From Obesity to Ozempic: Is This the Right Way to Lose Weight?
In this weekender episode of In Focus, we ask: Why is it becoming harder to lose weight? What role do our gut and brain play in shaping our relationship with food? And should drugs like Ozempic step in where lifestyle changes and willpower fall short?
Guest: Dr Jack Mosley, the author of Food Noise: How weight loss medications & smart nutrition can silence your cravings
Host: Preeti Zechariah
Edited by Jude Francis Weston and Sharmada Venkatasubramanian
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The Print
12 hours ago
- The Print
‘Fat-shamers are now Ozempic-shamers' — new book takes on India's weight-loss obsession
It was a power-packed panel: Minister of State Jitendra Singh, actor Sharmila Tagore, and HT Media chairperson Shobhana Bhartia shared the stage alongside the two authors and Sanghvi. 'Will you be listed among the quacks – the dieticians and gym trainers who masquerade as weight-loss experts?' journalist and columnist Vir Sanghvi asked Mithal, half-jokingly. New Delhi: At the launch of leading endocrinologist Ambrish Mithal's book on obesity, co-authored with journalist Shivam Vij, the discussion turned to India's cultural obsession with weight loss and the science behind the drugs that have everyone in a chokehold. But the question that kicked off the event at Delhi's ITC Maurya last week captured both the uncertainty and the social media debates swirling around those promoting such drugs. Mithal and Vij's book — The Weight Loss Revolution: Weight Loss Drugs and How to Use Them, published by Juggernaut Books — describes itself as the authoritative work on Ozempic, Mounjaro and other GLP-1 drugs. Also read: Desperate Indians want Ozempic on prescription. Huge shift from traditional drugs, say doctors The science behind the 'revolution' While working on the book, Mithal sought to confront a hydra-headed demon: misinformation. The rise of GLP-1 drugs is linked to the increase in health-related conversation, media consumption, and a society in which being thin is the perennial aspiration. As a result, it's been written and talked about tremendously. 'The media either takes it to one extreme or another,' Mithal said. 'Nearly every two weeks, The New York Times has an article saying that this is the answer to the world's problems. Then there are those who say this is a marketing gimmick. As usual, the answer lies somewhere in between.' The book's genesis lay in Mithal's desire to explain the science behind what has been described as 'a revolution' in the weight loss world. Vij, Mithal's co-writer and first obesity patient to take semaglutide — the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy — said he lost 15 kgs over the past 15 months. Now, the endocrinologist has one hundred patients on Wegovy, over 500 on Mounjaro (tirzepatide), and thousands on Rybelsus. These drugs were originally prescribed for diabetes. However, half of Mithal's patients want to use the drug to lose weight. 'Over the years, other than lifestyle changes and invasive bariatric surgery, all other methods to treat obesity have fallen off,' said Mithal. Also read: I was a pregnant penguin, see my before-after pics. 66-yr-old's Ozempic to Mounjaro journey Standing up to Ozempic-shamers GLP-1 drugs exist in a strange, inchoate space. There's covert acceptance, with leading celebrities taking Ozempic and the easy availability of the drug. But for the most part, there's reluctance in terms of public acknowledgment. Moreover, its usage is met with scepticism. As Vij noted, a layer of shame surrounds those who have taken it –– because they supposedly haven't 'put in the work.' 'Yesterday's fat-shamers are today's Ozempic-shamers,' he said. 'They're not happy either way. When you're fat, they're unhappy and when you're thin, they're unhappy.' The book features interviews with nine of Mithal's patients. One of them, a 26-year-old woman, gained weight after an accident at the age of 18. She was unable to lose weight through traditional methods. Other than delving into the science, the book also appears to lift some of the stigma around the drugs –– facilitating widespread, public acceptance. Actor Sharmila Tagore, who made it to the event via three modes of transport courtesy rain and the ensuing traffic, said that having spent her life in front of the camera, 'she understands society's obsession with bodies.' That's why this book comes at a critical time, as these drugs are projected to fundamentally alter this obsession. 'In a few years, everybody will be on it and everybody will be thin. That's my prediction,' said Vij. (Edited by Prashant)
Time of India
15 hours ago
- Time of India
What other health conditions are weight-loss drugs being used and tested for?
