Blockbuster weight loss jabs ‘significantly lower' the risk of dementia
WEIGHT loss jabs may also help ward off dementia, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that semaglutide - the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy - could "significantly" slash the risk of the brain-robbing disease in people with
1
Weight loss and antidiabetic jabs like Ozempic and Wegovy could have other health benefits
Credit: Getty
Study leader Professor Rong Xu said: "There is no cure or effective treatment for dementia, so this new study provides real-world evidence for its potential impact on preventing or slowing dementia development among a high risk population."
Semaglutide, part of a group of drugs called GLP-1 agonists, was originally invented to treat
But trials found it could also cause major weight loss - about 10 to 15 per cent of body weight over 18 months.
It triggers fullness hormones in the gut to prevent hunger and
Semaglutide has already been found to lower the risk of heart disease, bowel cancer and fertility issues.
But researchers at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine in
The syndrome occurs when brain cells are damaged and their connections stop working properly.
That damage, which worsens over time, impacts
Most read in Health
It can be caused by various conditions and events, including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, traumatic brain injury and stroke.
Previous research has indicated that 45 per cent of dementia cases could be prevented by addressing these "modifiable risk factors".
Feeling Full Naturally: Top 5 Foods That Act Like Weight Loss Jabs
The new study, published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, analysed the electronic records of nearly 1.7million American patients with type 2 diabetes over three years.
Patients taking semaglutide had a "significantly lower" risk of developing Alzheimer's disease-related dementia compared to those on seven other antidiabetic medications.
This included other types of GLP-1R-targeting drugs.
The results were more "profound" in women and older adults.
Prof Xu said the findings support the idea that semaglutide could prevent dementia.
But she cautioned that more research is needed.
"Our results indicate that research into semaglutide's use for dementia prevention will need to be further investigated through randomised clinical trials," Prof Xu added.
Are you eligible for weight loss jabs on the NHS?
By Sam Blanchard, Health Correspondent
THEY are arguably the biggest medical breakthrough of recent times.
And now, so-called 'fat jabs' are available to many more Brits on the NHS.
In what marks the dawn of a new era, GPs have begun prescribing the weight loss jab
More than three million people are thought to be eligible for tirzepatide - the active drug in Mounjaro - the strongest jab on the market.
Health chiefs hope it will turn the tide on England's obesity crisis which has
Injections including Ozempic and Wegovy have previously only been available for type 2 diabetes or through specialist slimming clinics.
Family doctors will now be encouraged to prescribe them in a bid to get more people on the meds.
Experts hope widespread use will slash work sick days and boost the economy, while reducing rates of cancer, heart disease and dementia.
But demand for the drugs is already huge and NHS clinics cannot dish them out fast enough.
Who is eligible in the new rollout?
The new rollout allows GPs to prescribe tirzepatide for weight loss, starting with those patients whose weight places them at greatest health risk.
Top of the list will be those with a
A BMI of 40 is roughly equal to weighing 16st (102kg) for an average height 5'3' woman, or 19st 6lbs (123kg) for an average 5'9' man.
Weight-related conditions include
Patients will likely be expected to have tried diet and exercise first before being offered a jab.
Many are likely to miss out, as some 13.5million adults in England are obese but only 3.4million are estimated to be eligible in the rollout.
Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: 'Currently only patients who meet certain criteria - those who could benefit most - are eligible to be prescribed weight loss drugs on the NHS, and GPs will also need to follow local guidelines when prescribing.
'If your practice advises you that they won't be able to provide weight loss medication, these will likely be the reasons why.
'We appreciate the idea of weight loss medication is an attractive prospect to many patients - and they do have a lot of potential benefits for patients and may be a valuable tool as we try to tackle obesity at a national level – but it's important these medications aren't seen as a silver bullet.
'Weight loss drugs do not come without risk, they can cause side effects which range in seriousness, and they won't be suitable for everyone.
'It's important we don't lose sight of the role lifestyle factors play in achieving a healthy weight.
'The roll out of weight loss medications as a treatment for obesity must not come at the expense of other weight loss services.'
