Imagine getting the same weight-loss benefits of Ozempic—without the nasty side effects. Sounds like science fiction, right? Well, researchers at Stanford just made that idea feel a whole lot more real.
Ozempic is a big name in weight loss and diabetes treatment. Since it hit the U.S. market in 2017, it’s helped people shed serious pounds. It’s also been found to help with conditions like alcohol addiction, osteoarthritis pain, and even kidney and heart health. But like many powerful medications, it doesn’t come without baggage.
Users have reported side effects like nausea, dizziness, and stomach problems. More serious risks include gallbladder disease, dangerously low blood sugar, and even pancreatitis. Some reports have also linked it to rare eye issues and suicidal thoughts.
So, researchers at Stanford asked a bold question: What if we could find a natural alternative that works just as well, but without the risk?
To answer it, they focused on something called prohormones—these are protein molecules in your body that don't do much on their own, but can be chopped into smaller pieces called peptides that do a lot, including acting like hormones. Using a computer program called Peptide Predictor, the team sifted through thousands of these molecules to see which ones might help with weight loss.
That’s when they found BRP, a tiny peptide made of just 12 amino acids. But don’t let its size fool you—it had a huge impact in lab tests. In brain cells, BRP boosted activity levels up to ten times more than normal. And unlike Ozempic, which affects the entire body, BRP only seems to act in the brain—specifically, the hypothalamus, which controls hunger and metabolism.
This targeted approach is a big deal. Since Ozempic affects other parts of the body like the gut and pancreas, it brings a bunch of side effects along with it. BRP, on the other hand, might skip those altogether.
When scientists tested BRP on mice and minipigs (whose bodies are surprisingly similar to ours), the results were promising. One injection cut their food intake in half for four hours. In obese mice, two weeks of daily BRP injections led to real fat loss, better blood sugar control, and improved insulin response. Even better—none of the animals showed signs of stress, sickness, or weird behavior.
Now, the team behind this discovery is getting ready for the next step: human trials. They’ve even started a company to help move BRP from the lab to the clinic. If everything goes well, we might soon have a new weight-loss option that’s effective and gentle on the body.
As study leader Dr. Katrin Svensson put it, “Nothing we’ve tested before has compared to semaglutide’s ability to decrease appetite and body weight. We’re very eager to see if BRP works just as well in humans.”
Comments