Glucagon
Glucagon is a hormone that raises blood sugar by releasing stored energy, and it also helps regulate how much energy the body burns — a target of newer weight-loss medications.
Plain English
Patient-Friendly Explanation
Glucagon is a hormone made by the pancreas that works opposite to insulin — it tells the liver to release stored sugar when your blood glucose dips. Beyond that, it also encourages the body to burn fat for energy. Because of this, newer weight-loss medications combine glucagon-like signals with other hormones to increase energy expenditure as well as reduce appetite.
Medical
Clinical Definition
Glucagon is a 29-amino-acid peptide secreted by pancreatic alpha cells in response to hypoglycaemia, amino acids and sympathetic stimulation. It promotes hepatic glycogenolysis and gluconeogenesis and stimulates lipolysis and energy expenditure through glucagon receptor signalling in the liver and adipose tissue. Glucagon receptor agonism is being exploited therapeutically in dual (GLP-1/glucagon) and triple (GLP-1/GIP/glucagon) agonists, which aim to couple appetite suppression with increased thermogenesis for greater weight loss than GLP-1 monotherapy. Chronic hyperglucagonaemia in obesity and type 2 diabetes contributes to hyperglycaemia, making glucagon both a disease marker and a drug target.
Key Insight
Why It Matters
Modern weight-loss medications increasingly target more than one hormone — including glucagon — to both curb appetite and burn extra energy. Our doctors keep up to date with these options and can explain which treatment pathway fits your health profile.
Sources
Reviewed against standard medical references.
Medically reviewed by
Family Physician & Registered Acupuncturist, Accord Medical Clinic. MBBS (NUS), Graduate Diploma in Family Medicine (NUS), Graduate Diploma in Acupuncture (Singapore College of TCM).
Last reviewed: August 2026
This page is general health education, not medical advice. Whether any treatment is appropriate for you is a decision made in consultation after assessment.