If you are eligible but your GP denies you a prescription, you may be able to ask for a referral to specialist weight management services.
Known as tier 2 and tier 3 weight management services, they may prescribe the jabs after other weight loss attempts.
Many people are expected to find it easier to go private, with the injections widely available from high street pharmacies like Boots, Superdrug, and even Asda.
There are also numerous online pharmacies offering the drugs.
Buying the drugs online might seem like the faster fix – but buyer beware.
Slimming success stories are everywhere but so, too, are tales of horror.
Many patients have been duped by dodgy sellers, suffered severe
Bargain prices, easy tick-box applications, or prescriptions with no follow-up, should all be red flags to online shoppers.
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The Irish Sun
4 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Never-before-seen dog-sized dinosaur that dodged 32ft flesh-eating giants and killer crocs found after 150 MILLION years
A "NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN" dinosaur that dates back 150 million years has been revealed – and is now on show in the heart of London. The speedy creature would've dodged 32ft flesh-eating giants and even crocodiles to survive in prehistoric 13 A brand new dinosaur has gone on show at the historic Natural History Museum in London Credit: Natural History Museum 13 The speedy creature would've darted around prehistoric Colorado, USA Credit: Natural History Museum / Bob Nicholls 13 At about a metre long, the dinosaur was the size of a very large dog Credit: Sean Keach Officially named Enigmacursor mollyborthwickae , the two-legged sprinter is available for free public viewing at the Natural History Museum from Thursday, June 26. The metre-long creature's fossilised skeleton is remarkably well-preserved, stretching over a metre long (3.2ft) – and about 50cm (1.6ft) tall. Visitors will be able to get up close to the early American creature, which lived alongside iconic dinos like Diplodocus and Stegosaurus. "What we're dealing with here is a new species of dinosaur that comes from Colorado in the western USA," said Professor Paul Barrow, of the Natural History Museum, speaking to The Sun at the grand unveiling. Read more on dinosaurs "It was discovered back in 2021 and we were able to acquire it thanks to an amazingly generous private donation, which allowed us to buy it for the museum." BACK IN TIME The dinosaur itself is believed to have not been fully grown. Normally the upper and lower parts of the creature's back bones would fuse together as the animal aged. But they weren't fully fused together, suggesting that the dino may have been quite young. Most read in Science And it certainly would've been surrounded by "At the time, Colorado would have been a floodplain," said Professor Susannah Maidment, of the Natural History Museum, speaking to The Sun. Walking With Dinosaurs: Official Trailer, BBC "It would have had a series or rivers coming down from high land to the west, and there would have been dinosaurs all over it. "Some of the most famous dinosaurs – thinks like Diplodocus and Camarasaurus and Brachiosaurus. "And so this little dinosaur would have been running around at the feet of those giants." GREEN MACHINE This particular dinosaur was a herbivore, meaning it mostly ate plants. 13 The remarkably preserved fossilised skeleton was found in a quarry Credit: Natural History Museum 13 Scientists have pieced together the fossils to reconstruct the dinosaur Credit: Natural History Museum But because flowering plants hadn't evolved yet, Professor Maidment told us, it "would have just been eating things like cycads and ferns". The dinosaur didn't need to move fast to eat – but it did need speedy legs to avoid being eaten. It lived alongside deadly predators, including "We know it's a very speedy little dinosaur," said Professor Paul Barrow. 13 It was previously thought to be a type of poorly-understood dinosaur called a Nanosaurus Credit: Natural History Museum 13 The official name for the new dinosaur is the Engimacursor mollyborthwickae Credit: Natural History Museum "It has very long hind legs – it walks on its hind legs only. "So its main defence against predators would actually have just been a speedy getaway. "And it's living at the same time as quite a lot of other large predatory dinosaurs. "Probably the most famous of which is a thing called 29 to 32ft ) in length – it's quite common at the time. A timeline of life on Earth Here's a brief history of life on our planet 4.6billion years ago – the origin of Earth 3.8billion years ago – first life appears on Earth 2.1billion years ago – lifeforms made up of multiple cells evolve 1.5billion years