Is it the begining of the end for Weight loss injections?

No, the “whole point” of WLI is to restore GLP-1 levels in the brain and rebalance the body’s responses to sugar, insulin and food in general. It is not to “ensure weight loss is more rapid”.

Sure, some people do find the weight drops off fast, others of us are happily plodding away losing 1lb a week at a dose that suits us. While also appreciating the excellent blood test results and reduction in joint pain from being merely overweight instead of obese.

@BunfightBetty so the biggest concern is people who are accessing prescription only medication fraudulently or illegally who don’t meet the criteria as laid out by the MHRA. I would agree that people who are reckless enough to access POM for conditions they don’t have are likely to cause themselves harm. Although likely only the current known side effects rather than unknown possible future side effects.

I do wonder why the decision making of the MHRA is under doubt for this specific medication and not all of the other medications they rule on.

Actually these drugs do not simply suppress appetite. They have very significant metabolic impacts, which is why they are so effective and can improve health so much in well selected patients.

We won't know if they were wrong about that for some time, will we! We'll just have to see what happens over time.

They approved it for those with a high BMI, but people of lower BMIs are taking them, without having the risk profile of those with a higher BMI. That's the biggest concern.

I have no skin in this game, I don't take them and don't plan to. I do worry that some people who don't need them may be taking them without thinking carefully about the downsides.

Sorry, but it’s very worrying that you ‘work in healthcare’ and think that these drugs are ‘insulin’ and that ‘people on them are injecting insulin’.
They are not insulin; they are a completely different drug.

And more than 20 years of data in diabetes.

it doesn’t mean we know everything about GLP1s, but then again we still don’t totally understand paracetamol. We will learn more, positive and negative, and adjust use accordingly but they are currently being studied for heart, kidney, liver and brain diseases, so usage likely to increase. Injectables might decrease as more effective non-injectable versions become available, but GLP1s are likely to be very commonly prescribed over the next decade.

Mounjaro stops me drinking as much. Terrible!

@BunfightBettythis is what the MHRA has carefully considered after looking at all the data presented. The decision made was that the benefits outweigh the possible risks of side effects for people with a BMI of 30 plus, or 27plus with a weight related health condition or 27 plus for certain ethnicities. That process has already been gone through and considered. The MHRA did not feel that more data was needed - were they very wrong about that?

@Worralorra there’s no mention of studies in the quote you’ve repeated from the OPs post. Just speculation and repetition of already known issues around weight loss itself.

I think this topic generates intense agitation and defensiveness.

I don't have a horse in this particular race, but I hope that it all works out well and people benefit from it.

But I do think there's a rather aggressive push against any measured, cautionary discussion. It seems to cause havoc if criticised or if someone has a negative experience after taking the jabs.
It might be wiser to have a more balanced, nuanced take on such things. We can explore all angles without having to fight.

An emotive subject though. A guaranteed MN page turner for sure:)

Personally, I'd want more data than that over a longer time-span, to make it worthwhile to me. But I'm only a little overweight and could reasonably lose it, if I could be arsed, just by watching what I eat. If I was seriously obese, with all the health implications that brings, I might feel differently and that it was worth the possible future risk to mitigate the risks I was facing now.

I didn't say I wouldn't advise anyone to take it, did I?

As with any medication, there will be side effects and risks. So you need to be sure you have very good reason to be taking it.

Taking something you have no idea of the long term effects of is silly if the benefits for you personally are not great enough to outweigh the potential risks. So for WLI, if somebody is morbidly obese, with type 2 diabetes, high risk for cardiac disease etc, then it's possible to make a case that the benefits of WLI in mitigating these risks are so significant it's worth the potential risks, including those risks we don't know of yet because there isn't the long-term data yet. But if it's just for cosmetic reasons or perceived as easier than dieting without medication, that trade off looks very different.

Personally, I'm wary of taking anything with wide-spread effects across multiple body systems without there being a good and long track-record of data to see what happens to users over time. But it ultimately comes down to need and the individual risk/benefit calculation for each person and condition.

The ones that OP has mentioned the Doctors are worried about!

”Her doctor admitted that there was widespread concern in the medical field that people who were buying it privately for cosmetic reasons not for medical reasons could face some consequences in the future such as muscle growth and bone degeneration and lack of nutrition - they simply don't have this data at present.”

