31 Oct 2022
Losartan is the most commonly used antihypertensive medication. It is a class of medicines that slows the heart rate and lowers blood pressure. Losartan was introduced in the 1950s and has been used for more than 50 years to treat high blood pressure in people with coronary heart disease, hypertension, and other cardiovascular diseases. It has been shown to have a favorable effect on overall health and longevity. As per the concern is it decreasing weight?
Losartan And Weight Loss
Recently studies have reported that Losartan rarely can cause weight loss, after which it was portrayed that this drug can be used for weight loss. It is feared that this drug should not be used for weight loss because of its antihypertensive effect without proper research and approval from the FDA.
Mechanism Of Weight Loss By Losartan
The exact mechanism of how Losartan causes weight loss is not precise. Some studies suggest two means of how Losartan may reduce weight in hypertensive patients. Obesity is the result of several factors, including genetics and environmental factors. Too much obesity around the waist can lead to high cholesterol levels and type 2 diabetes. Consuming more food than required causes weight gain. Losartan causes weight by the following mechanisms:
It inhibits insulin-like growth factors. Insulin-like growth factors function like a growth hormone in our body. This hormone helps the body increase and develop into full adult form. To grow, we need to consume and absorb energy from food. Thus, it causes an increased uptake of food. Now Losartan blocks the activity of insulin-like growth factors, thus inhibiting appetite and causing weight loss.
An increase in Cholesterol levels causes obesity because these fats are stored in subcutaneous tissue, making us look obese. Losartan causes a decrease in LDL, which is bad cholesterol, thus decreasing overall cholesterol levels can make the body lose weight.
Losartan Weight Loss Is A Side Effect Or Advantage
The weight loss due to Losartan is a side effect of this drug. Obese patients using it can help them lose weight, but the same weight loss will also happen in thin, lean patients, making them look further more thin and it will be a disadvantage to their health. Furthermore, it has an anorexic effect on the body, which is tolerated chiefly, but in some patients, it becomes the reason for stopping this drug. In broad view it is not a weight loss medicine so there should be no execution in case of weight loss.
The effects of Losartan on memory performance and leptin resistance induced by obesity and high-fat diet in adult male rats .
The Study:
This study includes studying the effect of losartan use on memory performance and leptin resistance conducted on rodents.
Four groups of rodents were included in this study, 1. Control group, 2. Losartan group, 3. Losartan with high-fat diet group. Leptin is a hormone that helps regulate metabolism. It helps to control the appetite and regulates energy expenditure.
When hypothalamic or pituitary hormones reduce leptin levels, appetite is increased. It also enhances memory. In obese patients, due to increased cholesterol levels, these leptin levels are high, due to which the body's feedback mechanism to control appetite is disrupted as it suggested that some leptin may cross the blood-brain barrier, thus giving the false impact of its level to the brain.
This dysregulation also affects memory badly. Renin-Angiotensin receptors are widely spread in the body's central nervous system, and studies have shown that their activation causes neurodegenerative change at the neuronal level.
Thus, Losartan is an angiotensin receptor antagonist that inhibits these side effects and can be used in a patient with a neurodegenerative disorder like Parkinson's. Losartan has an established role in lowering leptin resistance and improving leptin transport across the blood-brain barrier by enhancing lipolysis and re-establishing the leptin feedback mechanism.
Result: Thus it suggested that Losartan helps in memory improvement and enhances the leptin regularization mechanism.
(Sharieh Hosseini SG, Khatamsaz S, Shariati M.)
Losartan Is It A New Beginning In the Diet Industry?
Many people are aware of the side effects of weight loss through medicines. These side effects are usually mild, but they are always there to take note of. There could be several reasons behind these side effects.
Health experts recommend that we don't use medicine to lose weight. We can certainly manage our weight if we keep a check on our diet and exercise regularly and lessen the amount of high fats foods or habits.
After discovering this beneficial side effect of Losartan, it was speculated in the diet industry that we have a cheaper promising drug for obesity to show results. It's not true, studies have been conducted on this topic, and this effect of Losartan has not been established.
So no, it's not a new miracle drug for weight loss because of its therapeutic effects on the body. Mainly why would you use a Blood pressure medicine for weight loss, Instead get up play or hit the Gym, Yoga!. for your hypertension medicine need you can by over the counter loratadine or through online telehealth services.
Conclusion
It is concluded that Losartan, although it rarely causes weight loss by the above methods, it's not recommended to be only used for weight loss. Your physician should decide this, and further research is needed to establish this effect of Losartan.