ago – eukaryotes, which are cells that contain a nucleus inside of their membranes, emerge 550million years ago – first arthropods evolve 530million years ago – first fish appear 470million years ago – first land plants appear 380million years ago – forests emerge on Earth 370million years ago – first amphibians emerge from the water onto land 320million years ago – earliest reptiles evolve 230million years ago – dinosaurs evolve 200million years ago – mammals appear 150million years ago – earliest birds evolve 130million years ago – first flowering plants 100million years ago – earliest bees 55million years ago – hares and rabbits appear 30million years ago – first cats evolve 20million years ago – great apes evolve 7million years ago –first human ancestors appear 2million years ago – Homo erectus appears 300,000 years ago – Homo sapiens evolves 50,000 years ago – Eurasia and Oceania colonised 40,000 years ago – Neandethal extinction 13 The Sun spoke to Natural History Museum experts Professor Susannah Maidment and Professor Paul Barrett, who discovered the new species Credit: Natural History Museum "But also a lot of speedy predators as well, and also some big crocodiles that could have taken out this guy." DIG IT The creature was first unearthed in 2021 from a commercial quarry. And it was thought to be a Nanosaurus, a "poorly-known" species that was first named in 1870s. The Enigmacursor was acquired from the David Aaron Ltd gallery with support from David and Molly Lowell Borthwick (after whom the dinosaur is now named). 13 The dinosaur would've lived between 145 and 150 million years ago Credit: Natural History Museum 13 It would've lived alongside giants like Diplodocus and Stegosaurus Credit: Natural History Museum And Natural History Museum scientists renamed it after analysing the specimen, confirming it as a species new to science. But there is still a mystery: exactly how fast the nippy little creature could run. "It was a two-legged dinosaur and so it had very small forelimbs actually," Professor Maidment told us. "But we don't really know how fast it would have run at all. "It probably might have been able to just about outrun us – but probably not much faster than that." 13 Analysis of the dinosaur revealed that it belonged to a brand new species Credit: Natural History Museum 13 Visitors can go to see the dinosaur at the museum for free from Thursday, June 26 Credit: Sean Keach 13 Scientists have been able to reconstruct what the dinosaur would've looked like based on its fossils Credit: Natural History Museum
The Irish Sun
10 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
My world shattered when ‘kissing virus' left our son quadriplegic – every mum needs to know 4 rules to stop it spreading
YOU wouldn't think twice about kissing your kids, sharing food with them or perhaps putting their dummy in your mouth to clean it. But a mum is urging parents to be aware that this is in fact, NHS advice. Helen Harrison, 40, was excited to have her fourth child and first son, Alfie. But he was born disabled after she unknowingly caught a common virus that harms unborn babies, and yet, most parents or midwives have even heard of it. 7 Helen Harrison, 40, unknowingly caught cytomegalovirus (CMV) while pregnant Credit: supplied 7 The mum-of-four passed on the common virus to baby Alfie in the womb Credit: supplied 7 Severely disabled Alfie, now six, has cerebral palsy, epilepsy, limited vision and a learning disability due to the virus Credit: supplied Now six years old, severely disabled Alfie has Helen, of Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, says: 'He can't do anything for himself, and probably never will.' Helen feels she was 'let down' by the NHS, having never been told about Helen, married to Dan, 42, a construction firm boss, tells Sun Health: "I've never walked into a doctor's surgery and seen a poster about CMV saying, don't share your children's food or cutlery, or kiss them on the mouth. "It's the summer months, you wouldn't hesitate to let your child have a lick of your ice cream. "It makes me really cross that you're not warned about CMV. I just feel a bit let down.' It's thought health chiefs don't want to unnecessarily scare parents about a virus that is so common, so easily spread but for most, has little consequences. "Most babies with congenital CMV do not have any symptoms," the For some, like Alfie, the impact is life-limiting. Up to 4,000 babies are born with CMV every year, according to Dr Helen Payne, a leading CMV researcher at London's Imperial College and St Mary's Hospital. Of those, an estimated 800 have long-term consequences, such as deafness or learning disabilities, while 200 suffer as severely as Alfie. The signs of common virus that could be deadly to babies - and how to spot them in your tot Dr Payne says: "It's upsetting that a condition that is so widespread and profoundly affects some infants is barely known by the public, especially when there are actions that can be done to prevent infection." CMV is a common bug that usually has no symptoms, but for some, may cause the sniffles, a rash or temperature. Professor Hermione Lyall, Britain's leading clinical expert in CMV, based at St Mary's Hospital, says: 'Generally speaking, most of us have it as we grow up and grow older, but it never really does us any harm. 