Do ‘Natural GLP-1 Supplements’ Work For Weight Loss?

Recently, celebrity Kourtney Kardashian unveiled her GLP-1 Daily capsules, a new product in her popular Lemme vitamin and supplement line. According to its website, the plant-based supplement “supports your body’s GLP-1 hormone, reduces hunger, promotes healthy insulin function and supports healthy weight management with 3 clinically-tested ingredients.”

Kardashian’s capsules join a market full of “natural GLP-1 supplements” that promise to boost your body’s GLP-1 production, capitalizing on the effectiveness of medications like Ozempic, Zepbound and Wegovy for weight loss while offering a cheaper alternative. Those prescription drugs mimic GLP-1, a hormone that helps you feel full and controls your blood sugar. But there are major differences between supplements and GLP-1 drugs.

The supplements “just contain some natural products and then flavonoids. … There’s no GLP-1 component,” said Dr. Eduardo Grunvald, the medical director of the weight management program at UC San Diego Health in California.

Though these supplements promise to increase your body’s GLP-1 levels, that claim may be misleading.

Food naturally boosts your body’s GLP-1 levels, explained Dr. Sun Kim, an endocrinologist at Stanford Health Care in California. But for people who live with diabetes or obesity, these levels generally won’t get as high as they do in individuals without these conditions.

This is where prescription GLP-1 medications come in. The drugs are made to keep GLP-1 levels elevated for longer periods “so that they work to really control blood sugar and also reduce appetite longer,” Kim said.

But this is not the same for the GLP-1 supplements (or for food). Even if supplements claim to boost your natural GLP-1 levels, it won’t be for any meaningful amount of time because your body processes GLP-1 very quickly, Kim said.

“If you were just taking a [supplement] … that increased your own GLP-1, it may work briefly, but then it might get rapidly broken down — and I haven’t personally seen evidence for … how effective they are at even increasing GLP-1, even if it’s short-lived,” she added.

Websites for these supplements often cite research backing their claims, but Grunvald said more studies are needed with more participants before anything can be proved about GLP-1 production, appetite cessation or weight management.