BYOzempic: Naturally increase GLP-1 through 3 approaches
By Casey Means
GLP-1 receptor agonists for weight loss and type 2 diabetes are taking the world by storm, and people have a lot of opinions (including myself on Fox News last year…).
While there is utility for them in certain patient-specific situations, these injectable medications that promote satiety, glucose control, and weight loss are obviously not the answer to the metabolic dysfunction crisis affecting 93%+ of US adults.
Why? Because our chronic disease and excess weight epidemic is caused by the toxic environment damaging our mitochondria across the vectors of ultra-processed food, environmental toxins, sedentary behavior, lack of quality sleep, poor light hygiene, chronic stress, and too much indoor time. (Pre-order my upcoming book Good Energy for details on ALL of these pillars and how they underlie the metabolic disease epidemic).
These weekly GLP-1 receptor agonist injections may work for individual medical scenarios, but they are not the answer to the global public health issue affecting billions of humans that has cropped up in just 100 years and that requires a root cause approach to reverse it. A shot doesn’t change the toxic environment that will continue to distort our cellular biology until fixed. Obviously.
As my brother, Calley Means, said in an interview that got 12 million views on X: “If the fish tank is dirty, you clean the tank. You don’t drug the fish.”
These injections that act like long-acting GLP-1 in the body are estimated to cost around $16,000 per year, have profoundly high rates of adverse effects (some studies reporting 82% of people experience these side effects!), and are being offered in kids as young as 8 🤦♀️ .
WHAT ASTONISHES ME (AND WHAT THIS POST ABOUT!) IS HOW THERE IS VIRTUALLY ZERO CONVERSATION ABOUT THE FACT THAT THE BODY MAKES ITS OWN GLP-1, NATURALLY, AND THERE ARE SPECIFIC FOOD AND LIFESTYLE FACTORS THAT IMPACT IT’S LEVELS.
Despite the body being able to pump out its own GLP-1, we are being sold external solutions (💉💉💉) instead of learning how to potentially increase our GLP-1 naturally (🥦🥩🥑).
So with that: how do you become your own GLP-1 agonist manufacturing facility? First, understand how GLP-1 works naturally in the body. Then optimize it. Thinking logically, there are 3 main ways we’d get more GLP-1 in the body:
Generate more of the cells that make GLP-1 (L-cells of the small intestine).
Get the L-cells to produce more GLP-1.
Stop GLP-1 from being broken down and inactivated. (GLP-1 is rapidly degraded by the enzyme DPP-4).
The great news is, there are food and lifestyle choices that may do all 3 of these things. Much of the research is done in animals and cell cultures, but the bottom line is that choices impact GLP-1, not just injections. This article is NOT a prescriptive plan to follow to increase GLP-1 levels for health and weight loss (there’s no data to suggest that’s even possible); it’s a non-exhaustive summary of basic science research to spark curiosity, help us think bigger, and personal inquiry.
To quote one literature review:
“IT IS EVIDENT THAT MANIPULATING THE COMPOSITION OF THE DIET IN ORDER TO PROMOTE GLP-1 SECRETION REPRESENTS A PROMISING LIFESTYLE STRATEGY FOR OBESITY AND T2D MANAGEMENT.”
1️⃣ MAKE MORE L-CELLS, WHICH ARE THE GLP-1 PRODUCING CELLS OF THE GUT.
It’s important to remember that we turn over our gut lining every 2-4 weeks, so we are frequently re-creating the composition of our gut lining and differentiation of our gut stem cells, giving us ample opportunity to create MORE L-cells with the right stimuli. How can we stimulate L-cell differentiation?
🧪 Short-chain fatty acids: In cell cultures, research shows that more L-cells can be produced if the cells are exposed to short-chain fatty acids, which are the chemicals that are produced when the microbiome cells ferment fiber and metabolize polyphenols (plant compounds found in colorful fruits and veggies, spices, tea, cocoa, etc). From this study, the authors “show that short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) selectively increase the number of L-cells resulting in an elevation of GLP-1 release.
In this figure, you can see that GLP-1 release (represented on y-axis) was significantly higher in the short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) treated cell cultures (see that the black bar is taller - representing GLP-1 release - in human and mouse models treated with SCFAs.
🥬 Fiber rich diets in rats, mice, and humans appear to cause more L-cells to be generated, which may similarly be due to the mechanism of increased short chain fatty acid (SCFA) production.
🩸 Keep blood sugar levels healthy: Research shows that elderly people with Type 2 Diabetes have fewer L-cells and GLP-1 levels than elderly people without Type 2 Diabetes
🫐 Antioxidant foods: Research shows that a particular antioxidant called silibinin (found in high concentrations in milk thistle) had the effect of improving L-cell mass and function through reducing the damaging effects of free radicals.
🍵 Ginseng: Research in animals shows that a metabolite of ginseng might increase L-cell proliferation.
This figure from this paper simply shows how compounds from ginseng (ginsenoside CK) can stimulate bile acids (LCA) that promote L-cell differentiation and lead to increase GLP-1 secretion.
2️⃣ STIMULATE L-CELLS TO MAKE MORE GLP-1
How to get L-cells to make more GLP-1? Several ideas from the research (non-exhaustive!):
🌿 Through fiber: Fiber appears to increase GLP-1 secretion from L-cells.
