LONDON: Millions of overweight people should use weight loss injections to improve their heart health, experts say.
In a study conducted at University College London, 17,604 people over the age of 45 were studied. These individuals were either living with cardiovascular disease or had suffered a heart attack or stroke in the past.
The study found that taking semaglutide reduced the risk of premature death, heart attack or stroke by up to 20 percent in overweight people with heart problems.
Professor John Denfield, from University College London, said the findings could be the biggest heart breakthrough since the success of cholesterol-lowering statins in the 1990s.
Around 8 million people in the UK suffer from cardiovascular disease and according to Professor Danfield, half of those who are overweight could benefit from these injections.
At the European Congress on Obesity, he said that according to the results obtained in the trial, these injections improved heart health even though the patient did not lose weight. There will be many people in the society who will benefit from these medicines.
“Scientists are focusing on weight loss, but something else is happening that benefits the cardiovascular system,” he said.
