Weight loss
GLP-1 peptides explained.
What incretins are, why this class is so widely researched and how the variants differ from each other.
GLP-1 stands for glucagon-like peptide 1. It is an incretin: a hormone the gut releases after a meal that tells the pancreas food is on its way.
What incretins do
Incretins influence the insulin response, gastric emptying and satiety signals in the brain. GIP is the second incretin and works through its own receptor in the same system.
The body's own GLP-1 is broken down within minutes. Synthetic analogues are modified to resist that breakdown and stay active much longer. That is the core of this whole class.
Single, dual, triple
- Single: only the GLP-1 receptor. This is the best-documented group.
- Dual: GLP-1 and GIP together, as with Tirza GLP-2.
- Triple: GLP-1, GIP and the glucagon receptor, as with Retatrutide.
The more routes, the younger the research. The single agonists have a literature going back decades, the triple ones are from recent years.
What the research focuses on
On glucose regulation, on appetite signalling and on the distribution of fat tissue. To what extent the routes reinforce each other is an open question in the literature.
Read on: retatrutide explained.
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