Is There a Natural Equivalent to Ozempic?
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Hey there, welcome to Paging Dr. Gupta. This is the place where your questions drive the conversation. And I have to say, I really love hearing from you. Thank you for sending in so many of your questions. Let's get right to it.

Hi, Dr. Gupta. This is Nina from a suburb of Chicago. My question is about GLP-1. As I was listening to one of the podcasts, it got me wondering if there are natural ways to stimulate GLP-1 levels.

I was just curious if it's something that your body makes or something your body produces, I believe, after you eat. So are there natural ways for that to be done other than taking the shots? Thank you so much. Bye bye. OK, thank you. First of all, Nina, it sounds like your question specifically is where does the GLP-1 hormone come from and what are the natural ways to boost it?

I have to tell you, this is a fascinating topic. I worked on a documentary about this topic. I traveled to Denmark to talk to the scientists who helped develop these drugs. I talked to the scientists at Eli Lilly, who also developed these drugs, and I talked to lots and lots of patients. And

I'll tell you, I learned a lot. So let's start with some of the basics. First of all, GLP-1. That's actually short for glucagon-like peptide. You hear people talking about peptides. This is one of them. Glucagon-like peptide 1.

It is probably best described as a post-nutrient hormone. What does that mean? Substances that the human body releases after consuming food. Post-nutrient. They do several things. These hormones will stimulate your pancreas to make insulin. They will slow down how quickly food actually moves into your intestines...

and they also activate areas in the brain that make you feel full or satiated. And I gotta tell you, as a neuroscientist, it was this last mechanism that I found so fascinating.

When you eat, you should feel full. But for some people, it turns out they never really feel full, no matter how many calories, no matter how much energy they've consumed. Instead, they have what is now being described as this constant sort of maddening food chatter in their brains. Even as they're eating a meal...

They're already thinking about their next meal. They never really truly feel satiated. Just imagine what that must be like. And I think it's part of the reason they continue to eat far more calories than they require. So for them, the GLP-1 medications can quite literally quiet those voices in their head.

So what we're talking about is naturally occurring. We all make these hormones, but some people don't make enough, and that's why they don't feel full. If you want to go back even one step further, glucose or sugar, that is the body's main source of energy. So during digestion, food is broken down into smaller nutrients, ultimately absorbed via our gut and our circulatory system, our blood, then take those nutrients around the body.

Glucose in particular is transported from the bloodstream to inside our cells by insulin. Insulin has helped facilitating transferring the glucose inside the cells. So by taking glucose out of the bloodstream and into the cells, it is then turned into energy. Now insulin helps keep blood sugar in check in a certain range, but...

You're probably thinking of diabetes right now. People who have diabetes, they are more resistant to the effects of insulin, or they can't make enough insulin, or it's a combination of both. Either way, the end result is that glucose stays in the blood and cells miss out on their sources of energy. So if you don't have enough insulin, you may have plenty of glucose, plenty of energy in your body, but it's staying in the blood. It's not getting into the cells. And

And that's where GLP-1 can come into play. GLP-1, as well as a second hormone called GIP, glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide, you don't need to remember all this, but GLP-1 and GIP are hormones that stimulate the secretion of insulin after food is consumed.

Okay, so that helps get the glucose into the cell. I hope that all makes sense so far. So not only does GLP-1 and GIP stimulate your pancreas to make more insulin,

They also, again, slow down how quickly food moves into your intestines. That's why people feel constipated sometimes taking these medications. They're not moving the food along as well. That helps them feel full after they eat a meal and helps that food actually become more easily absorbed.

And then, as I mentioned earlier, they also activate the area in the brain that makes you feel full or satiated. So let me just repeat that. These hormones, GLP-1 and GIP, they will stimulate your pancreas to make more insulin. That allows glucose to get inside the cells. Number two, they slow down how quickly food moves through your intestines.

That gives you a sense of fullness. And they also work on the brain, specifically on an area of the brain called the satiety center, the satiation center. That'll make you feel full after you eat a meal. So the GLP-1 drugs are basically doing this, and they are synthetic versions of a hormone that we should already make. Now, your main question, though, was let's say you don't want to take these medications. Are there natural ways to boost this hormone?

And what I'll tell you is fiber. I will just throw this word out there, fiber. Most Americans, frankly, most people, at least in the developed world, do not get enough fiber. What we know is that high fiber diets tend to release more natural GLP-1. There's little doubt that, look, for most people, regular exercise and just eating right is going to be the best strategy for weight loss and overall health.

But I got to say, when I worked on the documentary, I realized that for certain people, no matter how attentive they are to their overall health, no matter how wise they are about their food choices or how much activity they incorporate into their lives, they still gain weight. They still become overweight and obese. And they have that constant maddening food chatter in their brains.

So you can create more natural GLP-1, and I think a high-fiber diet is probably one of the best ways to do it, in addition to healthy lifestyle choices overall.

But you got to keep in mind that for some people, they just don't make enough GLP-1 regardless. So I would strongly suggest increasing the fiber in your diet no matter what, because most people simply aren't getting enough. That should help increase the amount of natural GLP-1. But if you're somebody who is obese, if you meet the criteria for these medications, maybe they're an option.

