The Incretin System

Every blockbuster diabetes drug of the last decade hijacks the same trick: a hormone your gut releases the second food shows up, telling your pancreas to get ready. This episode is the why behind that hormone. We start with the incretin system itself, GLP-1 and GIP, then build out the two drug strategies that grew from it: the "-tide" injectables that mimic the hormone, and the "-gliptin" pills that stop your body from breaking it down. Then tirzepatide, the newer drug pulling two levers at once. By the end, the side effects, the contraindications, even who these drugs are right for, all of it stops being a list to memorize and starts making sense on its own. Mechanism first. The way it should be.