A surprise amount of Brits say they would take anti-obesity drugs if they were given to them for free on the NHS.
Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonist are a family of medications that help manage blood sugar in patients with type 2 diabetes, but have also been found to help obese people lose weight.
The drugs include Mounjaro, also known as tirzepatide, and semaglutide, which is sold under the brand names Wegovy, Ozempic and Rybelsus.
The survey of 1,078 adults, carried out by Ipsos, found 24% of people would use weight-loss jabs if they were provided for free by the health service.
When asked about their own body image, four in 10 told the survey they think they are overweight or obese.
Poll reveals surprising number of editors don’t know how to use the word ‘amount’.
Right?!
The sort of diet that makes you overweight or obese causes loads of other problems. This might keep people out of the doctors in the morning for weight problems but they’ll be there after lunch for heart disease or cancer.
Many users describe an end to cravings and a reduction of consumption too.
Mind this only persists while using the drug, but it may actually keep you from eating the “sort of diet”
I don’t think it’s the same as weight loss pills in the '80s
This seems to be you crave age rather than simply increasing the rate at which you burn fat.
When asked about their own body image, four in 10 told the survey they think they are overweight or obese.
Government stats from January 12th, 2023:
26% of adults in England are obese and a further 38% are overweight. This briefing covers statistics on obesity among adults and children in the UK
So about the number of people who are overweight think they are?
40% think they are overweight or obese, 64% actually are.
“Idiopathic obesity”
I wonder how much it would cost to fund a nation wide programme of heavily subsidised gym usage. Bring the price right down to say £20 a month per user. Provide an allocation of personal trainers and physiotherapists. Create a vocational qualification if they don’t exist. Expand the availability of gyms so that they are convenient.
Surely the long term health benefits (in addition to the benefits for your mental health) are going to be cheaper than jabbing yourself with drugs?
Recently there’s a lot of research about weight lost, and some of them found exercising isn’t a great way to lose weight, because when you do it regularly your body learn to adapt to the energy required for that activity. They found controlling what you eat is the better way, but i do know some people can’t lose weight that way either, no matter how hard they try. So this solution could be specifically aimed for that. Still, exercise is good for health though, pretty sure these jab will not have the benefits from exercising, and someone could very well rebound if they eat the same way that make them gain weight.
Also i don’t think the accessibility of gym is the key, exercise cost nothing if you go out and jog or ride a bike.
I’m just speaking for myself here, so not saying this is true for everyone or even many people, but the cost of the gym isn’t the biggest barrier for me.
I like what you say about expanding availability - there isn’t a gym within (reasonable) walking distance of me. I think facilities being in communities makes a difference.
However, one of the biggest barriers to me is childcare. Somewhere where I could take them to do their own activities while I worked out would make it far more likely that I use it, and I suspect this is the case for others. My partner works long, unpredictable hours, so I can’t sign up for the weekly classes (that I did before having children) as I don’t know that he’ll be around to look after them.
I also have chronic health issues, which don’t prevent me exercising all the time, but there are days where I cannot leave my bed because of migraine, so again, committing to something regular is difficult. (Again, persoal to me, but I’m not alone in having a chronic condition.)
I tend to walk everywhere I can as accessing formal exercise has too many barriers for me, so I do have an acceptable level of fitness, but I miss doing classes as I found these really motivating.
Sorry for the long reply - I don’t disagree that price and access are issues, but there are more besides that I think need to be addressed. Stress and available time being factors in additional to the others I mentioned.
I also think there are issues with the weight loss drugs besides cost, one of those being the need to stay on them longterm. That’s not even getting into using weight as the sole metric of health.
Very good points. I walk to our gym and I suppose that is a luxury. Even better if everyone had a place they could easily walk to. And also +1 on the child care point.
but the gobmint isnt allowed to compete with the free market!!! its not fair!!!
or something
This is a good thing, I’m glad the public is accepting of this.
It’s time we move away from the Christian work ethic view of obesity as a personal and moral failing and follow the science - if you are fat, it’s mostly genetic because you are simply wired to be hungry more than your friends and these drugs fix that.
https://www.healthline.com/health/obesity/is-obesity-genetic-or-environmental#genetics
According to a 2022 clinical reviewTrusted Source, more than 500 obesity-related genes have been identified in humans.
These genes can affect body weight in many ways. They can create changesTrusted Source in insulin metabolism, inflammatory responses, blood pressure, fat deposition, and the level of circulating fat in the bloodstream. They can cause you to want to consume more energy (i.e., food) but can prevent you from using it effectively.
Without them your choice is to be miserable (with all the MH outcomes that follow this long-term like depression) and hungry all the time, or to be fat and miserable due to obesity related illness like heart disease etc.
Instead of all that, we can simply block excess hunger, a trait once probably evolutionarily crucial yet no longer useful in the world of excess.
I’m someone who was overweight all my life until I started vaping, nicotine appetite suppression changed my life, I’m now skinny and by many of my ex-partners’ description pretty fit, to be treated not as some fat slob but as a human being that’s actually pleasant and even attractive is life-changing to my mental health and self-esteem, no longer is my body some wreck beyond salvation out of the gate but something I care about and for.
I hope for the same feeling for many others may come thanks to these exciting developments.
And not to get too soapboxy, but as usual, it turns out that blaming the “sick” for the “disease” was wrong and telling people to “eat less” or “exercise more” is as nonsensical as telling someone with ADHD to simply “focus” and “create habits” instead of giving them the amphetamine they need to make up for the low levels of dopamine they have so they can do these things - or even this country’s favourite passtime of denying gender dysphoria exists and that puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries fix it with non-existant regret rates, as if simply fixing a patient’s problem with treatment is a crime.
yankee peanut gallery here and these things seem like a miracle but as a needlephobe. nope. nope. nope.
Not for free, but paid by people’s taxes and insurance contributions.
Drugs have a cost, and there’s always someone paying. With national health insurance, the people getting drugs are the ones paying it. It’s just spread over a large group, and a function of individuals income.
I wonder what the overlap is of people who would get an ozempic shot to lose weight, but don’t get vaccinated because big pharma is bad.
