According to a study published in the New England journal of Medicine, it was stated that-taking daily shots of liraglutide (marketed as Saxenda) can help overweight or obese patients lose weight.

To prove this, the researchers randomly assigned 3,731 men and women with a body mass index (BMI) of at least 30, or a BMI of at least 27 if they also had high cholesterol or high blood pressure, to receive a 3.0-milligram dose of liraglutide daily, or a placebo shot.

After 56 weeks, the participants on liraglutide lost an average of 8.3 kg, compared with 2.9 kg for the people on the placebo. Among the patients on liraglutide, 33% lost at least 10% of their body weight, whereas just 11% of the placebo group lost that much.

Nausea, diarrhoea and gall bladder related problems are the common side effects seen in the patients with medication. But the researchers noted that these could have been due to their above-average weight loss.

By Lizitha