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- Hacker News
- Kind of kidding, but can we just put GLP-1s in the water supply already? So many benefits!by krupan
- Inam betting it's because of lowered inflammation allowing for stronger immune response.by cromka
- I was at a hepatology meeting focussed on fatty liver a couple of years ago, where a well regarded head of hepatology at a major national quarternary referral centre, joked that we should be putting this in the water supply...by Alien1Being
- > we should be putting this in the water supply...
Talked to a physician last year who said the entire planet should be on GLP-1s.
by busyant - How expensive are GLP-1s again?by tarxvf
- I pay $450 a month out of pocket and that is with a coupon, it used to be $1200 a month. It's worth it to me, it's life-changing. My bp went down from dangerous levels to normal.
- I’m just a customer. But Peptaura.com has GLPs 1-3 fr a few dollars a month
- > GLP-1 receptor agonist medications typically cost between $149 and $350 per month for cash-pay oral pills, and $900 to $1,400+ per month for list-price injectables without insurance.by drusepth
- How technical do you want to get?
The grey-market price from China, is about $100 for 10 x (30mg/mL, 10mL) vials of Tirzepatide. Semaglutide is cheaper.
At the highest dose of 15mg/wk, that's 20 weeks for $100.
by gavinray - Depends on how much assurance you need that you're actually injecting what you think you’re injecting.
If you’re okay with just being probably sure, the price is a lot lower.
by qgin - I’m paying 300/m out of pocket. Really wish my insurance covered it. It’s had a massively positive impact on life.by dawnerd
- AU$140 (~US$100) per 4mg, which is approx one month, here.
AU$25 (~US$18), or AU$7.70 (~US$5.50) with a concession card if you qualify for subsidy.
If you're in Australia it's worth a chat with your GP rather than less regulated channels.
by _kb - I self pay for one from lilly-direct for about $200/mo. Insurance doesn't cover any part of it yet. It required a prescription from my doc and it comes in the mail.by TehCorwiz
- i can kinda get how a glp-1 can be a miracle drug for weight: if we assume that simple molecular fixes to problems will eventually be found by evolution, then when we change our environment rapidly (e.g., with cheap bountiful calories) then this presents an opportunity for a miracle drug, since evolution will take some time to find the fix.
but for something like reducing disease infection, i find it a lot harder to understand why we don't create this naturally unless there is some equal-but-opposite cost that we'd incur, or if there is not actually as big of a benefit as we believe (or if this is all just colinear with the weight loss stuff).
note: i have no background in any of this and have no idea what i'm talking about
by bbeonx - I'm not a doctor or biologist, but remember that bacteria is a far simpler organism with a much shorter individual lifespan than a human. Depending on the species and their environment, they might divide every 12 minutes or every 24 hours. A new human generation will be more 15 to 35 years. Their reproduction is also simpler. Genes are inherited or mutated mostly at the time of reproduction. Selection is mostly therefore over the course of generations.
These things together mean their microevolution is on a different timescale than ours.
by cestith - Could be due to better control of blood sugar. E.g. lower blood sugar increases inflammation, decrease immune response and provides bacteria a readily available source of food.by scheme271
- > lower blood sugar increases inflammation
This is backwards. I think you mean HIGHER blood sugar, right?
by throw-qqqqq - Maybe being overweight is bad for the immune system
- huge if true
- It is well known that you have higher levels of inflammation if overweight, which generally worsens your immune response.by throw-qqqqq
- Question for people using GLP-1s: Do you plan to stay on them indefinitely? Are you concerned about gaining back the weight if you ever stop taking them?
I've had success with weight loss through diet and exercise (exclusive and inclusive at different points) but had trouble keeping it off. GLP-1s are attractive for sure but I cannot make up my mind on if it's worth the risks (both known and unknown). I know everything has risks, including lots of risks about being overweight and maybe keeping the weight off is an easier problem for a healthier version of myself after using a GLP-1. I don't know.
by joshstrange - They cured my migraines, dose small enough to be stable weight. But I have my life back, I get tired instead of getting migraines now.
