To wonder if there will be any fall out from skinny jabs?

[TheLemonGuide]

Everyone I know is now suddenly very slim. Okay, im exaggerating slightly, but genuinely, most of my friends who were previously overweight are all now slim thanks to skinny jabs. I am delighted for them! It seems unbelievable to think that a jab can cure this obesity crisis, but I am so pleased my friends and a couple of family members are able to live a healthier life thanks to this.

My only slight concern is, is this something that is going to be too good to be true? Do you think there will be any long term repercussions, or are we right to just celebrate this medication as a cure for something that so many have been battling for so long?

Unfortunately, research is showing that these drugs are not likely to have a massive impact on overall obesity rates. 50% of users quit WLI in the first year, more quit when they reach their goal weight, and of those who quit 95% regain their weight and then some.

I think, with more oversight, they could have a massive postive impact, but that's not what we are seeing currently.

I'm also concerned about the impact on the food industry and that the root causes of obesity are now being overlooked in favour of medication.

We've already seen a massive shift in the food industry with the rise of "high protien" foods, but the way they are marketed is misleading and concerning. The high-protein porridges, for example, they're only 9g of protien on average. That is not high protien, yet people are being led to believe they're getting enough protien by eating them. The protein bars, which are being marketed as a health food are a chocolate bar. For protein, many, but not all of them, are OK, but they are a chocolate bar. A lot of the "high protein" microwave meals rely on quinoa and pea protien to bulk them out, so yes, they have 30g of protein, but most of that is coming from incomplete sources of protien and you might as well be eating a lettuce leaf for all the good the protien is doing for you. Ditto the overpriced protein yoghurts that are just greek yoghurt.

Added to that, we now have food companies employing food scientists to create snacks that are more palatable but less satiating. If we don't crack down on this, we could end up adding to the obesity problem, not reducing it.

To have any meaningful impact on public health, we need to start holding the food companies to account, instead we've shifted our focus to a "miracle" drug which research is showing to be anything but a miracle unless you're prepared to keep paying £££ each month to stay on them for life. The NHS cannot afford to fund that and nor can most of the people paying privately.

Why do people have genuine concerns about the long term use of a drug they are not using though? I mean over the years I have seen discussions about obesity and related conditions but very rarely. The sheer volume of threads about WLI and people suddenly concerned about me is baffling. Where were they all when I was 20 stone and desperate?

Only slightly wrong here. Most recent studies 2024-25 of 9000 WLI users show approx 60% regain weight following cessation of WLIs and that it plateaus at a regain of up to 75% of the weight lost.

Traditional weight loss methods have a regain rate that’s pretty much exactly the same but potentially regaining it a little slower.

The moral of the story being that if you stop trying to manage your weight you’ll likely gain weight regardless of how you lost it in the first place.

It's interesting how it's apparently far too soon to know anything about the long term side effects of WLI, but it's also already definitively known that some high percentage (50, 80% etc) stop taking them within X months, and nearly all of the people who lose weight with them will have put it all back on, and indeed more than they lost, within Y months.

I agree that all weight loss methods have a high rebound rate, which is why I think that to have any meaningful impact on public health, we need to keep our focus on the root cause, which is the food industry.

The way obesity rates climbed was too massive to be due to anything other than an external societal shift. Unless we all, across the Western world, woke up one day with a collective loss of willpower, something external is driving obesity, and that can only be the food industry. The way food is now prepared and marketed to us.

Yes, there are other factors taking some role, such as the rise of households where both parents are working, and a decrease in movement due to changing working patterns, but most of the blame lies with the food industry.

And I must be in the 5% then. I reached goal more than 18months ago, simply fluctuating with 7lbs of my goal weight (usually gain when DH home, lose it again when he is away!!)

Of friends, several have gained a stone back, but they’ve kept off the 3-4 stones they otherwise lost, so feel they are still better off. They know they will have to manage their weight or accept that they may eventually regain if they don’t do this - and have to go on the meds again … but after decades of joining SW/WW etc and going through the same process, they attribute this to personal mis-management of diet/exercise, not the method - and most are more motivated to keep it off after WLI because they spent so much on them, whereas SW/WW was just a fiver a week and they could stop and restart whenever.

In the end it swings in roundabouts - for many people the psychological and physical boost from steady-to-fast weight loss on meds and the removal of food noise/cravings makes this perfect. For others, the calorie and step counting methods makes them feel more engaged and in control. It will then be down to lots of variables for each individual whether either style of weight management works long term. We already know that traditional dieting has not worked for most people, as evidenced by decades of data and an increasing obesity crisis in the western world. If this adds another tool to the arsenal of individuals and society, then that has to be a good thing. No one is being forced to try them or fund them for anyone else.

Yep. Interesting how that attempt at analysis left out ongoing, long term WLI usage isn't it?

It might be that some people will just continue to take them long term but so what?

