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Can weight loss injections improve your heart health?
Medically reviewed by
Alexandra Cristina Cowell, Writer & Clinical Content Reviewer
- Extra fat around organs can raise blood pressure, cause high cholesterol, and increase the risk of heart problems.
- Losing weight reduces the workload on the heart, lowers blood pressure, and improves cholesterol levels.
- GLP-1 and GIP medications can reduce inflammation, improve blood vessel function, and stabilise plaque in the arteries, lowering the risk of heart attacks.
- Studies show GLP-1s can reduce cardiovascular events by around 14%.
How obesity affects heart health
Ectopic fat is the stored fat in and around the organs. It typically occurs in people with obesity when excess fat accumulates. This can put pressure on the heart and change its structure and function, leading to health problems.
Some ways obesity can affect heart health include:
- High blood pressure. Ectopic fat around the kidneys causes inflammation and promotes insulin resistance. This leads to kidney dysfunction, which increases sodium content in the blood and, consequently, water retention. As a result, blood volume increases, which raises blood pressure.
High blood pressure puts a strain on the heart as it has to work harder to pump more blood around the body. Over time, this can lead to heart attacks and heart failure.
- High cholesterol. A diet that’s high in fats, sugars, and salt can cause cholesterol to build up in the arteries, which could lead to heart attacks.
This can also cause the heart to have a challenging time pumping blood through the narrowed arteries, which further increases blood pressure.
- Type 2 diabetes. Excess weight can lead to insulin resistance, a condition where the body doesn’t respond to insulin well. This raises blood sugar levels, which can lead to type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes can cause plaque to build up in blood vessels, which restricts blood flow. High blood sugar levels can also raise blood pressure, contributing to cholesterol buildup, further increasing heart disease risk.
How do weight loss injections improve heart health?
Dr. Daniel Atkinson:‘There are already several known benefits that weight loss injections like Wegovy and Zepbound can have on heart health, and we seem to be discovering more all the time. Lowering blood pressure and cholesterol, contributing towards stable heart rhythm, reducing diabetic plaque, and lowering inflammation are just some of the positive effects we know about.
'But when you also factor in the other changes people on weight loss treatment make, like exercising more and lowering alcohol consumption, then the benefits to heart health likely go even further.’
The indirect benefits (from losing weight)
Losing weight naturally lowers blood pressure and improves cholesterol levels. This is because the heart doesn’t need to work as hard to pump blood around your body.
Weight loss also reduces bad cholesterol (LDL) and increases good cholesterol, which decreases the overall risk of blood clots and heart disease.
Additionally, a healthier diet during weight loss can help decrease inflammation and reverse insulin resistance. This improves blood sugar control, enhances insulin sensitivity, and reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes. These changes further support heart health.
The direct benefits (from the medication itself)
Research shows that GLP-1s have positive effects beyond what’s expected for weight loss. One study found that GLP-1s reduced the risk of cardiovascular events by 14% in patients with type 2 diabetes or preexisting cardiovascular illness.
Likewise, another study showed that semaglutide reduced cardiovascular events, such as heart failure, heart attack, and death related to obesity.
Patients who lost more than 10% of their total body weight had the highest positive impact on their heart health.
These benefits weren’t just limited to people with preexisting heart conditions; even those with no history of heart issues saw significant improvement.
Here’s how GLP-1s can improve heart health:
- Reduced inflammation. GLP-1s can directly reduce inflammation by promoting anti-inflammatory molecules and indirectly through weight loss. This helps improve cardiac function.
- Improved blood vessel function. GLP-1 can enhance endothelial function, which is the ability of blood vessels to relax and maintain healthy blood flow. It does this by promoting the release of nitric oxide, a chemical that signals blood vessels to widen. When blood vessels relax, blood flows more smoothly, which can help lower blood pressure.
- Promote plaque stability. Plaque buildup increases heart attack risk and raises blood pressure. GLP-1 can reduce plaque formation and make plaques more stable. This can reduce the likelihood of harmful blood clots that can have a limiting effect on oxygen flow to the brain.
Do weight loss injections have heart health risks?
Overall GLP-1s have significantly positive effects on heart health. When you start treatment with a GLP-1, there’s a slight chance of your heart rate increasing, but this shouldn’t affect your health. It’s only a serious risk if you have the following conditions:
- Uncontrolled arrhythmia
- Severe heart failure
- Very fast heartbeat
Other potential health risks are mainly gastrointestinal, such as nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach cramps. These should subside as your body adjusts to the medicine.
Your doctor will make sure weight loss treatment is safe for you by checking your medical history. They’ll also closely monitor you during the entire treatment process.
Is weight loss treatment right for you?
A doctor can help you to learn more about the heart benefits of GLP-1 treatment and whether it’s safe for you. These medications are usually recommended for people with a BMI over 30, or 27 with weight-related health conditions like type 2 diabetes or heart issues, who haven’t been able to lose weight with lifestyle adjustments alone.
If you’re looking to lose weight, our online consultation can help you to find out if treatment is suitable for you.
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Powell-Wiley, T. M., et al. (2021).
Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association. Circulation, 143(21), e984.
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Lim, S., & Meigs, J. B. (2014).
Links between ectopic fat and vascular disease in humans. Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, 34(9), 1820.
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2024).
Your Heart and Diabetes. Diabetes.
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A. Michael Lincoff, et al. (2023).
Semaglutide and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Obesity without Diabetes. The New England Journal of Medicine, 389(24).
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Deanfield, J., et al. (2024).
Semaglutide and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with obesity and prevalent heart failure: a prespecified analysis of the SELECT trial. The Lancet, 404(10454), pp.773–786.
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Bendotti, G., et al. (2022).
The anti-inflammatory and immunological properties of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists. Pharmacological Research, 182, 106320.
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Galis, Z.S. (2022).
Chapter 16 - Clinical investigations of vascular function. The Vasculome. Elsevier.
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Yaribeygi, H., et al. (2021).
The Effects of Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists and Dipeptydilpeptidase-4 Inhibitors on Blood Pressure and Cardiovascular Complications in Diabetes. Journal of Diabetes Research, 2021, 6518221.
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Rroji, M., et al. (2025).
Targeting Diabetic Atherosclerosis: The Role of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists, SGLT2 Inhibitors, and Nonsteroidal Mineralocorticoid Receptor Antagonists in Vascular Protection and Disease Modulation. Biomedicines, 13(3), 728.
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Miranda, S., et al. (2025).
Impact of semaglutide on lipid profiles in overweight and obese non-diabetic adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. European Journal of Pharmacology, 1003, p.177953.
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