Heart, brain, liver and kidney benefits...

I felt the same after watching a similar video on another medication in the class. It listed many improvements beyond weight change. The information is already discussed in older threads if you search. Still, I keep wondering whether the drug itself creates those gains or whether the weight drop is responsible and the drug is only the tool that makes the drop possible. Designing a study to separate the two looks unrealistic. One group would have to eat exactly as if they were on the drug without taking it, which would require locked inpatient conditions. The reverse would require people on the drug to keep eating normally. Non-responders also complicate the picture because the drug produces little change for them.

One more area came up. Cartilage and joint outcomes also show measurable gains. That adds to the list.

I spent hours trying to read the actual papers and the summaries that exist. A lot of positive findings are there. I am starting to accept more of the claims. My wife has never had much appetite. It would be useful if a version existed that kept the other effects but removed the appetite reduction, at least for the small group that does not want that particular change.

This is not a complete list of every study. Both medications have solid trial data showing benefits besides weight or blood-sugar control, but only inside certain patient groups so far. People who already have diabetes or prior heart disease see lower rates of heart attack, stroke, and some forms of heart failure, plus better blood pressure and lipids. Joint results improve through both weight reduction and other routes. Whether the same gains appear in lower-risk groups that only have obesity is still unproven because those people rarely develop the measured events unless studies are huge and very long. Population studies point to many additional advantages, though those designs carry their own limits.