May 6, 2021 The combination worked better than either alone for long-term effects Liraglutide combined with an exercise program bested either the drug or exercise alone for losing weight over the course of a year for adults with obesity who did not have diabetes, according to a randomized, head-to-head, placebo-controlled trial published in “All active-treatment groups decreased body weight and body-fat percentage after one year, as compared with the increases observed in the placebo group,” wrote Julie R. Lundgren, MD, PhD, from the department of Biomedical Sciences and the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Metabolic Research, in Copenhagen, Denmark, and colleagues. “The combined strategy reduced the body weight and body-fat percentage approximately twice as much as the single-treatment strategies did and was associated with additional health benefits, such as improvements in the glycated hemoglobin level, insulin sensitivity, cardiorespiratory fitness, physical functioning, and emotional well-being.”