The Brief The popular weight loss shots have helped suppress appetites, slow down digestion and lower blood sugar. A new benefit appears to be helping cardiovascular health, said Cardiologist Akhil Gulati.

The benefits that come from lost weight are numerous, it goes far beyond how your clothes fit.

The backstory:

But now we’re learning more about how the very popular weight loss shot can benefit much more than your waistline.

Corewell Health Cardiologist Akhil Gulati is excited about the weight loss shot – for reasons beyond weight loss.

“This class of medicines has been actually, very exciting,” he said.

They go by various names but the injections work by curbing appetite, lowering blood sugar and slowing food digestion.

The drug class started as a type 2 diabetes treatment- weight loss was a bonus side effect.

And now it appears there may be another bonus – the drug is directly helping heart health.

“Does this medication have a direct effect on the blood vessels themselves? You are not just losing weight and that is causing a cardiovascular benefit it is actually having an effect on the actual lining of the arteries and the inflammation of the arteries.

He said inflammation is the cause of nearly all medical problems.

“So, if you can attack the inflammation, where it is in those arteries, is that partially why we’re reducing risk. And that’s what were starting to see.”

Dr. Gulati told us about a specific patient who he recently put on the drug Mounjaro.

“He’s lost weight, but oh my God it’s helped him in like … he doesn’t smoke anymore, he doesn’t drink anymore,” he said. “Now it’s an anecdotal case, but he’s like, ‘I just feel different, I feel better

“He had a CTA done, a cat scan of the arteries with contrast and man did it look good.”

Dr. Gulati says the goal is to keep patients off of medication whenever possible.

However, he said that when you can see this many benefits – it’s worth talking to your doctor about trying one of the weight loss injectables if you need that.