GLP-1 drugs can provide benefits that may boost an athlete’s performance, but do these medications give them the competitive edge? Getty Images/The Good Brigade

Debates are emerging over whether GLP-1 drugs boost athletic performance.

However, experts say the loss of lean mass associated with using these drugs may cancel out any competitive advantages.

They say it’s essential to consider the legitimate medical uses of these medications before setting policy.

More data is needed before sports organizations can make a decision that protects both athletes and sports.

When do medications cross over from being about better health to providing an unfair boost to athletic performance?

As more and more people, including well-known athletes like tennis champion Serena Williams, use popular GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy and Mounjaro (her medication of choice), to lose weight and get back in shape, this question is being asked more frequently.

“I’ve got more energy for my workouts,” Williams proclaims in advertising for tele-health company Ro, with Ro further adding that it “helped her get back to her strongest self.”

But is that just adspeak? Or do GLP-1s actually give athletes a physical advantage over those who don’t use them?

Williams herself told Women’s Health that, “Being on a GLP-1 definitely doesn’t take away from who I am as a professional athlete.

“In fact, I am enjoying sports now more than ever. And my body feels good doing it,” she added, noting that she would “never take a shortcut to living a healthy life.”

How GLP-1s may give athletes a performance boost

Sergio Guiteau, MD, a board certified family and sports medicine physician and Medical Director at South Florida Advanced Rejuvenation, in Miramar, Florida, said that there are benefits to be had from GLP-1s, including improvements in insulin resistance and body fat composition, as well as weight loss.

There can also be indirect improvements in energy, mood, and endurance, he noted.

“While these improvements may not be as pronounced as other PED’s [performance enhancing drugs], I certainly see some advantage for athletes using GLP-1’s,” said Guiteau.

Going on to explain what constitutes a PDE, he said that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), an independent international body aimed at developing and overseeing anti-doping rules and policies in sports, deems a substance to be a PED if:

It has the potential to enhance, and actually does enhance, sports performance.

It represents an actual or potential health risk to athletes.

It “violates the spirit of sport.”

When it comes to GLP-1s, Guiteau said he believes that the first requirement is met. Additionally, there may be some limited risk to healthy athletes.

“Point 3 will likely be met at a point in time where an athlete utilizes a GLP-1 in a manner that results in a high achievement that was met with the use of the GLP-1 to enhance that athlete’s ability to achieve the result,” he said.

As an example, Guiteau described a case where an athlete might use a GLP-1 to cut weight, giving them an edge during competitions such as cycling or horse racing.

However, he added that “violates the spirit of sport” is a vague term and open to interpretation.

“GLP-1 products can be considered substances that modify body composition, which can result in a change in performance as opposed to strictly performance enhancing,” he said.

However, there’s no evidence at this time that GLP-1 medications give any direct competitive advantage, according to Guiteau.

GLP-1 benefits likely canceled out by loss of lean mass

Karthik Achari, founder and CEO of PepMD, said that the strongest argument against GLP-1s being PEDs is the fact that the drugs would likely harm athletic performance more than they would help.

“About 25 to 35% of the weight lost on GLP-1s is lean mass,” he explained. “For an athlete whose performance depends on power, explosiveness, and strength, that’s a real cost that may offset the body composition benefit entirely.”

This occurs, he said, because people on GLP-1s don’t selectively burn fat. Instead, the body draws from both fat and muscle.

“An athlete who is lighter but weaker isn’t necessarily a better athlete,” said Achari.

Another concern is that elite athletes often need a large number of calories to support their intensive training regimens and recovery.

“Appetite suppression and delayed gastric emptying make that intake genuinely difficult,” he said, adding that recovery is especially important since this is when the adaptations that lead to improvement in performance occur.

Achari further noted the lack of direct scientific evidence, since most trials have included patients with obesity and diabetes, not elite athletes.

“Extrapolating from ‘this drug helps a sedentary obese patient lose weight’ to ‘this drug improves elite athletic performance’ is a longer logical jump than the popular debate acknowledges,” he said.

Achari added that improvements seen by athletes like Serena Williams are probably downstream effects of losing weight and getting back into shape, rather than the drug providing any direct benefits to performance.

In other words, these improvements would occur even without the medication.

Should WADA monitor GLP-1s in sports?

Achari said he believes that WADA has made the right call with its current monitoring approach.

“Surveillance without prohibition gives the field time for data to accumulate while avoiding enforcement problems against athletes who may have legitimate medical reasons to use these drugs,” he said, noting that making a distinction between medical use and performance-driven use is going to be essential.

Athletes with documented type 2 diabetes, obesity, or other metabolic diseases are using these medications quite differently from athletes who may be obtaining them to alter their body composition.

