To wonder if 'Big Food' are up in arms about weight loss injections?

[Iamsunshineinabag]

I've just finished reading Ultra Processed People (great book!) and the realisation that so much processed food is irresistible because they literally design it to be has got me thinking - are the companies that make our favourite salty snacks, fizzy drinks, ready meals, processed foods etc concerned about how many people are using the weight loss injections?

I'm not on the injections myself but a couple of family members are and they are amazed by how the food noise is quietened and they don't crave all this stuff anymore. They are just giving their bodies what they objectively need rather than what they crave. It's a game changer really!

But what are the big food companies thinking? Anyone have any inside info?!

@LaurieFairyCake great to read about how much your health has improved.

@LaurieFairyCake

Great post, and some other great posts on here.

Most people who I've seen post anti-Mounjaro & equiv messages don't understand at all how they work.

Like you say - they are primarily an insulin regulator, blood sugar regulator, GLP-1 hormone and agonist regulator, which as a result of fixing these things that don't work correctly, suppresses the brain's (faulty) messaging to continually want fuel.

But that doesn't sound as good to the naysayers!

I've been on Mounjaro for 2.5 months.
It has finally made me feel like a naturally thin person maybe feels. It's life changing,

I actually feel a bit cheated that as an educated, intelligent, successful yet long term overweight woman, I've spent a lifetime feeling ashamed of my 'lack of willpower' in this one area - yet this medication has addressed physiological issues I didn't even know I had.

@ThinWomansBrain
Your username, really made me laugh, because Mounjaro has given me just that!

No-one thinks those things about overweight people

but…. I am not happy about my tax payer money going to fund your weight loss injections long-term if you have also received education about learning to keep the weight off- unless you have a medical problem

There are loads of things I’m not happy about my (considerable, as I’m a high earner) tax payer money funding, but unfortunately we don’t get to pick and choose. Those who take WLI long term will also be funding them through their taxes, and they will only be available long term on the NHS if the benefit is deemed to outweigh the costs.

Obesity IS an illness. It IS a medical problem/condition.

Out of interest, do you feel the same about other potentially long term treatments available on the NHS for conditions which are 'caused' by behavior/actions taken by the patient?

For example:

People with lung cancer who smoke. They could not smoke?

People who sunbathe who get skin cancer. They could not sunbathe?

People who have skiing accidents/sports injuries. They could not do those things?

People who injure themselves by crashing their car, motor bike or bike. They could not travel?

People who find themselves infertile because they wait to have children because they are older. They could have children younger?

People with alcohol/substance addiction. They could just stop?

After all, the information/education is widely available for all these people to 'avoid' needing treatment in the first place if they 'act in a certain way' or 'avoid taking certain decisions'.

Genuine question. Where do you draw the line.

No, I don't think "big food" are worried about the demographic that can afford to spend £150 a month on weightloss injections

Why not take some time to google and educate yourself. Both on how drugs are approved and the history of these drugs, and also read what was written again. Carefully this time. Not one person wrote these drugs were aapproved for weight loss 40 years ago. 15 years of testing, and then used for diabetes, in different guises, then ongoing testing and trials. Before being approved for weight loss in the last year or two, does not aapproved for weight loss for 40 years.

the things people write. Good lord.

Every thread on WLI at least one person posts that it 'stands to reason' that WLI will save the NHS money because of the costs of obesity. But it isn't necessarily as clear cut as people seem to think. Exactly this analysis has been done for both Ozempic and Mounjaro as part of the NICE evaluation process and at current prices these drugs are only projected to be cost-effective for a subset of the licensed population.

For example, the NICE appraisal for Mounjaro explicitly states that while it is expected to be cost-effective for adults with an initial BMI of at least 35 kg/m2 and at least 1 weight-related comorbidity, it is not likely to be cost-effective for adults with a BMI of 30-35 kg/m2 and at least 1 weight-related comorbidity. Let alone people with obesity and no weight-related comorbidities.