'It only really causes a problem if you are a baby in the womb and you haven't yet developed an immune system, or if you're somebody who's immunosuppressed.' The bug can be passed between people in close contact through bodily fluids, including saliva, urine and faeces. It can therefore spread when sharing cutlery, straws or dummies and from mouth-to-mouth contact, such as kissing. Pregnant women who work closely with children or already have a young family are more at risk of getting CMV, the NHS says. Official advice to pregnant women or those around expectant mums is to follow four important rules (scroll down for more information). 1. Wash hands with soap after changing nappies or wiping kids' noses 2. Avoid sharing food & drink with children, including glasses, straws & cutlery 3. Never put children's dummies in your own mouth 4. Kiss your children on the forehead, not the mouth 'Burst into tears' Prof Lyall says midwives don't receive extensive training on CMV. "We got hold of the main textbook for midwives, and there was about six lines on CMV, and it's not really correct or relevant to the modern world at all,' she says. 'Most people know about avoiding cat litter in pregnancy because you don't want to get toxoplasmosis, or about avoiding soft cheese because you don't want to get listeria. 'But the chances of getting either of these infections are absolutely minuscule, less than 20 cases a year, whereas there are up to 4,000 children a year born in the UK with CMV.' A former primary school teacher, Helen had a 'textbook pregnancy' before Alfie came along. 'He was born in my trousers at the front door of the hospital,' Helen recalls. A crash team rushed to the site and noticed Alfie had a pinprick rash all over his body. Worried about the shock of the freezing December weather, they whisked him away to the Special Care Baby Unit. At first, the doctors and nurses didn't seem too concerned. 7 Alfie cannot walk, stand or feed himself but his 'laughs and smiles' delight his devoted parents and sisters Credit: supplied 7 Helen feels 'let down' by the NHS, having never been told about the virus Credit: supplied But the following morning, when Alfie's father Dan arrived, the couple was ushered into a side room. It's just that total shock. I think I had that naïve belief that it would never happen to me They were told that a brain scan had revealed multiple abnormalities and Alfie's liver and spleen were enlarged. The news was devastating for the young couple. 'We burst into tears,' says Helen, who says they were not treated with compassion. A paediatrician allegedly told Dan: 'You need to sort yourself out and man up. Your wife needs you.' Helen says: 'They started asking lots of questions - what was the pregnancy like? Did I have any 'Did I follow the guidelines of what you should and shouldn't eat? I felt they were blaming me.' With no clear answers, the hospital contacted the specialist infectious diseases team at St Mary's Hospital, London , who recommended Alfie was tested for CMV. His viral load was then discovered to be 'sky high'. He was immediately given medication, which reduced the infection, but could not undo the damage to his brain. Helen says: 'It's just that total shock. I think I had that naïve belief that it would never happen to me.' Dr Payne says that the most dangerous time for a foetus is the first three months of pregnancy. But treating the mum can prevent the virus being transmitted to the baby. 'He laughs, he smiles' She is among experts calling for screening of all pregnant women, as is the case in parts of France, Spain and Greece, as well as in Ontario, The UK's National Screening Committee has to consider whether a screening programme for any condition is worthwhile - in this case, including whether it will cause alarm to parents. A screening programme for CVM was rejected in 2017 and 2022. The NSC is due to consider testing both mothers and babies for CMV this summer, with an announcement expected in the autumn. Dr Lyall says: 'There's competition from all kinds of things, such as screening for cancer, genetic diseases or metabolic diseases. 