Overview
What These Medicines Change
GLP 1 receptor agonists are synthetic versions of glucagon like peptide 1, an incretin hormone normally released after food intake.
GLP-1 receptor agonists are synthetic versions of glucagon-like peptide-1, an incretin hormone normally released after food intake. They reduce glucose through several coordinated actions: - They increase insulin release when blood glucose is elevated. - They suppress glucagon, limiting inappropriate hepatic glucose release. - They slow gastric emptying, which blunts the post-meal glucose rise. - They increase satiety, often reducing calorie intake and body weight. The phrase glucose-dependent explains an important safety pattern. A GLP-1 receptor agonist alone has a low intrinsic risk of hypoglycaemia because insulin secretion falls as glucose falls. Hypoglycaemia becomes much more likely when the medication is combined with insulin or a sulfonylurea, because those therapies can continue lowering glucose even when it is no longer elevated. Delayed gastric emptying is both therapeutic and clinically relevant. Food enters the small intestine more slowly, so postprandial glucose rises less sharply and the patient feels full sooner. The same slowed gastric emptying can produce nausea, vomiting, or retained gastric contents before anaesthesia.