Bengaluru: Novo Nordisk 's weight-loss treatment Wegovy gained U.S. approval to treat a progressive liver condition on Friday, as the Danish drugmaker looks to boost sales and widen insurance coverage. Eli Lilly's blockbuster diabetes drug Mounjaro and related weight-loss therapy Zepbound, and Novo's rival medicines Ozempic and Wegovy brought in combined sales of over $40 billion last year, which is expected to rise to $60 billion in 2025. Here are some of the other conditions the drugs are being used and tested for: Alcohol addiction A study conducted by the University of Copenhagen's Psychiatric Centre Rigshospitalet is investigating whether semaglutide - the main ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic - can help reduce alcohol intake in 108 patients diagnosed with alcohol use disorder and obesity . Alzheimer's disease Novo Nordisk is testing semaglutide in a late-stage trial in patients with early Alzheimer's disease. The study, which will enroll 1,840 patients, could have an initial data readout as early as later this year. Cardiovascular disease Eli Lilly was testing tirzepatide - the main ingredient in Mounjaro and Zepbound - for patients with heart failure and obesity. Lilly had said it would enroll about 700 people in the study, but the company said in May that it has withdrawn its U.S. application for heart failure approval. Novo won the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval in 2024 to use Wegovy to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death, heart attack and stroke in overweight or obese adults without diabetes. The European Medicines Agency backed the use of Novo's semaglutide to help ease heart failure symptoms in people with obesity in September 2024. Chronic kidney disease Novo's Ozempic is approved in the United States for reducing the risk of kidney failure and disease progression as well as the risk of death due to heart problems in diabetes patients with chronic kidney disease. Lilly's tirzepatide is being evaluated in a mid-stage study of patients with chronic kidney disease and obesity. Lilly plans to enroll up to 140 participants with the study expected to be completed next year. Liver disease Novo's Wegovy in August became the first GLP-1 therapy approved in the U.S. to treat adults with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, or MASH, based on results from the first part of its late-stage trial. Results from the second part, with about 1,200 patients, is expected in 2029. Lilly's tirzepatide in February helped up to 74% of patients achieve absence of MASH with no worsening of liver scarring at 52 weeks, compared with 13% of patients on placebo, in a mid-stage trial. Neurological disorders Researchers at the Danish Headache Center are testing semaglutide along with a very low calorie diet as a treatment for new-onset idiopathic intracranial hypertension, a condition associated with obesity in which blood pressure inside the head rises. The study has enrolled about 50 patients and is expected to complete in October 2025. Sleep apnea Zepbound was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for obstructive sleep apnea in December 2024, making it the first drug to directly treat patients with the common disorder that causes breathing disruption while sleeping.
India Today
17 hours ago
- India Today
Household air pollution is a risk factor for dementia: Lancet study in Karnataka
Cooking with polluting fuels such as firewood, cow dung cakes, and kerosene has shown to silently damage the brain, especially among women in rural India, according to new study, conducted under the Centre for Brain Research-Srinivaspura Aging, Neuro Senescence, and Cognition (CBR-SANSCOG) project, and published in The Lancet, suggests that household air pollution from cooking fuels is a major but overlooked risk factor for cognitive earlier studies linked smoke from kitchens to lung and heart disease, this is among the first to use brain imaging to show its possible impact on memory and thinking abilities in India's rural population. Researchers examined 4,145 adults aged 45 and above from a rural community in were grouped based on the type of cooking fuels they used – only clean (such as LPG or electricity), a mix of clean and polluting, or only polluting fuels. Their memory, attention, executive function, and visuospatial ability were tested using culturally adapted computer-based addition, 994 participants underwent brain MRI scans to study brain volume and white matter findings are striking. People who relied solely on polluting cooking methods scored quite low in global cognition, executive functions, and visuospatial skills (skills needed for navigation, analysing, perceiving, and spatial relationships) compared to those using clean those who used a mix of fuels performed worse in overall appeared especially vulnerable in the study. Female participants exposed to polluting fuels not only had lower global cognition scores but also showed reduced hippocampal volumes on MRI scans – a part of the brain critical for believe this could be because women in rural households spend more time near the cooking area, facing prolonged exposure to harmful fumes.'These results highlight how something as basic as the type of fuel used in kitchens can have long-term consequences on brain health. Women in particular face double jeopardy – higher exposure and greater cognitive risk," the researchers study also observed a link between fuel exposure and white matter hyperintensities (WMHs), which are brain changes often associated with ageing, stroke, and adds further weight to concerns that household air pollution may accelerate brain ageing and cognitive findings are a wake-up call for policymakers. While India has made progress through schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana that provide LPG connections to rural households, many families still rely on biomass due to affordability and access clean cooking technologies is not just about reducing respiratory illnesses. It may also help protect brain health and reduce the risk of dementia in rural India's population ages, such evidence highlights the need for cleaner kitchens – not just for lungs, but for minds as well.- Ends
