to feel uneasy about what this means long term rather than surprised by the weight regain itself?

How will this affect you OP?

What company sells food and also WLI?

^ this

Because they don't have the condition of obesity that as the title piece of this thread points out is hugely likely to recur without long term intervention. Yo yoing weight is dangerous and will further damage metabolism so the regulator has decided that long term benefits outweigh the risks. Whether I like it or not my body's metabolism is broken. The drugs counteract that and enable me to eat healthily without them the chances are I won't. I've lost weight naturally and every time my body gets faster at starting screaming at me that it's absolutely starving and I put on more than I've lost. It's miserable. I can live a complete and healthy life on wlis and, to be honest, if they cost me a few year's life but they're healthy and present I'm fine with that.

Obesity is not a disease, save for in a limited number of cases (at a population level) where people have an endocrine disorder or similar. Yes, some people are built leaner / with a higher metabolism / have a different relationship with food but the fact is that an obese person who is on a calorie restricted diet via any means will lose weight. Someone with an actual disease (eg cancer) cannot be “cured” without actual medicine.

Weight loss labs are undoubtedly a game changer for people who struggle with their weight but not everything is a disease and not everything needs to be seen through a victim mentality (see also: anxiety).

If people want to stop a few kg via weight loss meds instead of shakes / boot camp / whatever other method then that’s their decision. Frankly, good for them if it makes them feel and look better!

Well done for getting help in order not to be obese. Personally I think WLI is great for those who are obese. What I don't think is good is when people who are not overweight use them to become emaciated like a friend of mine and several celebrities that just look sick. For those with ED it's clearly dangerous.

It’s not. It raises valid points.

I’ve a friend who takes it and due to changes in finances she’s getting quite desperate, moved to a cheaper version, but now that doesn’t work. As I say, she’s getting desperate- whilst now at a healthy weight but just can’t stop.

I lost 5 stone naturally and it was incredibly tough. soem of the weight creeped back on and im only lighter now for awful reasons - a side effect of drugs I had after I went psychotic

I do wonder what “for life” actually means. Are people expecting to take these meds in their 70s, 80s, 90s (seeing as we’re living longer)? Will we see elderly people in care homes being given these GLP-1s along with their other meds? Or is the expectation that with age something (not sure what! Metabolism?) changes so we automatically want to eat less? My DOs in their 80s eat less but my DM remains obese. I think actually think losing weight would be the end of her!

I think it's quite clear, if there are not enough long-term studies from pharmaceutical companies, that we don't know what the longterm effects are.

It's the unknown unknowns.

There are already enough known knowns to be concerned about longterm implications on a global-wide usage. These are listed on the product insert, as I understand it, but newer concerns (sudden vision loss, eg) are being reported.

Diabetic patients taking these drugs are at risk of all sorts of serious things if they don't - that's known. The serious adverse consequences of GLP-1 use for some diabetics are known. (Diabetics are at risk of losing eyesight, for example, anyway.) There is a lot of data gathered over the last two decades on this. The risk/benefit ratio there is fairly clear.

There is not enough length of time to say what the consequences of GLP-1 use on a different population might be, and on the massive general population now on them (many of whom are not that overweight), seemingly for life in many cases.

Off the top of my head, slowing gastric emptying over a period of many years will surely have some implications. We don't know what, and we won't know until a certain amount of time has passed. But stifling conversation is not the way to go.

He mentions in his book that at all the medical conferences he attends almost every physician speaker has received some kind of financial compensation from the pharmaceutical industry, so it is hardly an unbiased conversation there also.

I mean, ok, he has concerns. He doesn’t say about what, in the quote you’ve included. Just unspecified concerns based on people taking higher doses long term than people who take the same medication but for T2 diabetes. He’s not concerned about them, even though if there are issues then surely they would encounter them even if at lower rates and after a longer period of time.

I’d like to know what the concerns actually are, as in what is the issue that makes him concerned and what it is he is concerned about. Of course he’s an expert and much more knowledgeable than me about any of this, but I’d like to understand what is actual issue is here.

I'm going to repeat my quote from a book I read recently by David A. Kessler, because absolutely nobody responded to it. He has, you know, "concerns".

Here is a quote from David A Kessler, former FDA commissioner, from his book "Diet, Drugs, and Dopamine". He is the former dean of Yale School of Medicine, and other prestigious universities. Kessler has tried GLP-1s himself.

"I am deeply troubled the FDA approved GLP-1s for long-term chronic use without requiring the pharmaceutical companies to conduct enough studies. The pharmaceutical industry argues that these drugs have been around for decades, but not in such large doses and not for the treatment of obesity. Some people may be able to handle the drugs for life, but we juct don't know. Right now we only have about five years of data at the current doses."

Of course, nobody anywhere in the world is bypassing their country's regulatory body. People have bragged on these threads that they are normal weight and have a history of eating disorders and how they got around the guidelines.

Yes, I think fat will become much more a class thing.

I think a lot of obesity is caused by the crappy upf food that is normalised in this country. I also think that it suits these companies to sell us addictive food and then also sell us a "solution" you need to take for life. Yay money.

So I think these drugs treat the symptoms, not the cause, in many cases. I think that's sad.

(I'm not including people who are obese due to other medical reasons)

Agree!
People are allowed to remain on them at bmi of 20-21 but people on bmi of 24-25 aren’t allowed to start! No sense in that.

I know. I mean they regulate every drug in the uk and decide which population should get it based on a risk benefit analysis of evidence and who can prescribe it and what the criteria should be. I'm not sure why suddenly they'd have had a brain fart over Mounjaro or wegovy and suddenly gone rogue.

Indeed @DarkForces the MHRA decision making process came to the conclusion that the benefits outweigh the risks for anyone with any level of obesity, as well as for those who are overweight with a weight related health issue. They obviously think that being overweight or class 1 or 2 obese carries enough health risks to merit the use of GLP1s. I wonder what it is about that decision making process that was flawed or incorrect?

There really should be an expert regulatory body to weigh up the evidence and create prescribing criteria based on evidence. Oh wait....

That is fantastic. I don't think anyone would suggest you not be using them.

Obviously the risk/benefit ratio needs to be weighed up. Massive health problems come with morbid obesity, but the same level of health problems do not come with being just overweight (or in the first class of obese BMI). People conflate the three.

And GLP-1s are being used worldwide by people a raft of different sizes, many of whom would be better off just increasing a diversity of plant fibre in their diet.

I certainly know the risks of obesity and they're dire. There's a growing body of evidence that's currently being researched that the benefits of weight loss injections may go beyond the benefits associated with weight loss due to them decreasing inflammation and targeting visceral fat.

The risks of remaining obese, particularly morbidly obese, always seem to be totally ignored and forgotten about. My BMI was 50, now it’s 25. My overall risk of serious health issues has massively reduced even with the threat of possible future issues from having taken WLI or continuing to take them.

Oh, you should hear me on Botox and fillers!

Point me to the paracetamol and statin threads. I am generally keen to discuss topical health and/or medication issues. HRT threads are a wash, as one is similarly policed if not on them.

Do you not understand that with any medication the risks of taking it vs not taking it are being considered? Recommendations are being made accordingly? I don't care about the next decades or future mother that hasn't even been born. Im obese now and want a chance at a higher quality of life and longer life. Nothing worse can happen with WLI that can't happen without it.