Of course, this balance will change if the companies drop the drug price and when they come off patent. But at the moment they remain very expensive and it is not a given that the drug cost will be offset by other savings.

I (as a person of lowish BMI but with ADHD) am interested in the 'noise quietening' aspect of the drugs, because I've heard that they could be useful, in some cases for ADHD people. I wonder how long it might be before this comes into play?

As I'm a neuroscientist, I have to laugh at an ozempic evangelical telling me to read research 'carefully this time' or 'educate myself'.

The things I could tell you about pharmaceuticals that you don't want to hear...

Also I never said they were approved for weight loss for 40 years, so perhaps you also suffer from reading incomprehension. I questioned why celebrities, known to get their hands on all kinds of off-label quick fixes (for example ADHD drugs) hadn't discovered these drugs sooner.

I questioned why celebrities, known to get their hands on all kinds of off-label quick fixes (for example ADHD drugs) hadn't discovered these drugs sooner

What is your hypothesis?

That the companies manufacturing the drugs need a new one to push people on to to succession plan now that things like statins have reached market saturation.

Interesting. And plausible. I wonder why you didn’t just say that though, rather than all the faux naive ‘I just don’t understaaand’?

Me too, I’m also a neuroscientist.

@Namechangedforthis25 there are loads of conditions that are caused by individual's actions or inactions. For example stress is a huge contributing factor to several serious conditions so would you say - people need to take responsibility for their stress levels and do some meditation etc ... Why should NHS have to treat people who caused their own illness?

No, I'M Spartacus!

Haven’t read the full thread but funnily enough just read this

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/19/magazine/ozempic-junk-food.html

I work in the leisure industry and we've seen a stark loss in fitness memberships since October of which weightloss injections are highlighted as a reason.

However we need to adapt and change messaging that injections are about changing diet it won't do anything for your physical fitness which seems to be getting lost.

Yes the medical problem is obesity so you dont have to worry.

Who says they didnt discover them sooner, just quietly taking them, over time.

Its only as they have become more known that celebs are saying they're using them

I know its different for different people but personally exercise is counter productive for me in terms of losing weight, I am ravenous if I exercise and nearly always eat more than I expend.

Its great for my heart, my balance, my muscle, my bone denisity, my MH, my strength but not weight loss or maintenence.

I am on mounjaro for my diabetes - according to my diabetic nurse I will be on it permanently.

I am diabetic due to the years of my IBD being controlled with steroids, not exactly my own fault. As I’ve gotten older it’s been harder to shift the weight gain that the steroids have caused. I’m my 20’s and 30’s I could easily drop a stone within 4 weeks now I can’t - my diet isn’t horrendous, I don’t drink alcohol or smoke anymore

They don’t just hand it out to everyone, it’s incredibly difficult to get it prescribed even for its intended use. I just met the criteria to get it and I mean by the skin of my teeth. I was happy to pay for wegovy myself. I haven’t told anyone I am on it due to all the negativity around it.

As for the question in the op, I can see a rapid decline in fast food restaurant profits. But then there will always be people who will eat fast food, however they won’t be able to keep up the profits which means it will only get more expensive

I think those who lose all the weight to achieve their goal will consider gyms because they’ll no longer need to be trudging away on the treadmill for hours to lose a few pounds only to gain them (with some friends) back again.

Instead they can focus on fitness and maintaining their new bodies without being ‘the fat one’ in the gym- with all the connotations and stereotypes that come with that image.

this Isn’t a money saver for the NHS necessarily. To be blunt as any economist will tell you, people will get ill and die from something in the end. The work increasing survival rates for cancer and heart disease in the past 50 years has meant people live longer and die from more expensive things instead. Reduce diabetes and increase the amount of people dying from expensive illnesses of old age.

Good example of what’s bonkers about this! Absolutely mad that people think they dont need to exercise for overall health because they are taking weight loss injections

total lack of personal responsibility