Ozempic-like weight loss drugs could have huge benefits for anyone who suffers a heart attack

A new study has found that taking GLP-1 drugs could not only be beneficial for weight loss, but for your heart health too.

While Ozempic has become synonymous with injectable weight-loss drugs, it has only been approved to manage type 2 diabetes.

But similar medications have since been manufactured and signed off to help shed the pounds, including WeGovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound.

As Cleveland Clinic explains, these weight loss medications work by mimicking the GLP-1 hormone to manage type 2 diabetes and obesity by reducing appetite, increasing feelings of fullness and slowing stomach emptying.

They also prompt the pancreas to release more insulin when blood sugar is high, decreasing liver sugar production.

Now, scientists in the UK have found that people taking GLP-1 drugs could be at a lower risk of complications following a heart attack.

(Johner Images/Getty Images)

Dr Svetlana Mastitskaya, the study's lead author and Senior Lecturer in Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine at Bristol Medical School: Translational Health Sciences explained the 'surprising' results of the study: “In nearly half of all heart attack patients, tiny blood vessels within the heart muscle remain narrowed, even after the main artery is cleared during emergency medical treatment.

"This results in a complication known as ‘no-reflow,’ where blood is unable to reach certain parts of the heart tissue."

"Our previous research has shown that this narrowing of blood vessels contributes significantly to ‘no-reflow,’ a complication that increases the risk of death or hospital admission for heart failure within a year of a heart attack."

But the latest findings, published in the Nature Communications journal, have found that GLP-1 drugs may prevent that very problem.

Drugs like WeGovy have been approved for weight loss purposes (Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Using animal models, the team discovered that GLP-1 drugs actually improve blood flow to the heart following a heart attack, by activating potassium channels and thus relaxing the tiny, clamp-like cells called pericytes.

When they relax, the tiny vessels widen, blood can get through again, and the heart tissue gets better protected.

"Our previous research has shown that this narrowing of blood vessels contributes significantly to ‘no-reflow,’ a complication that increases the risk of death or hospital admission for heart failure within a year of a heart attack. But our latest findings are surprising in that we have found GLP-1 drugs may prevent this problem."

GLP-1 medications could be even better for our hearts than we first thought (Peter Dazeley/Getty Images)

Professor David Attwell, study co-lead and Jodrell Professor of Physiology at UCL, added: "With an increasing number of similar GLP-1 drugs now being used in clinical practice, for conditions ranging from type 2 diabetes and obesity to kidney disease, our findings highlight the potential for these existing drugs to be repurposed to treat the risk of ‘no-reflow’ in heart attack patients, offering a potentially life-saving solution.”