Can Amylin Help Us Navigate Our Way to a Healthy Weight?

Traffic jams are the least tasty of the jams. These days, we can avoid many traffic jams by putting our destination into a GPS app and following a route that avoids slowdowns. Google Maps, for example, can tell you the traffic that’s currently happening, but can also predict future slowdowns before they happen.^[1] It does this by looking at the location data of people who are currently on the roads and comparing that with historical, long-term data to predict when a small slowdown is expected to compound into a traffic jam.^[1] This system, looking at a few data points to try to predict the future and help mitigate future problems, is exactly what our digestive system does when we eat.

When we eat, many important hormones are released. Hormones are regulatory molecules that circulate through the blood and help cells in the body respond to changing conditions. One key hormone released when we eat is amylin. Amylin is primarily produced in the pancreas and is released with a similar food-related hormone, insulin.^[2] Insulin is responsible for driving blood sugar regulation, while amylin has higher-level functions, like making us feel full.^[2.3,4] Insulin is like a tow-truck, clearing sections of the highway, while amylin is like Google Maps, telling us we might want to postpone that Costco trip after all.

After eating, the pancreas secretes amylin, which functions both as a hormone in the body and as a signal to the brain.^[3] 

• In the body, amylin plays a part in controlling how quickly the stomach empties its contents, how much energy the liver releases to the body, and plays a large part in how much fat the body burns for energy.^[2,3,5] 
• In the brain, amylin interacts with a special structure in the brainstem called the area postrema that senses what’s happening in the blood.^[4] When the area postrema detects increased levels of amylin, it sends signals to other parts of the brain, letting us know we are full and don’t need to eat anymore.^[4] 

High levels of amylin are associated with reduced desire to eat, less food intake, and a cut in “food noise.” Dr. Erich Schramm describes food noise on the MedEvidence!™ Podcast as, “the constant thinking about food, especially highly palatable and energy-dense foods.”^[5]

With this in mind, we can navigate to why amylin is such an important emerging medical target: weight management. Almost 75% of adults in the U.S. are overweight or obese, and managing weight can be challenging and often disheartening.^[6] A big part of the problem is that we live in an environment where highly processed, calorie- and sugar-dense foods are widely available, heavily marketed, and often more convenient and affordable than healthier options.^[7] We are constantly assaulted by tens of billions of dollars of ads that try to sell us genetically engineered sugar corn in various forms with otherworldly shapes and colors.^[7] This is an enormous part of the “food noise” Dr. Schramm talks about, and why investigational medications like amylin may prove so important.^[5] Amylin may be able to cut through the noise, help us eat healthier portions, keep us energetic, and ultimately guide us to a healthier body weight.^[3,4]

Amylin was discovered in the 1980s, so why hasn’t it been used in medicine before now? It actually has! Pramlintide has been approved by the FDA since 2005 as an add-on medication for those with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.^{[ 8]} This medication mimics amylin, but is degraded by the same breakdown mechanisms as native amylin in the body, resulting in a half-life of only 48 minutes. Because of its quick degradation, it must be injected at every meal.^[3] This makes it useful for people with diabetes, but cumbersome for other uses.^[3] Fortunately, scientists have been steering research towards longer-lasting amylin mimics, including a weekly version, which published findings in 2025.^[2] This investigative version of amylin was used for weight loss and found a 20% drop in weight (averaging 47 pounds), compared with the placebo!^[2] This and other promising versions of amylin may help clear the food noise and get those with weight problems out of a jam. 

Creative Director Benton Lowey-Ball, MWC, BS, BFA

Navigate over to our map of research sites to find a weight-loss study near you!

References:

[1] Lange O, Perez L. Traffic prediction with advanced graph neural networks. Google Deepmind Blog. Published September 3, 2020. Accessed February 11, 2026. https://deepmind.google/blog/traffic-prediction-with-advanced-graph-neural-networks/

[2] Billings LK, Hsia S, Bays H, Tidemann-Miller B, O’Hagan J, San Tham L, Butler A, Kazda C, Mather KJ, Coskun T. Eloralintide, a selective amylin receptor agonist for the treatment of obesity: a 48-week phase 2, multicentre, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial. The Lancet. 2025 Dec 6;406(10520):2631-43. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(25)02155-5

[3] Volčanšek Š, Koceva A, Jensterle M, Janež A, Muzurović E. Amylin: From mode of action to future clinical potential in diabetes and obesity. Diabetes Therapy. 2025 May 7:1-21. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13300-025-01733-8

[4] Hay DL, Chen S, Lutz TA, Parkes DG, Roth JD. Amylin: pharmacology, physiology, and clinical potential. Pharmacological reviews. 2015 Jul 1;67(3):564-600. https://doi.org/10.1124/pr.115.010629

[5] Koren MJ, Schramm E. Beyond blood sugar: How science tackles obesity and diabetes. MedEvidence! Articles. February 11, 2026. Accessed February 11, 2026. https://medevidence.com/beyond-blood-sugar-how-science-tackles-obesity-and-diabetes

[6] NIDDK. Overweight & Obesity Statistics. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/overweight-obesity Accessed December 22, 2025.

[7] UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health. Food marketing. University of Connecticut. Accessed February 11, 2026. https://uconnruddcenter.org/research/food-marketing/

[8] Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Application number 21-332: Approval package. US Food and Drug Administration. Published February 9, 2005. Accessed Feburary 11, 2026. https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/nda/2005/21-332_Symlin%20Injection_biopharmr.pdf [PDF]