Weight loss jab could be used to treat migraines

Weight loss The blows could cut the number of migraines People suffering halfway, suggests research.

Drugs, similar to Ozempic and Wegovy, also known as GLP-1 receptor agonistswork imitate natural hormone which regulates blood sugar, appetite and digestion.

Researchers have discovered that the Liraglutide of GLP-1 medication, commonly used to treat diabetes, has the potential to considerably reduce the frequency of migraines.

Migraines affect approximately 6 million people in the United Kingdom, according to the NHS. Attacks can last three days, causing pain, nausea, vomiting, dizziness and sensitivity to light, sound and smells.

Researchers at the head of the head of the head of the University of Naples gave 26 adults with obesity and chronic migraines Le Liraglutide drugs.

The study presented at the Congress of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) 2025, revealed that those who had the drug declared an average of 11 days of headache less.

Participants also experienced significant improvements in quality of life, work, study and social functioning in just two weeks after taking the medication.

“Most patients felt better in the first two weeks and reported that the quality of life has improved considerably,” said Dr. Simone Braca.

“The advantage lasted the entire three -month observation period, even if the weight loss was modest and statistically non -significant.”

Increasing evidence has linked a subtle increase in intracranial pressure to migraine attacks.

It is caused by an increase in the pressure of the cerebrospinal fluid – which surrounds the brain and the spinal cord. This increase in pressure can occur due to a head trauma, a stroke, a brain or high tumor blood pressure.

But the agonists of GLP-1 receptors such as Liraglutide reduce the secretion of cerebrospinal fluid and have already proven to be effective in the treatment of idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH).

Patients in the study were detected to exclude papillary edema (swelling of the optical disc resulting from an increase in intracranial pressure) and a sixth nervous paralysis, excluding IIH.

Dr. Braca and his colleagues think that GLP-1 drugs can reduce the release of CGRP (peptide linked to the calcitonin gene), a key molecule behind migraines.

“We believe that by modulating the pressure of the cerebrospinal fluid and by reducing the compression of intracranial venous sinuses, these drugs produce a decrease in the release of the peptide linked to the calcitonin gene (CGRP), a peptide premature by migraine,” said Dr. Braca.

“This would take control of intracranial pressure as a pharmacologically target route.”

Given the established use of Liraglutide in type 2 diabetes and obesity, it can represent a promising case of reuse of drugs in neurology, the authors of the study said.