Are GLP-1 Drugs "the Greatest Medical Breakthrough of the 21st Century"?

Are GLP-1 Drugs "the Greatest Medical Breakthrough of the 21st Century"?

In the past few years, we've learned that GLP-1 drugs don’t just help with diabetes or increase people’s feelings of fullness to help them lose weight. They have broad effects on substance abuse and behavior. They even seem to help with otherwise incurable illnesses, like Alzheimer's and schizophrenia. This month, a team of scientists studying 2 million patients in the Veterans Affairs medical system found that GLP-1s were associated with “a reduced risk of substance use and psychotic disorders, seizures, neurocognitive disorders (including Alzheimer’s disease and dementia), coagulation disorders (clotting), cardiometabolic disorders (like strokes and heart attacks), infectious illnesses and several respiratory conditions.” Today’s guest is a coauthor on the paper, Ziyad Al-Aly. He is a physician-scientist at Washington University in St. Louis. We talk about his new paper, the steps he took to make sure his findings were trustworthy, why GLP-1 drugs might work so well, what they’re teaching us about the brain and body, how they’re scrambling our sense of where volition begins and where free will ends, and what scientists should do next with the revelation that these drugs have effects that go far beyond obesity and diabetes. If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Ziyad Al-Aly Producer: Devon Baroldi Links: Al-Aly et al. on the effectiveness and risks of GLP-1 drugs [link] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episoder(348)

How Hollywood's Writers Strike Could Change the Future of TV and Movies

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An Optimistic Guide to America’s Clean-Energy Future

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2 Mai 20231h 25min

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25 Apr 20231h 5min

How American Cities Can Avoid the ‘Urban Doom Loop’

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Today’s episode is about the future of the American city. Many downtowns are "wounded renditions of their once-robust selves." Offices are empty. Commercial real estate is losing value, pulling down m...

18 Apr 20231h 10min

Americans Die Younger Than People in Any Other Rich Country. Why?

Americans Die Younger Than People in Any Other Rich Country. Why?

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11 Apr 202355min

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