A doctor has issued a warning for those on weight loss drugs in the wake of a new scientific study that looked into what happens when you stop the jabs.
From Mounjaro to Wegovy, weight loss jabs have gained huge popularity in the last few years as more and more people are turning to them to help shed the pounds. While they were initially designed to help manage health conditions like type two diabetes, some medications, such as Mounjaro, are now approved for weight loss too due to their appetite-suppressing effects.
The drugs work as as an appetite suppressant by mimicking a hormone called GLP-1 which makes people feel fuller.
However, questions have been raised about how long you should take the jabs for, what happens when you stop, and how to keep the weight off.
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As we say, new University of Oxford research, published in the British Medical Journal, included 37 trials involving more than 9,000 people who took medications such as semaglutide (Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro).
And according to the research, users are rapidly re-gaining the weight after stopping treatment, much faster than traditional dieters.
Participants were treated for an average of 10 months and had an average follow-up of eight months.
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Overall, people using weight-loss medication lost an average of 8.3kg, but regained 4.8kg within a year and returned to their original weight within about 1.7 years after stopping treatment.
The study also found that health benefits such as improved blood sugar and cholesterol levels faded after treatment ended, with all cardiometabolic markers returning to baseline within about 1.4 years.
So, it's been concluded that there's a need for long-term support for people who are taking the jabs, so they don't just re-gain the weight after stopping treatment.
Susan Jebb, the professor of diet and population health at the University of Oxford and chair of the Food Standards Agency, who co-authored the study, spoke with The Telegraph about the findings.
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She warned: "They’re expensive and you need to be fully informed, so you can really consider whether they’re value for money for you.
"I don’t discourage people from taking these medications because they are very effective. I just don’t want them to be seduced by the idea that they’ll be two stone lighter ever after."
The expert went on to warn against people who are not overweight taking the drugs, 'because we don’t know the effects'.
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She explained: “The slimmer you are to start with, the more muscle you tend to lose, and so if people are taking these to improve their physique, this is probably not the right way to do it. These are a treatment for obesity, they’re not about changing the way you look.
“Taking it for a few weeks to lose a bit of weight, say before a holiday, and then coming off it, with likely a very high chance of regaining the weight, doesn’t seem to me a sensible plan."
Essentially, Jeb said, the bottom line is that 'you’re going to have to work extra hard to keep the weight off. That’s the message'.
for comment.
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A spokesperson for Eli Lilly (Mounjaro) said: "Obesity is a chronic progressive disease, and people living with obesity deserve care that reflects that reality. Many long-term conditions, such as high blood pressure or diabetes, need ongoing treatment. Authorised weight-management medicines, when prescribed appropriately, can be part of longer-term care alongside healthy eating, physical activity, and medical follow-up. When treatment is stopped, weight can return, which reflects the biology of the condition rather than a lack of effort. Lilly continues to study the long-term effects of these medicines and works closely with healthcare professionals and people living with obesity to support their safe and appropriate use."
Tyla has contacted Novo Nordisk (Wegovy) for comment.
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Madison Burgess