“The TUE [Therapeutic Use Exemption] framework already handles this kind of distinction for other prescription medications,” said Achari. “Adapting it thoughtfully to GLP-1s preserves access for athletes who need the drugs medically while creating a documentation pathway that addresses the performance-use concerns.”

Achari said he’d also advise paying attention to the gray market for GLP-1s, which he says is “enormous and largely invisible.” Athletes obtaining research peptides from offshore sources are taking vastly different risks than those who are purchasing FDA-approved medications, including contamination, mislabelling, and inactive compounds.

“Any regulatory framework that focuses on the molecule without addressing the source is missing where most of the actual harm comes from,” he said.

Finally, Achari reiterated the need for more research in healthy populations rather than extrapolating from existing studies.

“The honest position for sports organizations right now is that the science isn’t where it needs to be for confident classification calls,” he said. “Holding that uncertainty publicly while monitoring continues is the right approach, even though the pressure to act decisively is real.”

(MedPage Today) — Use of GLP-1 receptor agonists was associated with a higher risk of smell and taste disturbances among adults with type 2 diabetes, an analysis of electronic health record (EHR) data suggested.
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Friday, June 26 – Some GLP-1 users report changes in their taste and smell, according to a new study. Tatsiana Volkava/Getty Images

Researchers report that GLP-1 drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes may impair a person’s sense of taste and smell.

Experts say taste and smell dysfunction doesn’t appear to be a common side effect of GLP-1s, which are widely prescribed for weight loss.

Friday, June 26 – As the use of GLP-1 medications for weight loss surges, so do calls to U.S. poison control centers, according to a new study.

Friday, June 26 – (MedPage Today) — In patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), the use of GLP-1 receptor agonists was linked to a lower risk of colorectal cancer (CRC), according to a retrospective study presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology…

Friday, June 26 – As people age, they often develop chronic conditions, many of which need to be managed with multiple prescription medications. While medications are important for disease management, polypharmacy poses an increased risk for harmful side effects and contraindications.

THURSDAY, June 25, 2026 — As the use of GLP-1 medications for weight loss surges, so do calls to U.S. poison control centers, according to a new study.
A team led by Jordan Miller of the University of Texas at San Antonio analyzed reports…

Friday, June 26 – A new strategy for delivering GLP-1 drugs to patients with obesity or who were overweight resulted in up to a 12% reduction in body weight after 36 weeks, according to a randomized phase II clinical trial published in Nature Medicine.

Thursday, June 25 – An estimated 14 million Medicare Part D recipients could obtain Wegovy, Foundayo, and Zepbound for $50 per month. Johner Images/Getty Images

Federal officials announced the launch of a Medicare GLP-1 Bridge pilot program that reduces the cost of certain GLP-1 medications prescribed for weight loss.

Under the program, Wegovy, Foundayo, and Zepbound KwikPens will cost $50 per month for eligible participants enrolled in Medicare Part D plans.

The program begins on July 1 and continues through Dec. 31, 2027.

Some Medicare recipients will soon be able to purchase a limited number of GLP-1 weight loss drugs at a guaranteed price of $50 per month.

Thursday, June 25 – People are getting more care and using lots of GLP-1 drugs, fueling a sharp increase in health care spending.

Drug buyers want a New York federal judge to preserve proposed class claims accusing Novo Nordisk of paying Teva to delay generic competition with its Victoza GLP-1 drug, arguing that whatever the underlying deal was, no generic version materialized when it could have.  

Thursday, June 25 – (MedPage Today) — Use and misuse of GLP-1 receptor agonists were common in people with eating disorders, interim results of an ongoing cross-sectional study suggested.
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Eli Lilly and Co. posted $19.8 billion in first-quarter 2026 revenue, driven by tirzepatide, marketed as Mounjaro for type 2 diabetes and Zepbound for obesity. The Indianapolis-based drugmaker is channeling cash flow from these blockbuster GLP-1 drugs into an aggressive dealmaking campaign — about $25.1 billion across 10 announced acquisitions so far this year and more than $26 billion in other closed deals.

Corxel Pharmaceuticals Ltd.’s oral small-molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist, CX-11, met the primary endpoints in a phase II trial evaluating the candidate in obese and overweight patients in the U.S., according to top-line results.

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Wednesday, June 24 – Eli Lilly’s weight-loss franchise—including the tirzepatide products Mounjaro and Zepbound, and the weight-loss pill Foundayo—is projected to account for nearly half of the total sales of the top 10 drugs in 2032.

Tuesday, June 23 – Wegovy, Zepbound named first choice for obesity treatment in new guidelines

Tuesday, June 23 – Researchers say that GLP-1 drugs containing tirzepatide (Zepbound, Mounjaro) may lead to greater weight loss. Image Credit: Tatsiana Volkava/Getty Images

A meta-analysis found that one type of GLP-1 medication may be more effective than others. 

