Cape Talk, Wednesday night

Can be tested. And I think it really shows that innovation doesn't always mean buying a new machine. So it's smarter use of your existing tests that can help reach more patients. So I think it's something that we'll definitely be looking into here even more. Now, we've talked a lot, Vanessa, on Health Check, about the weight loss drugs, GLP1s, which are transforming the fields of obesity and type 2 diabetes. And some of the side effects, such as nausea and diarrhea, are well known. But for the first time, a study has found that the detachment of finger and toenails.

Is more common among people taking these weight loss drugs. Now, Vanessa, this research was presented in Vienna just recently at the Congress of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venerology. And there have been anecdotal reports of issues with nails before, but what did they do in this study? Yeah, so this is really interesting. So they compared just over 500, so 575 GLP1 users with 1,329 people with obesity or type 2 diabetes.

That hadn't used GLP-1s. And these were people in France, the United States, Brazil, and Mexico. And then they compared the outcomes of nail separation, so onecoliasis and nail discoloration. And what did they find? So, what they found was that the nail detachment, you know, the separation from the nail plate, was that it happened as four times more likely to occur in GLP-1 users. Also, with nail discoloration,

Was approximately two times as frequent. And when they did look at other nail disorders, there were some changes there as well. So there's a definite differing experience that was seen in the data. So, can we be sure from this study that it was the weight loss drugs that were causing the nails to fall off or become discoloured? So, as ever, you can't definitely say that it's causation. So, there's lots of possible indirect mechanisms that could have been at play here. So, having rapid weight loss could be the

Issue systemic stress on the body because you also see changes in the hair and scalp as well. So that could be a feature as well. And also the nutritional deficiencies associated with weight loss, such as protein, iron, zinc, could be the factor as well. So it's not as clear-cut, but it's definitely something to watch. So, could the fact that some people see changes to their hair or scalps as well give us any clues as to what could be going on? Yes, because.

Actually, the scalp symptoms that were seen as kind of redness and scaling and itching, and that's associated with inflammation. And so, there's a suggestion that the GLP1s could be involved in driving inflammation. But then, the confusing thing is that it also can have anti-inflammatory effects. So, there's still a lot we don't understand, but inflammation does seem to be part of the story. So, what should people do if they find they are affected? Well, I think it's not about people, you know, stopping dramatic.