Charlotte Janus - Combined physical activity and GLP-1 receptor agonists: synergistic effects on metabolic health?

Metabolic diseases are global health challenges with a prevalence of individuals with severe overweight and/or type 2 diabetes (T2D) reaching more than 500 million. We are approaching the abyss and thus the need for better and new treatment strategies has never been greater.

Physical activity combined with incretin-based therapy may be such an example. Obese individuals often suffer from deteriorating metabolic health characterized by impaired glucose tolerance. Furthermore, recent studies report that sedentary lifestyle may shift the glucose intolerance in these individuals towards a state of full-blown T2D. The secretion of the incretin hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is significantly attenuated in prediabetic individuals, and GLP-1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonists are currently being used in the clinic for treating T2D and recently also obesity.

Our goal is to prevent and potentially reverse deterioration in metabolic health of obese individuals at high risk of developing T2D. We hypothesize that by reversing sedentary lifestyles in obese and potentially prediabetic subjects by combining habitual physical activity with a GLP-1R agonist treatment, this will have synergistic effects and lead to an overall improved metabolic health.

To investigate this, we will perform a randomized clinical trial with 4 intervention arms: Placebo, habitual physical activity, daily subcutaneous injection with a GLP-1R agonist, and finally habitual physical activity combined with GLP-1R agonist treatment.

We believe that improved integration of interdisciplinary-based treatment therapies such as physical activity and GLP-1R agonists in individuals struggling with severe overweight may provide substantial improvement on their metabolic health and prevent T2D.