The analysis showed that GLP-1s containing tirzepatide (Zepbound, Mounjaro) helped people lose more weight than those containing semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy). 

Liraglutide (Saxenda) had the lowest weight loss percentage among users. 

The success of tirzepatide may be due to its dual mechanism, which targets multiple receptors.

Tuesday, June 23 – (MedPage Today) — At the American Diabetes Association annual meeting, updated phase II data from the VESPER program showed that patients who achieved weight loss with a weekly dose of the ultra-long-acting investigational GLP-1 agonist berobenatide…

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Monday. June 22 – The obesity treatment landscape is changing fast, with GLP-1 drugs opening the door to more effective care than ever before. Experts now envision a future where medications, minimally invasive procedures, surgery, and precision medicine work together to deliver better long-term results.

Saturday, June 20 – GLP-1s may help reduce impulsivity, alcohol intake, and violent behaviors in adults. Image Credit: munro/gettyimages

A recent study found that GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Wegovy may help lower impulsive and violent behaviors.

The researchers noted that higher impulsivity and alcohol use were significantly associated with violent behavior overall, but were weaker among those using GLP-1s.

Saturday, June 20 – GLP-1 weight loss drugs like Ozempic are linked to cosmetic concerns, including sagging earlobes, deflated breasts and flatter buttocks, surgeons say.

FRIDAY, June 19, 2026 — Ozempic doesn’t only help people lose weight, but might also protect against broken bones, a new study says.
People with type 2 diabetes treated with semaglutide (Ozempic/Wegovy) had a 15% lower risk of bone…

Friday, June 19 – GLP-1 drugs show early promise for improving fertility in males and females

Friday, June 19 – Mayim Bialik recently shared the “nightmare” experience she had after using a GLP-1 drug. Image Credit: Laurent Koffel/Getty Images

Actor Mayim Bialik has shared her “nightmare” experience that left her with weeks of side effects after one GLP-1 medication dose. 

Bialik said her symptoms included severe diarrhea and full-body aches. 

She revealed that she tried a GLP-1 after her doctor suggested it may help with her autoimmune disease symptoms.

Friday, June 19 – Setting a weight loss goal may yield greater success with GLP-1 drugs like Zepbound. Image Credit: Crispin la valiente/GettyImages

A recent study found that people who set personal weight loss targets may achieve greater results with GLP-1 medications. 

People using tirzepatide (Zepbound or Mounjaro) saw more weight loss if they set goals or had previously tried structured diet plans.

Friday, June 19 – What’s next for GLP-1 weight loss drugs? Alex Hogan explores on the new episode of STATus Report. Watch now.

Friday, June 19 – (MedPage Today) — The FDA cleared Wave Neuroscience’s biomarker-guided neuromodulation system (MeRT) to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the company announced.
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WEDNESDAY, June 17, 2026 — Adults with obesity initiating glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) medications have a significant decrease in their physical activity, according to a study presented at ENDO 2026, the annual meeting of the…

WEDNESDAY, June 17, 2026 — More than half of adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) who discontinue glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) reinitiate within one year, according to a study presented at ENDO 2026, the annual…

Wednesday, June 17 – Using GLP-1s may increase your risk of heat-related illnesses. Image Credit: Nora Carol Photography/Getty Images

GLP-1 medications may increase heat-related risks by suppressing thirst and reducing fluid intake.

Thirst reduction may lead to severe dehydration and even kidney damage. 

GLP-1 drugs may also lower blood pressure in some people, potentially leading to other heat-related issues in people with low blood pressure.

A Rutgers study suggests GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy may weaken the link between impulsive tendencies and violent behavior. The surprising finding hints that these medications could affect how people act on impulses, though researchers stress that cause and effect have not been proven.

Wednesday, June 17 – New research finds GLP-1 users significantly reduced physical activity, with daily steps and exercise declining after starting a weight loss medication.

WEDNESDAY, June 17, 2026 — People with an autoimmune disease and obesity might lower their risk of dangerous blood clots and death by taking Ozempic or Zepbound, a new study says.
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Wednesday, June 17 – The rapid rise of GLP-1 medications such as semaglutide and tirzepatide has transformed obesity treatment. Still, experts say medications alone are not enough to address one of the nation’s most pressing chronic diseases.

Wednesday, June 17 – Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) have become popular for weight loss, but results vary from person to person and from drug to drug. Venky Soundararajan and colleagues explored the full range of responses to tirzepatide (e.g., Mounjaro or Zepbound) and semaglutide (e.g., Ozempic, Wegovy or Rybelsus) by analyzing de-identified electronic health records for matched cohorts of 10,339 tirzepatide-treated and 10,339 semaglutide-treated patients. In the real world, outcomes ranged from minimal weight loss to more than a 25% reduction in body weight.