Beyond the Hype: GLP-1 Patches

People will ask about new “GLP-1 patches” that are flooding social media feeds. Be ready to separate fact from fiction. 

Despite compelling marketing, these products don’t actually contain GLP-1 medications like semaglutide, but rather a blend of herbal ingredients including berberine, ginger, glutamine, peppermint leaf extract, pomegranate, and safflower extract. It's important to guide patients through the evidence, as many of these supplements haven’t been proven effective for weight loss, particularly when delivered through the skin. Here’s what the research shows for some of the most popular ingredients.

Berberine, a bitter-tasting plant-derived alkaloid, is the main player. It’s considered possibly safe when used topically. But all weight loss research has been done with oral products. And even then, the evidence shows modest weight reduction of approximately 2 kg in small, mixed-quality studies conducted in patients without overweight or obesity. 

Ginger, a plant native to Asia, is another common ingredient in these patches. It’s considered possibly safe for short-term topical use. But limited evidence in people with obesity shows that taking ginger by mouth doesn’t improve weight loss. It’s unclear what benefits, if any, it will have if applied to the skin.

Pomegranate, a small fruit-bearing tree, rounds out our list. It’s possibly safe for topical use – based on studies when applied to the oral mucosa. But the evidence for weight loss is underwhelming. All of the available studies are conducted with oral pomegranate, and most show that pomegranate doesn’t reduce body weight, though one individual study suggests pomegranate juice may help with weight maintenance.

While these ingredients seem generally safe individually, clinical data supporting the specific ingredient combinations for topical delivery is limited. Remind patients that all of the research evaluating these ingredients for weight loss studied oral, not topical use, and the remaining ingredients not discussed may or may not be safe to apply topically.