💚 Through green plant foods: Thylakoids are a compound found in the chloroplasts of green plants that appear to have a potent pro-satiety effect, in part by stimulating GLP-1 secretion.
This chart from this paper shows how 5g thylakoid administration in women for 12 weeks leads to significantly more GLP-1 secretion. (y-axis is GLP-1; top line of chart is levels Note: 5g thylakoids is equivalent to just 3.5 ounces of spinach (or 100g spinach).
🦠 Through probiotic rich foods:
“In this study, we found a stimulating effect of the 9 potential strains on intestinal hormones GLP-1 and PYY secretion…by increasing in the corresponding mRNA levels.” Certain probiotics appear to increase gene expression of GLP-1 gene.
Another study in diabetic rats shows the GLP-1 levels could be increased with probiotics.
In this figure from this paper, diabetic rats given probiotics (“D+Prob,” the dark gray bar in the middle) had a big increase in GLP-1, compared to diabetic rats that didn’t get probiotics (black bar).
🥜 Through nuts: Pistachios appear to increase GLP-1.
💪 Through protein:
Specific amino acids seem to have a uniquely stimulatory effect on GLP-1 including l-valine and l-glutamine. High levels of valine are found in: Dairy products, especially cottage cheese and yogurt, eggs, red meat like lamb and beef, fish, including wild-caught salmon and trout, fermented soy products like natto and tempeh, turkey and chicken, seeds including sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flaxseeds, and chia seeds, nuts like pistachios, cashews, and almonds, beans including navy beans, kidney beans, adzuki beans, chickpeas, and lentils, and mushrooms.
GLP-1 levels (y-axis) were increased significantly by amino acid L-valine, one of the 22 main amino acids that make up human proteins.
High protein diets appear to increase GLP-1 more than lower protein diets: “GLP-1 concentrations were higher during consumption of the high protein diet (30%, 40%, and 30% of energy from protein, carbohydrate, and fat, respectively) than during the adequate-protein diet (adequate protein: 10%, 60%, and 30% of energy from protein, carbohydrate, and fat, respectively) after dinner.”
From the same paper: “Collectively, nutritional strategies such as increased protein and other nutritional supplements such as L-arginine may be used to enhance postprandial GLP-1 secretion and may provide an alternative therapeutic approach in obesity and diabetes.”
💛 Through curcumin (from turmeric and curry!): “Yellow pigment isolated from the rhizomes of Curcuma longa L. (curcumin) increases GLP-1 secretion.”
🍵 Through ECGC: A compound found in green tea has been found to increase GLP-1 secretion.
🌶️ Many other flavonoids (plant compounds found in deep colored fruits, vegetables, cocoa, tea, and spices) have been found to elevate GLP-1.
3️⃣ STOP DPP-4 FROM BREAKING DOWN GLP-1
Molecular compounds from many foods seem to inhibit DPP-4, which is the protein enzyme that breaks down GLP-1 and therefore clears it from the body.
Some of the foods that research has shown inhibit DPP-4 include:
Chokeberry
Guava
Mexican oregano
Sweet marjoram
Greek oregano
Horseradish
Rosemary
Amaranth
Black beans
Many others!
A figure from this paper shows some of the plants (left image) that have compounds in them (right image) that inhibit DPP-4. FOOD IS MOLECULAR INFORMATION. Learn to use it!
Additionally, myricetin, found in berries, garlic, cranberry, sweet potato leaves, swiss chard, green hot chili peppers, lemon, vegetables, peppers, tea, and other foods appears to reduce gene expression of DPP-4 and therefore increases GLP-1 concentrations in the body.
A compound found in plants called myricetin appears to inhibit DPP-4 expression! (Source)
CONCLUSION
The point of this article is that it appears that there are several food-based strategies that may cause the body to have higher levels of GLP-1. And they all are based on real, unprocessed foods… foods like greens, healthy protein sources (like meat), spices, fruits and vegetables. Real, unprocessed, fresh food stimulates satiety. Ultra-processed food evades them! This is important because we’re in the midst of a fever pitch around GLP-1 analogues, so much so that we are blinded to the fact that our body can… make it. Over 20,000,000 prescriptions for GLP-1 receptor agonists were prescribed in 2021, more than 9 million prescriptions in the last 3 months of 2022 alone, and the number is rising sharply. This seems irresponsible in light of the fact that virtually not a moment of airtime is spent talking about how to naturally optimize GLP-1 levels in the body.
Again, this article is NOT a prescriptive plan to follow to increase GLP-1 levels for health and weight loss (there’s no data to suggest that’s even possible); it’s a non-exhaustive summary of basic science research to spark curiosity, help us think bigger, and personal inquiry.
Your body IS a pharmacy. Each of our cells has the ability to produce thousands of compounds that directly impact our weight, our happiness, our health, and the quality of our lives. My perspective is that it is our joyful opportunity as the inhabiters of these miraculous bodies to learn how to work with the energetic and material forces we have control over (food, sunlight, sleep, temperature, supplements, sound, etc) to stimulate the outcomes we want in ways that bring us closer to our highest purpose, that increase our enjoyment of this precious life, and allow us to share our maximal light in this lifetime.
XO,
Dr. Casey
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