The claim that the root cause of obesity is the food industry is guesswork. If ultimately an example arises of a human society that's rich enough to feed everyone, doesn't have high smoking/other appetite suppressant rates and also has no obesity problem, we can think about copying them. But there is none, and the people who think it's doable have nothing but blind faith to go on.

So by all means we can rein the food industry in and make positive change. But as nothing has ever been proven to work at reducing obesity rates other than WLI usage, the only known way to impact on public health is to ensure people who need them can get them.

There is no guarantee that any other mechanism exists. Just because people like the idea that we can deal with this by tackling corporations rather than by huge swathes of the population taking lifelong drugs, doesn't make it true.

I wonder if, in decades to come, there did turn out to be a very severe fall out (pancreatic cancer for example) how many will be lining up for their payout after insisting the jabs are worth the risk?

@hollygoolightly why wonder about it? Say what you really think - that everyone would "line up" for a payout. What is the issue with that though, if that were to happen? What would be the issue with people getting financial compensation from the manufacturers in relation to whatever lack of care or mishandling of the research led to the missing of high rates of pancreatic cancer being caused by these medications?

While we're indulging in complete speculation about horribly unpleasant things with no specifics given, probably similar percentages to those who'd be lining up for a payout if we extended those to, say, people who'd been given advice about diet and exercise that evidence showed was doomed to fail and who then went on to develop obesity related complications. Being very ill is expensive and desperate people need money.

People don't get payouts for drug side effects as long as the drug company aren't hiding or not reporting risks.

Without the jabs a huge percentage of us would not be around in ‘decades to come’.

Well there’s no evidence of pancreatic cancer right now, people can only make a decision based on what is known now, the testing of medicine is hugely robust. If there is a severe fall out down the line you can’t exactly blame people for making a decision based on what is known at the time.

Do you blame the mothers of deformed babies who took thalidomide? You can’t know what you don’t know, and if you don’t ever do anything “just in case” you could be taking another risk instead, especially in the case of obese recipients.

In the case of thalidamide the drug company were negligent because they didn't report or remove the thalidamide from the market as soon as they received reports if severe birth defects.

Not as many as would say “I told you so”

this medication has been researched and tested. It does not list pancreatic cancer as a possible side effect, so therefore getting that would not be anticipated and users should’ve been warned. Same as any medication you take, for example the thalidomide drug, which was taken in good faith.

It gets brought up so often on these types of threads, the threat of thalidomide, but it is the reason why new medications are safer, more thoroughly researched and tested, with mechanisms for independently reporting side/adverse effects, rules around marketing. It's not a gotcha to prove that new medications are dangerous, it's actually the example that shows how safe modern medications are in comparison to the era that thalidomide was developed. Which was 70 odd years ago!

I only mention it because that other poster was gleefully talking about how people would feel down the line if some thing was to be found out, as if they should be embarrassed by their so called high risk approach, but I don’t think anyone can blame anyone for making a decision based on what should be solid evidence by the time a drug comes out. No one blames the mothers, and no one should blame the users of WLI if some more sinister risks do surface down the line. We only live for c 80 years, there’s only so long we can wait for evidence!

When you stop any diet/healthy eat habits you gain weight back. 🤷🏻‍♀️I did SW many many times, & lost and gained same 2 stones every time.

@pdjafcwtaoa65 it was the posters wiedling thalidomide as a threat that I was referring to, I think it was first brought up by a poster a couple of days ago.

I think your point is very valid, that even if there did turn out to be some kind of dire adverse effect that was not predicted, that people making decisions with the information available to them should not be blamed for that, or expected to have made different decisions.

What people who bring up things like pancreatic cancer always ignore is the obesity is a major known risk factor for it. It increases your risk by up to 50%. That's a known,understood, massive increase. So losing weight with WLI will overall massively decrease your risk factors for pancreatic cancer.

Been using them for over 2 decades with diabetic patients (first GLP1 drug was Byetta, USA 2005) and no tsunami of pancreatic cancers yet, so I’ll keep calm and carry on thanks.

Hopefully many people will lead longer healthier lives as a result of the drugs. I have two friends who have struggled with their weight since childhood, it's been the defining thing in their lives, and the drug jas released them from that - life changing not just in physical health terms but in terms of emotional and mental health. HOWEVER, widespread use of the drugs including by people who weren't very fat to begin with, has reduced acceptance and visibility of bigger bodies. My daughter in Yr11 has spoken about it, how in the past year the appetite to be really thin amongst teen girls has increased, where a couple years curvy (big bums for example) were hugely desirable. And the other thing i think is a shame, is the stepping back from eating together and food culture . . . my friends on ozempic don't want to go for drinks or to eat, at a special tasting menu birthday treat recently one didn't want to join in and it was a bit sad for the birthday holder.

I think loads of people wouldn't want to pay for an expensive tasting menu though. If you don't have a big appetite it is not good value for money regardless of whether you take weight loss drugs.

Pre WLI, I wasn't one for tasting menus for the opposite reason! I hadn't thought of trying one since, but part of me is interested to see whether they suit me better now my appetite is smaller. Might have to book somewhere...