People Who Don’t Lose Weight on Wegovy May Have Genetic Differences

 This article focuses on the new drugs that are in the market for weight loss such as Wegovy and Zepbound. The main concern is that 1 out of 4 users have mentioned that they have lost little to no weight with the medication although they’ve been using it properly. Through deep research, there are many biological differences that hinder the results of these medications. Obesity is very difficult and complex. Factors such as genetics, hormones and environmental factors can determine the performance of the drugs. 

There is a gene that’s called neurobeachin, it’s known to regulate the way that Kinase A works with the hypothalamus. “Because GLP-1 is known to activate PKA in other cells, genetic variations of neurobeachin may “ultimately impact how well the medication works for weight loss,’ Rotroff explains” (Youmshajekian, 2025). Sometimes people with this variation are 50% more likely to not lose weight with the drug. Scientists are still trying to figure out the best way to predict who will benefit from certain weight loss drugs.  

Youmshajekian, L. (2025, October 27). The new weight-loss drugs don’t work for everyone. genetics may explain why. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-ozempic-and-wegovy-dont-cause-weight-loss-for-everyone/ 

German, J., Cordioli, M., Tozzo, V., Urbut, S., Arumäe, K., Smit, R. A. J., Lee, J., Li, J. H., Janucik, A., Ding, Y., Akinkuolie, A., Heyne, H. O., Eoli, A., Saad, C., Al-Sarraj, Y., Abdel-latif, R., Mohammed, S., Hail, M. A., Barry, A., … Ganna, A. (2025, April 18). Association between plausible genetic factors and weight loss from GLP1-ra and Bariatric Surgery. Nature News. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-025-03645-3 

A Healthy Lifestyle Will Only Get You So Far

A January 8th post from the New York Times indicates that typically genes only influence about 25% of our longevity, but once a certain age is reached genetics become much more important. Recent studies have shown that veterans strictly following eight beneficial behaviors could only expect to live to 87 years. Although that is almost a decade longer than the average lifespan, it is still not 100 years old. The research proposes that the longest-living individuals do not lead exceptionally healthy lives but rather have some of the same habits most average Americans do. In some of the families studied, the longer-living individuals had negative habits like smoking, but beneficial genes that reduced their risk of age-related disease. For example, the APOE2 gene which predicts a decreased chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease is more prominent in longer-living families than the general population which has a higher frequency of the APOE gene that indicates an increased risk for developing Alzheimer’s. The research concludes that only a small percentage of the population has the genetics to keep them alive for a century, aligning with the small number of individuals who celebrate their 100th birthday. So, the researchers warn not to take health advice from the oldest people alive because their habits are probably not the reason they have lived as long as they have. 

The idea that genes control how long we live is something that makes sense when you consider some of the crazy habits the world’s oldest people attribute their long lives to. Some of the foods that contribute to longevity according to these people are salmon, chocolate, and ice cream. Arguably, one bowl of ice cream will not kill you, but everything is better in moderation, so having a bowl of ice cream every day for 100 years is probably not the healthiest choice. Without knowing whether we as individuals carry genes that will decrease our risk of disease and help us live longer lives, I think it would be beneficial to live a healthy lifestyle that will help us live to the age when genes become more important to survival. After reading this article, I am intrigued to learn more about this topic as the research progresses.

Links

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/08/well/longevity-influences-genetics-lifestyle.html?searchResultPosition=1 

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/bizarre-secrets-worlds-oldest-people-32500327

Pros and Cons of Dieting: Mice

Scientific journal Nature recently published findings on the effect of diet on mice. Interestingly, it was concluded that genetics are more important than lifestyle in terms of lifespan. Ruth Schuster, a journalist for Haaretz news, summarizes the publication, remarking the interesting, but also quite amusing, discoveries from the researchers.

The research project gave the mice 5 different diets; one group was normal, two groups had to fast for one or two days, and another two had restricted diets. But while the diets were a deciding factor for the mice, overall it was found that genetics played a bigger part in extending the animal's life. As explained in the article, genetics explained three times more of the differences in lifespan than did the diets. Although there was no specific gene mutation that correlated to extended lifespan in the mouse, it was still concluded from the research that genetics still had an upperhand in influence over environment. Additoinally mice who did live longer due to their altered diet were often more prone to sickness.

What was rather funny about the whole research was that the given diets for mice were less of a deciding factor of the mices' lifespan, but moreso the mouse itself. As said in the article, "the strongest predictor for lifespan extension was mice that didn't freak when being handled" (Schuster). Meaning, personality and stress is a better predictor of whether or not you face an early death.

So the ultimate conclusion is, why not just eat what you want to eat? Of course, this is not research supporting overindulgence or a poor diet, but indeed research suggesting that torturing yourself with a diet won't help you in the long run. Even if you are to live 10, even 20 years longer than everybody else, would it be enjoyable constantly restricting yourself and fearing sickness? Surely the mice would think the same.

ARTICLES:

https://www.haaretz.com/science-and-health/2024-10-10/ty-article/genetics-trumps-diet-in-extending-life-study-finds/00000192-7652-dfca-adb7-77d37abb0000

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08026-3

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK231918/#:~:text=Mice%20are%20omnivorous%3B%20they%20consume,as%20feedstuffs%20of%20animal%20origin.