New re­search points to po­ten­tial link be­tween GLP-1s and low­ered risk of col­orec­tal can­cer

Pop­u­lar weight loss and di­a­betes drugs may al­so lead to a low­er risk of col­orec­tal can­cer, ac­cord­ing to a re­search let­ter pub­lished in JA­MA. 

The ret­ro­spec­tive study was con­duct­ed by Case West­ern Re­serve Uni­ver­si­ty School of Med­i­cine re­searchers who re­viewed the health records of more than 1.2 mil­lion type 2 di­a­betes pa­tients who were pre­scribed var­i­ous an­tidi­a­bet­ics be­tween 2005 and 2019. They found that GLP-1 re­cep­tor ag­o­nists were as­so­ci­at­ed with re­duced risk of col­orec­tal can­cer in pa­tients with or with­out obe­si­ty or over­weight com­pared to most oth­er di­a­betes drugs, in­clud­ing in­sulin and met­formin.

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