Effect of Incretin-Based and Nonpharmacologic Weight Loss on Body Composition : A Systematic Review
An erratum to this article was published (Ann Intern Med, Jul 2026 ↗)
Authors' conclusion
Loss of muscle-related indices exceeded prespecified benchmarks in about two thirds of incretin-based interventions and in nearly half of nonpharmacologic interventions that produced weight loss.
Study context
- Population
- Adults (≥18 years) with obesity; mean age 20 to 63.7 years, mean BMI 27.9 to 41.6 kg/m²35 RCTs
- Comparison
- Incretin-based therapy vs placebo or lifestyle intervention
- Outcome
- Changes in fat mass, FFM, lean soft tissue, muscle-related indices and visceral adiposity by BIA, DXA, CT or MRI
Methodological detailsprespecified benchmarks, no meta-analysis (heterogeneous methods), 8102 titles and abstracts screened; median duration 26 weeks; median 78 participants, 42.9% at low risk of bias; 10 (28.6%) prespecified body composition as primary outcome
- Prespecified benchmarks
- No meta-analysis (heterogeneous methods)
- 8102 titles and abstracts screened; median duration 26 weeks; median 78 participants
- 42.9% at low risk of bias; 10 (28.6%) prespecified body composition as primary outcome
Pooled result
As reported in the abstract
Proportion of total weight loss attributable to reductions in muscle-based indices
| Group | Value | Exceeding the benchmark of about 25% |
|---|---|---|
| Incretin | median 28.3% (IQR 15.9%–39.9%) | 65% |
Incretin
Valuemedian 28.3% (IQR 15.9%–39.9%)
Exceeding the benchmark of about 25%65%
Further pooled results
- Muscle-based share of weight loss, bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) or DXA studies (incretin)
- about 29% · median · IQR 16.6%–43.1%
- Muscle-based share of weight loss, computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies (incretin)
- about 25.3% · median · IQR 16.7%–27.2%
- Weight loss in lifestyle or placebo comparators (13 studies)
- −2.5% · median · IQR −4.5%–-0.9%
Original publication
Effect of Incretin-Based and Nonpharmacologic Weight Loss on Body Composition : A Systematic Review. Ann Intern Med. Published 17 April 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →