We know so little about taking weight-loss drugs without prescription – is it really worth it? | Devi Sridhar
Studies show that they’re effective for overweight people, but if you’re healthy, there are less risky ways to lose weight
When I’ve been in the gym over the past few months, one of the things people like to talk about has nothing to do with fitness and building strength, and everything to do with weight loss. There’s a suspected culprit when celebrity after celebrity demonstrates a dramatic and sudden drop in size; one that made Danish pharmaceutical firm Novo Nordisk the most valuable company in Europe last year, and which Denmark has used as a bargaining chip as retaliation to the US when Trump announced his plans to take over Greenland.
Yes, it’s the widespread use of anti-obesity jabs (often referred to as GLP-1 drugs). In a 2024 poll, 12% of those surveyed in the US said they had taken or were taking them, with the numbers rising steeply year by year. This is roughly the same as estimates of antidepressant usage in the American population and far higher than the numbers taking heartburn medication. It’s become a coveted luxury in middle- and low-income countries, with high prices being the main barrier to usage – the cost is $95 a month in Brazil and $115 in South Africa, compared with about $350 in the US.
Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, and the author of the How Not to Die (Too Soon)
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