(The Atlantic) – GLP-1 drugs are remarkably effective at reducing visceral fat. In fact, that may be a large part of why GLP-1s so improve the metabolic health of people who take them. The strongest case for use of GLP-1s, then, is in people with excess visceral fat who have begun to suffer its consequences. The crucial problem for physicians is how to identify those people. BMI is a poor measure, but waist size is a good predictor of visceral fat, type 2 diabetes, and atherosclerosis. Certain abnormalities in blood-lipid patterns can indicate the beginning of organ dysfunction.

And yet, the primary metric by which anti-obesity drugs are judged and distributed is weight. (Read More)