA-approved medications: a first-generation weight loss drug, phentermine-topiramate, and a newer GLP-1 drug \u2013 liraglutide.<\/p>\n

They found that people with a high satiation threshold lost more weight using the former drug, suggesting it may help control portion size and reduce large-meal eating for hungry brains<\/a>. While the latter was better for people with a low satiation threshold (hungry gut), suggesting it may reduce overall hunger and frequency of eating. <\/p>\n

Researchers are currently conducting further tests to predict responses to other weight loss drugs, including semaglutide (like Ozempic and Wegovy), and are attempting to advance the test by incorporating data from the microbiome<\/a> and metabolome (the complete set of small-molecule chemicals found within a biological sample), and developing models to predict common side effects like nausea and vomiting. <\/p>\n

The bottom line<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth noting that the study was conducted by Mayo Clinic researchers and that the CTS-GRS technology was licensed to Phenomix Sciences<\/a>, a Mayo Clinic innovation commercialisation partner. <\/p>\n

While this was declared as a conflict of interest in the study, it doesn\u2019t necessarily mean the findings aren\u2019t accurate \u2013 just a reminder that we need to approach such research with some scepticism. <\/p>\n

Nevertheless, it\u2019s an exciting scientific advancement and highlights the importance of personalisation and nuance when discussing and supporting weight loss. <\/p>\n

Related Stories\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Hannah Bradfield is a Senior Nutrition Writer across Women\u2019s Health UK\u00a0and Men\u2019s Health UK. An NCTJ-accredited journalist, Hannah graduated from Loughborough University with a BA in English and Sport Science and an MA in Media and Cultural Analysis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She has been covering sports, health and fitness for the last five years and has created content for outlets including BBC Sport, BBC Sounds, Runner\u2019s World\u00a0and Stylist. She especially enjoys interviewing those working within the community to improve access to sport, exercise and wellness. Hannah is a 2024 John Schofield Trust Fellow and was also named a 2022 Rising Star in Journalism by The Printing Charity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A keen runner, Hannah was firmly a sprinter growing up (also dabbling in long jump) but has since transitioned to longer-distance running. While 10K is her favoured race distance, she loves running or volunteering at parkrun every Saturday, followed, of course, by pastries. She\u2019s always looking for fun new runs and races to do and brunch spots to try.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Researchers say weight loss treatments should reflect biology, not just body size \u2013 and a new study suggests…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435534,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3846],"tags":[267,16231,70,16,15,734],"class_list":{"0":"post-435533","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-genetics","8":"tag-genetics","9":"tag-glp-1","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-weight-loss"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115229779130239146","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}