Half the smallest dose, keeps my headaches away for 2-3 weeks. My food intake simply changed, I got used to eating less / healthier.
- Yes.
I hike 5 miles a day, I ate super-healthy (no ultra-processed foods, cook at home every day etc), only drink water, coffee & tea. Actually rarely eat stuff which has added sugar on the package, and avoid foods that have > 5 ingredients (more means it's too processed for me). I bake my own bread (sourdough, salt, flour, water, maybe home-grown japalenos).
And yet, I kept on gaining weight...
My problem is don't get the signal that I'm full fast enough. I have tried _everything_. Drink 2 glasses of water, fibers, eat slower, smaller plates, dietician, track calories.
They work in isolation, but I always end up hungry. Compare it to alcohol. The desire to drink. The solution there is easy. No more alcohol, and that works for most people.
With food? Can't completely abstain...
Went on GLP-1, worked great. Because of hip surgery had to stop for a while, and the weight just came back, because naturally, you revert to your old eating habits, as you chase the signal of satiation.
Now back on them and I'll be on it until the day I die. I pay $450 a month for now because insurance doesn't think I am fat enough now (I'm not). They expect me to go back to my overweight weight..., and even then, acceptance is not guaranteed.
In terms of risks: If I don't take it I'll wear out my knees sooner (hips were related to genetics, not weight). If I don't take it I need 1h more / sleep every night, I have sleep apnea, higher blood pressure, higher cholesterol (doesn't mater how healthy EVOO is, if you eat a huge salad you'll eat a lot of oil).
It's not a risk of GLP-1 against nothing. It's GLP-1 risks vs heart-disease/etc.
At least with GLP-1 I get to live now.
by OptionOfT - Using a large database of (deidentified) medical records, the researchers compared the outcomes of people taking a GLP-1 for their type 2 diabetes to people taking other common diabetes drugs between 2017 and 2025. GLP-1 users were significantly less likely to be diagnosed with TB for up to a five-year span, they found.
Both of these studies are observational and retrospective, meaning they can only show a correlation between GLP-1 use and reduced (or at least less severe) infections, not prove a direct cause-and-effect relationship. At the same time, these are the only latest pieces of evidence pointing to a genuine germ-busting benefit from GLP-1 drugs.
I wonder if the likelihood that people taking a GLP-1 are probably better off financially, have a health care provider willing to spend on the drugs (and therefore probably a better medical system) or a combination of these and other traits are the real reason there are fewer infections.
by master_crab - I would imagine people going out of their way to take GLP-1 might also lose weight, be more active, and be also likely to eat better. Which I imagine would have a large effect on "germ busting"by Melatonic
- Wow, bet they never thought of that. If only the researchers had thought to ask HN first.by acheron
- The benefit is probably from the removal of fat, not a direct antibacterial/antiviral effect. Fat plays a complex immunoregulatory role in human physiology: it down-regulates some pathways, while up-regulating others (notoriously, the production of IL6 is carried out, in part, by adipocytes). The overall effect of fat on the immune system, however, is negative: it tends to increase the chances of rheumatological disorders, cancers, and many other diseases. Alternatively, the effect may be due to some sociological factor that their analysis failed to account for.
(I am not a medical doctor)
by maxall4 - They are also anti-inflammatory, so it could be related to less systemic inflammation.by ryanchants
- Or having a lower % of body fat (within healthy limits) is the factor improving a better immune response?
- They already do acknowledge socioeconomic (and other confounding factors) in the analysis. The primary analysis they perform is a ‘Propensity Score Match’ which is a technique used specifically to address for confounders in observational studies, and they do report balanced cohorts. Still they write in their discussion “Although we adjus- ted for several available proxies of socioeconomic and lifestyle status, direct measures of income, insurance coverage, or out-of-pocket payment were not available in the TriNetX database. Residual confounding related to unmeasured socioeconomic factors, therefore, cannot be excluded“
Given the size of the dataset, the effect size, significance and sensitivity testing they did I think it’s very strong evidence for GLP1s causing this and it would be very very surprising to me to see the effect disappear even if they had perfect socioeconomic data.
by yayamo