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New research in mice suggests GLP-1s could affect a number of biological changes that contribute to aging. Anne B\/peopleimages.com \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\nCould a weight loss shot be a fountain of youth?<\/p>\n
A new study could point to major longevity benefits for humans who take GLP-1s.<\/p>\n
Researchers compared mice who took the drug in Ozempic and Wegovy to mice who didn\u2019t \u2014 and found improvement across their blood, appearance and behavior. <\/p>\n
Most importantly? The skinny jab mice lived months longer.<\/p>\n
New research in mice suggests GLP-1s could affect a number of biological changes that contribute to aging. Anne B\/peopleimages.com \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
The new study<\/a> found that mice that took semaglutide lived around 100 days longer than mice who didn\u2019t take it. That\u2019s a 12% increase in lifespan.<\/p>\n If you take the average US lifespan of 79 years, that would look like 9.5 extra years of life in humans. But authors emphasize: More research is needed to confirm how this effect might extend to us.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are very excited by this new study, because it could potentially broaden the application of GLP-1 medicines to healthy aging individuals to extend lifespan and healthspan,\u201d said author\u00a0Danica Chen, a professor of metabolic biology and nutrition at UC Berkeley<\/a>.<\/p>\n Experts have known that simply cutting back on calories<\/a> extends your life \u2014 but this new research suggests the weight loss drug might actually do more for keeping your body young than just eating less.<\/p>\n Reducing hallmarks of aging<\/p>\n You may have heard about the \u201challmarks of aging<\/a>.\u201d Biohackers and geneticists like to talk about the 12 molecular and biological changes in the body that explain how and why our bodies age.<\/p>\n They include chronic inflammation, a build up of damaged DNA, cells that stop dividing, and mitochondria that stop making enough energy and leak harmful chemicals.<\/p>\n In this new paper, researchers from Berkeley found that semaglutide\u00a0\u2014 which is sold as Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus \u2014 helped reduce these hallmarks of aging.<\/p>\n Overall, researchers also observed better muscle and cognitive function in mice who took the drug.<\/p>\n This all leads to a longer lifespan. Mice on the drug until the end of their life lived longer \u2014 a median of 834 days, compared to the 742 days the control lived. <\/p>\n \u201cMost chronic diseases are deeply rooted in the aging process. If GLP-1 agonists do indeed slow it down, then a wide range of clinical benefits is exactly what you\u2019d expect to see,\u201d said<\/a> Rafael de Cabo, a senior investigator at the NIH\u2019s National Institute on Aging (NIA), and author of\u00a0a commentary<\/a>\u00a0on the new study.<\/p>\n Advancing age is the greatest risk factor in a number of chronic conditions<\/a>, from cancer, to Alzheimer\u2019s, heart disease, and diabetes.<\/p>\n More than just eating less<\/p>\n In a second experiment, researchers pitted mice on the drug against mice who simply ate less calories.<\/p>\n The two groups performed very similarly across a number of metrics: weight and fat loss, physical activity, coordination, muscle function, and exercise capacity.<\/p>\n However, mice on the drug beat calorie-restriction only in three main ways: mice were more willing to explore (which normally declines in age), mice better remembered where things were (in a maze), and their bodies were better able to regulate blood sugar.<\/p>\n \u201cThese differences point to the possibility that GLP-1 drugs tap into a biological pathway independent of calorie restriction,\u201d said Chen. \u201cUncovering this potential route and the benefits that may specifically stem from it is an important direction for future research into the development of longevity-enhancing interventions.\u201d<\/p>\n While it\u2019s important to remember this is still just research in mice, there are some parallels to humans. How the mice performed on spacial memory tests could point to better cognition in humans as they age. Previous research does show GLP-1s help people with type 2 diabetes decline slower cognitively<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Ozempic](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/general-view-ozempic-package-ozempic-80272778.jpg\")
Semaglutide, the GLP-1 studied in this new research, is the drug in Ozempic, Wegovy, and Rybelsus. Christopher Sadowski<\/p>\n