Micronutrient deficiencies in the era of second-generation incretin-based therapies for obesity

Koceva, Andrijana (author), Janež, Andrej (author), Pečko, Tajda (author), Jensterle Sever, Mojca (author)

Second-generation incretin-based therapies have transformed the pharmacological management of obesity by inducing substantial and sustained weight loss. The weight-reducing effects are primarily mediated through appetite suppression, reduced energy intake, and modulation of eating behavior. While therapeutically beneficial, these mechanisms may also influence dietary quality, micronutrient exposure, and overall nutritional status, particularly in individuals with obesity, a population already characterized by a high prevalence of baseline nutritional inadequacy. This narrative review is intended to inform clinicians, clinical nutrition specialists and researchers involved in obesity management by summarizing baseline micronutrient vulnerability in obesity, synthesizing available evidence on dietary intake, biochemical micronutrient status, and nutrition-related clinical outcomes during incretin-based therapy, discussing plausible mechanisms linking these therapies to micronutrient risk, and outlining approaches to risk-stratified nutritional monitoring in clinical practice.

• Language: English
• Keywords: obesity, GLP-1-based therapy, incretin-based therapy
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.02 - Review Article
• Organization: MF - Faculty of Medicine
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: 14 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 18, iss. 4, art. 677
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-185867
• UDC: 616.4
• ISSN on article: 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu18040677
• COBISS.SI-ID: 268997123
• Publication date in RUL: 21.08.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Nutrients
• Shortened title: Nutrients
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 2072-6643
• COBISS.SI-ID: 2948140

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: debelost, GLP-1-based therapy, terapija na osnovi inkretinov