Shaquille O’Neal has said a GLP-1-based medication helps him sleep better and feel more energetic after years of struggling with obstructive sleep apnea. Amy Schumer reported better energy, increased libido, and improved perimenopausal symptoms after starting medication as well.
Oprah Winfrey, too, has written that the medication helps her feel "calmer and stronger."
Such experiences reflect a larger shift in how these medications are understood and the range of benefits they may provide. While they were developed to help Type 2 diabetes and later obesity, GLP-1-based medications are now being studied – and, in some cases, approved – for conditions involving the heart, kidneys, liver, sleep and even addiction.
"There are a range of systemic health
benefits of GLP-1 medications that are linked to their anti-inflammatory properties, metabolic enhancement and mechanical benefits," said Dr. Robert Kushner, a founder of the American Board of Obesity Medicine and professor emeritus at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
While several benefits beyond weight loss are well established, others remain unproven. Here's what scientists currently know so far, and where the hype may be getting ahead of the evidence.
How GLP-1s affect more than weight
GLP-1 is a gut hormone the body naturally releases after eating. Medications that mimic it produce similar effects, including helping regulate blood sugar, slowing the rate at which food leaves the stomach and acting on the brain and digestive system to reduce hunger and help people feel full sooner and for longer.
This can result in weight loss that produces improvements throughout the body, since excess fat tissue promotes inflammation and insulin resistance and can interfere with organ function. Losing a substantial amount of weight can lower blood pressure, improve blood sugar, reduce liver fat and ease pressure on the airway and joints, said Dr. Melanie Jay, a professor of medicine and population health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.
While she acknowledged that this can sometimes make it difficult to separate the medication’s direct benefits from those stemming from weight loss, "there are probably both weight-dependent and weight-independent effects," she said.
Weight loss isn’t the only potential benefit, and represents just one part of the story, Jay stressed.
GLP-1 receptors have also been identified in multiple organs and in blood vessels, where activating them can increase nitric oxide – a molecule that helps blood vessels relax and function properly – while also reducing cell damage and encouraging repair, said Dr. Louis Aronne, director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Center at Weill Cornell Medicine.
"And the hormone can have an impact on many disease entities by also reducing inflammation and by directing the effects on GLP-1 receptors in different organ systems," he added.
May GLP-1s help with other conditions?
Because of their wide-ranging effects, GLP-1-based medications are being studied for benefits beyond weight management, with the strongest evidence coming from large randomized trials.
Studies like this are important as it "demonstrates that treating obesity can prevent major health outcomes – not just change a number on the scale," Jay said. In multiple trials involving adults with obesity and moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea, a GLP-1 substantially reduced the times breathing slowed or stopped during sleep.
A 2025 trial also found that GLP-1s reduced liver inflammation and improved measures of liver scarring in people with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, or MASH, likely by promoting weight loss, reducing liver fat and improving the body’s response to insulin.
"And kidney disease is another area with strong randomized-trial evidence," Jay said.
What about GLP-1s curbing addiction, cancer and fertility problems?
The drugs may also have other positive and far-reaching effects, though the supporting evidence for some remains more limited.
Jay explained that because GLP-1 pathways interact with brain circuits involved in reward and craving, a small trial has found they can reduce alcohol cravings and the amount consumed during a controlled drinking session among adults with alcohol use disorder.
Their purported benefits for addiction similarly "comes from a direct effect of GLP-1" on the brain’s reward system and the dopamine signaling involved in motivation and reinforcement, Aronne said. Such benefits "and the magnitude of benefit differ widely from person to person.”
Fertility claims require similar restraint. It's “more complicated than some headlines suggest,” Jay said. "The evidence for direct reproductive benefits remains limited."
Observational studies have also linked GLP-1 use with lower cancer rates, but such studies have yet to establish cause and effect.
"Cancer claims are perhaps where we need the most caution," Jay said.
Despite many benefits and potential ones, Kushner added that anyone considering one of these medications should understand that the drugs can also cause side effects, are often costly and do not work equally well for everyone. He said researchers still need to better understand "which patients benefit most, at what dose and for how long."
"While all GLP-1 medications still gain FDA approval through the regulatory pathways of weight management or as a treatment for diabetes, their effects certainly transcend these two medical conditions," he said.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: GLP-1s may have a host of other health benefits. Just ask these people