I’m at the sharp end of this, as a close relative, who I am carer for, is undergoing this treatment, so we have sat through many discussions in appointments where these concerns were raised by DRel and answered in similar vein by their Diabetes specialist consultants…

The genie is out of the bottle and there is £££ to be made so the chemistry will evolve. All the caveats will apply but for years people have been told of an obesity crisis threatening to bring down the NHS. Now there is an alternative we have a wli crisis. Before we ban the injections let's look at the food industry with it's palm oil, sugar and upf and the responsibilities. Then there was the fat shaming and the smug slims who now seem upset because it's not about them

They’ve been around for more than ten years for weight loss specifically already

@Worralorra what are these studies that you’ve mentioned in your post?

Mounjaro is designed to help with T2 Diabetes, and the weight loss is a secondary side effect, which also helps if the patient is overweight (although this isn’t always the case).
It can replace some other medications such as fast-acting insulin, which itself can cause issues such as hypoglycaemia (very dangerous) and weight gain (thus exacerbating the Diabetes) and the outlook for using Mounjaro is therefore expected to be better for T2 Diabetics.
As with all weight loss aids, trying to lose weight rapidly can lead to all sorts of the problems that are being reported, as studies have shown that many people using GLP1 are not eating enough of the nutrients that they need, in their quest to get thin quickly, and this aspect is what is concerning Doctors.
If you use weightloss injections, lose weight slowly (about 500g per week), keep doing weight-bearing exercise, eat the correct amount of protein, carbs and sugars for your current weight, and most importantly, don’t increase the dose until your weight loss on your current dose “plateau’s”, you should be OK…

Build definitely comes into it. I am a small build so look chubby until I am about BMI 21/22. The more weights I lift then I can be a bit heavier and look slimmer. What i was saying is that someone cant say a size 14 isnt obese, it probably is if you're under 5ft2.

Pear shaped people often weigh more but dont carry fat round their organs which can make them healthier, hence why BMI isnt the only thing doctors look at now. In some countries the WLI will be prescribed to people under a certain BMI if all their weight is round their middle as its so unhealthy.

The service I use requires you to complete a live timed and location recorded photoshoot front and side wearing very tight clothes as well as a photo of your feet on the scales, combined with info about height and other medication. It is just not possible to "bulk" up your clothes to appear fatter to get through to a prescription here. I've done two more photoshoots with the same company. I'm now healthy bmi weight and am very much smaller but they know it's definitely me each time. Very happy to use this service, nice and robust though it is quite dangerous balancing on pile of books on a chair to fit into their app's photo frame with feet and arms pointing in the required direction.

Unless you are very short, being a stone overweight would not make you obese. So you would not be eligible for prescription only obesity medication. So, essentially you are saying that you shouldn’t take a prescription only medicaiton for a condition that you don’t have. I think that most people would agree with that!

Are there any other medications, ,
@BunfightBettythat you would advise people not to take for 10 to 30 years just in case of as yet unknown side effects?

It is very hard to look at size of clothing and decide whether someone is obese. I am technically overweight as my BMI is 25.5, but I am very muscular and was told by a qualified nutritionist and dietician that I should just work on my fitness and not get obsessed about the scales. I am a 12/14, as I have a broad shoulders and narrow hips with very long legs. I am also busty so even when I was younger and thinner I was always a size 12/14 as my shoulders/chest don’t fit into a size 10.

With regards WLI I think people should take it if they need it and it is prescribed to them. Lying to get it and using it is a bad idea and will only end in tears eventually.

I don't know about it being the beginning of the end, but it's unarguable that we don't yet have the long-term data on them to really be sure of longer term side effects, and the downsides these may have. We'll only know that after 10, 20, 30 years of them being in use. One good reason to only use them if you are significantly overweight and running the risk of serious health issues like type 2, diabetes, not just if you need to lose a stone or so.

The size of your clothing doesn’t decide obesity. Obesity is dependent on your height and weight. So if you are 5ft 3” and weigh anything which puts your BMI above 30 you are obese. Doesn’t matter if you fit into size 12 or a 16.

Muscle loss is a well known issue with weight loss which can be mitigated so i don’t see how it’s a particular concern with this drug. Not sure the trials suggest a particularly rapid or massive loss either, I certainly didn’t have this. As PP mentioned, onus is on user to exercise and lose at a safe pace.

if you lose six stone and then spend 20 years bed bound and get muscle wastage that’s on you not the injections. Everyone knows how to build muscle.

None of what you’ve put in your OP is new info. I’ve seen those points discussed on here several times.

People have just weighed these against the benefits to them and decided to go with the benefits.