Effects of once-weekly semaglutide on appetite, energy intake, control of eating, food preference and body weight in subjects with obesity

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Semaglutide in this randomized controlled trial publication.

The aim of this trial was to investigate the mechanism of action for body weight loss with semaglutide.

Who Took Part

The study group was 30 subjects.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Semaglutide and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Blinding on both sides kept the subjects and researchers unaware of who received Semaglutide.

Some subjects received a placebo instead of Semaglutide, giving a reference point.

In the crossover set-up each of the subjects took both Semaglutide and the comparison in turn, acting as their own control.

Ad libitum energy intake, ratings of appetite, thirst, nausea and well-being, control of eating, food preference, resting metabolic rate, body weight and body composition were assessed.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Adiposity, Appetite Depressants, Appetite Regulation, Basal Metabolism, Body Mass Index, Energy Intake and Feeding Behavior.

The authors tagged it with the keywords Body composition, Energy regulation, GLP-1 analogue, Glucagon-like peptide-1, Randomised trial and Semaglutide.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Semaglutide in 30 subjects.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 7 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2017 (Diabetes, obesity & metabolism), a journal based in England.

More context: the Semaglutide compound page.