01/29/2026
Interesting excerpt from NPR oN "obesity subtypes" and genetic testing for best pharmaceutical interventions.
I'm currently working with over 50 patients in my private practice who are taking weight loss medications.
Obesity subtypes
"There are many types of obesity, and each type of obesity has a unique genetic predisposition," says Andres Acosta, a gastroenterologist and hepatologist at the Mayo Clinic.
Acosta says early research indicates genetic markers might be measured to predict, for example, whether a person might not respond well to GLP-1 medicines.
Acosta is also co-founder of Phenomix Sciences, a company selling genetic testing through some doctors' offices; the testing is not covered by insurance.
The cheek-swab genetic test groups people into four basic obesity phenotypes (meaning observable traits): Hungry Gut, Hungry Brain, Emotional Hunger, and Slow Burn. (A person might belong to more than one of these groups.)
Each category has different hormonal or lifestyle factors that drive obesity. For example, someone with emotionally driven eating habits might not benefit as much from GLP-1 drugs.
Acosta says also, those with abnormalities in their gut hormones tend to lose more weight on GLP-1 medicines, while some people with "Hungry Brain" genetic markers may have a broken neural pathway that prevents the drug from being as effective for that group. For those people, Acosta says, often earlier generations of weight-loss medicines — or a combination of new and old drugs — work best
