Intranasal glucagon acutely increases energy expenditure without inducing hyperglycaemia in overweight/obese adults

What Was Tested

This clinical study looks at Glucagon.

Who Took Part

The study group was 15 men.

PubMed indexes the participants as middle-aged adults, both men and women.

A single-blind, crossover study was conducted in 19 overweight/obese adults (15 men, 4 women).

Plasma samples were obtained at baseline and at 15-minute intervals post-treatment up to 90 minutes.

How the Study Was Run

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

In this single-blind Glucagon study one party knew the assignments and the other did not.

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the Glucagon group a baseline to be compared against.

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

REE was assessed by indirect calorimetry over 90 minutes, after which appetite was assessed using a visual analogue scale, and ad libitum caloric intake was assessed.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Blood Glucose, Eating, Energy Metabolism, Glucagon, Hyperglycemia, Obesity and Overweight.

Author keywords: appetite, energy expenditure, food intake and intranasal glucagon.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a single-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover study of Glucagon in 15 men.

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 5 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2019 (Diabetes, obesity & metabolism), a journal based in England.

More context: the Glucagon compound page, all human trials.