For most people, they're not. But maybe they're an option for you. You should talk to your doctor about this. You know, working on the documentary for me really made me understand, I think, obesity as a disease. We know diabetes is a disease. You're not making enough insulin or the insulin you are making is not working well enough. For certain people with obesity, not everybody, but for certain people with obesity, it's another hormone they don't have enough of, GLP-1.

And as a result, they don't tell their brains that they feel full after a meal. And for, again, certain people, these medications might provide a good option for people who are just trying to improve their health overall. And as part of doing that, want to increase their GLP-1 levels, think about fiber. Incorporate more fiber into your diet. Now, when we come back, we're going to talk about health misinformation and the best ways to stay informed nowadays.

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Hello, my name is Tina. I'm calling from Houston. My question is, what are some ways that we can get health news which are easy to digest to older Americans now that government entities, their websites and their services are compromised? Thank you. Hey, Tina. Thank you so much for calling.

First of all, it's true, you know, the government is cutting back on many of its public health agencies and their communications departments. And, you know, there is a lot of medical myths and conspiracy theories out there. So it's increasingly difficult to get accurate information.

Look, I think that at CNN Health, we spend a lot of time on this. We have criteria. We cite studies that are published in academic journals that are evidence-based and that have been peer-reviewed.

So it's not just the author or set of authors that are writing the paper, but then they are given to independent peer reviewers to try and determine, is this accurate information? Is it reproducible information? Is it evidence-based? And those are the types of journal articles that we really focus on. You can look for those yourself. But admittedly, you know, studies can be hard to vet and they can be hard to dissect.

And that's when you often need to turn to trusted sources that can help communicate that information to you. Again, it's very difficult to disentangle anything from politics nowadays. I realize that. But we did a longer episode on health misinformation earlier this year. Laurel Bristow, who's an infectious disease researcher, I think she gave us some pretty great tips.

stressing the limitations of what we know, stressing that things change. If you're somebody who is, you know, not in the scientific community and you're looking at social media, you know, first of all, if somebody is listening an emotional, a super emotional response in you, that's not great science communication. If they are selling a product to you, if they have invented a problem that they are going to sell you the cure for, that's a huge red flag. If something sounds too good or too bad to be true, it probably is.

Unfortunately, science and the scientific process is kind of boring. It's very rare that we have like a huge breakthrough that's really exciting. So most of the stuff you're going to hear from legitimate scientists is not going to be like elicit a super strong emotion from you. So I think those are all really important things to look out for. If things sound too good to be true, they probably are.

Science is the process of looking at things over time. So it's important to know that information often moves between being updated and outdated. And I also think the last point that Laurel makes, if information out there is seemingly designed to elicit a strong emotion from you, then, you know, beware. Beware. It's not to say for sure that that's misinformation because sometimes health content can be super emotional. But if it's not, then beware.

but if it just seems designed to elicit an emotion from you, to make you angry, to make you fired up for some reason, beware of that. When it comes to medical information and public health information, I think that people often think of that as a hard science, that two plus two is going to equal four, always. But the thing about medical science and public health is that, again, things do change over time. It's an evolving science.

So at any given time, scientists try and present the best information they have, but it may change over time. So there is a humility involved as well with regard to presenting good health information. So bottom line, Tina, ask yourself this.

Where did this information come from? Can you really identify where the information came from? Is the information actually provided? A lot of times people will just make statements without any links to where they're getting those statements or those ideas from.

seek out the primary source. And even when you're reading a story on CNN Health, click on the links to the research that we are citing. Test it out for yourself. Don't just take our word for it. Stay critical. And most of all, Tina, thank you for your question because you care about health info and accuracy. So do we. It's really truly what we do. And that's all the time we have for today's episode. If you have other questions on your mind,

I do want to hear them. I love hearing from you. Record a voice memo, email it to asksanjay at cnn.com, or give us a call. Leave us a message with your health question, 470-396-0832. Chasing Life is a production of CNN Audio. Our podcast is produced by Erin Mathewson, Jennifer Lai, Grace Walker, Lori Gallaretta, Jesse Remedios, Sofia Sanchez, and Kira Dering. On

Andrea Cain is our medical writer. Our senior producer is Dan Bloom. Amanda Seeley is our showrunner. Dan DeZula is our technical director. And the executive producer of CNN Audio is Steve Liktai. With support from Jameis Andrest, John D'Onora, Haley Thomas, Alex Manasseri, Robert Mathers, Lainey Steinhardt, Nicole Pesereau, and Lisa Namoureau.

Special thanks to Ben Tinker and Nadia Kanang of CNN Health and Wendy Brundage.

When something's made for you, it simply fits. You feel special. That's the sensation of a Sleep Number smart bed. You'll sleep comfortably, hot or cold, soft or firm, because it's personalized. Scientifically made for you. Sleep Number smart beds learn how you sleep and provide personalized insights to help you sleep better. Why choose a Sleep Number smart bed? So you can choose your ideal comfort on either side.

And now, get early access to Memorial Day deals. Save 30% on our most popular smart bed, exclusively at a Sleep Number store near you. See store or sleepnumber.com for details.

This week on The Assignment with me, Adi Cornish. This week is the White House Correspondents' Dinner. And needless to say, with the decision to cancel the traditional comedy roast from the program, the vibes are off. What is even funny anymore when it comes to politics? Who gets to decide which comedians are the truth-tellers of the moment? And who's laughing now?

Listen to The Assignment with me, Audie Cornish, streaming now on your favorite podcast app.