They are here: a new generation of weight loss drugs, officially approved by the FDA. You can now eat as much as you like, without getting fat – because you won’t have the appetite or stomach for it. About time too. The planet is getting heavier by the way, soon to reach critical mass.
According to the World Obesity Foundation, more than half of the world’s population will be overweight by 2035, compared with 38% today. The economic impact will be 4 trillion dollars. New weight-loss drugs represent a significant advance in the struggle to contain obesity.
Pharmaceutical companies have been looking for a panacea for obesity for decades and all have been found lacking, and in many cases little more than poison. The new generation of obesity targeting drugs seem to offer a far safer remedy to the perennial weight loss problem. Like many drugs – Viagra , for example – the benefits were discovered by accident. Scientists had developed the molecular components to improve glucose regulation in diabetics, who suffer from an excess of sugar in the bloodstream. The drugs promote the production of short chains of amino acids to mimic the hormones that the body produces naturally after a meal, but which diabetics often produce in insufficient volume. In clinical trials, testers reported significant weight loss.
Further analysis showed that the principle component in weight loss was a hormone called GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1) that regulates appetite and food intake, leading to reduced calorie intake and increased feelings of fullness. This resulted in the building of a drug specifically targeting weight management in adults with obesity or who are overweight with at least one weight-related condition. Wegovy (semaglutide) is a prescription medication that has received approved from the FDA, which globally sets the benchmark.
Wegovy is an injectable medication that is given once a week and comes with the warning that, as with any medication, there are potential side effects, such as nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and vitamin deficiency due to decreased food intake.
The research has shown that molecular mechanisms often hinder people’s attempts to lose weight, and that rather than gluttony is to blame for obstinate obesity, despite all the dieting, the cause is genetic. Though this does not give carte blanche for gluttony, it does remove some of the stigma. The mantra of health-system leaders that all people need to do is engage with a healthy lifestyle that includes exercise and a balanced diet is over simplistic. Expect a fight back from the natural health industry that has a multi-billion turnover, as much as Big Pharma itself.
In the age of social media and conspiracy theories, there will be misinformation and misdirection about weight loss drugs. THE REPUTATION OF THE US DRUGS INDUSTRY TOOK A SERIOUS BEATING OVER ITS PROMOTION OF OXYTOCIN
There are drawbacks. Other than the side-effects of glp-1 drugs that include nausea and vomiting, there are concerns that they may increase the risk of developing thyroid tumours. The drugs are not be taken for to regain the figure you had when you were eighteen, as that is potentially lethal. And like statins, they may also need to be taken for a lifetime: when patients stop taking them they regain most of the weight that they had lost.
And they are expensive. In the USA, those who earn less than $15,000 a year have the highest Body Mass Index. The demographic that most needs the drugs are those who can least afford them. The correlation between poverty and obesity needs to be explored in tandem with the food chain.
Reducing obesity will reduce the amount spent on medication and surgery, but governments will need to focus on preventing people from becoming obese in the first place especially when lifestyle is the main protagonist. The risk is that weight-loss drugs will simply encourage people to continue with their sedentary lifestyle, abrogating their health to an external molecular agent, rather than take responsibility for their bodies.