'The thing that is very tough for us is the fact that there's an intervention that can prevent the virus from going across and causing damage to a baby, and we're not able to offer that to women because we don't diagnose that the infection is there. "It's only the more severe babies that get picked up, because we're not screening for it, and so it's just not out there that this is something that people need to worry about in pregnancy." The experts are also calling for CMV to be included in the heel prick test given to every newborn baby in the UK at five days, so that those affected can be identified quickly. The charity That includes direct costs to the NHS and social services, workdays lost by parents plus the expense of therapies and equipment. Helen cares for Alfie full time, but would like to return to work in the special needs sector. I visit the family in their comfortable, detached home, and Alfie seems like a happy little boy. Dressed in a dinosaur T-shirt and leggings, he lies on a play mat surrounded by sensory toys, contentedly gurgling. Though he cannot speak, Helen says he is very communicative. Sometimes Dan and I wonder what Alfie would be like if he hadn't been affected by CMV, would he be running around, terrorizing his sisters? Helen 'He laughs, he smiles,' she says. 'He'll scream and shout if he's not happy. He hasn't got words, but he's definitely got his own voice. "If he's upset, then it takes a while to sort of soothe him. And you wish, God, I just wish he could just tell me what is wrong." Alfie can't eat solid foods, so doctors suggested a feeding peg that would deliver liquid food straight into his stomach via a tube. Helen was against the idea, unless Alfie were to stop thriving. 'We've worked so hard to keep him orally fed,' she says. 'He really enjoys flavoursome foods. Just last night, we were around at my parents' and he was given a spoonful of lemon meringue pie filling, and then he's immediately opening his mouth for the next spoonful. It's just such a joy. 'And it is a social thing as well to eat, so we just don't want him to lose that.' Alfie attends a special needs school where he loves interacting with other children. He is also adored by his older sisters Evie, 12, Millie, 10, and Chloe , eight. "Sometimes Dan and I wonder what Alfie would be like if he hadn't been affected by CMV, would he be running around, terrorizing his sisters?' says Helen. He will always carry the virus, but it is now inactive. In 2019, Helen and Dan did the Tough Mudder 15km obstacle course challenge to raise £5,000 for the charity CMV Action, and since then have raised more. But their main aim is to raise awareness, so that other children and families do not have to face the same heartache. Helen says: "I still do feel quite guilty, because at the end of the day I caught the virus. So what if I hadn't? If I hadn't caught that virus, Alfie would be your average child and wouldn't have to live such a challenging life. 'I don't think that guilt will ever go, I just try and bury it.' 7 Helen and husband Dan want to raise awareness, so that other children and families do not have to face the same heartache as they have Credit: supplied 7 Alfie is adored by his older sisters Evie, 12, Millie, 10, and Chloe, eight Credit: supplied WHAT MUMS SHOULD BE WARNED ADVICE from the NHS to pregnant women, or those trying for a baby: Wash hands using soap and water, especially after changing nappies or wiping your children's snotty noses. Avoid sharing food, e.g. do not finish your children's food. Do not share cutlery, straws or drinking glasses with your children Never put your children's dummies in your own mouth. Kiss your children on the forehead - avoid kissing them on the mouth Regularly wash toys or other items that may have young children's saliva or pee on them If you are unwell with an unexplained fever or rash during early pregnancy, ask your midwife or doctor for a test for CMV infection
Irish Examiner
12 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Suzanne Harrington: I have been on Mounjaro for three months — here's what happened
Three little words — effortless weight loss — seem to really trigger people, eliciting all kinds of opinions, reactions, and judgements. What, no suffering? Fat people have traditionally been viewed as weak, so suffering towards thinness is character building. Bypassing that suffering is, therefore, cheating. We have long associated fatness with words like greed and laziness, so that sweating and starving provides a redemptive arc — hence the popularity of watching fat people attending boot camps. And yet here we are, ushering in a new era of effortless weight loss. Weight loss without hunger — something geneticist Tim Spector terms 'the holy grail'. What's not to like? Every Friday for the past three months, I have been sticking a tiny needle into my stomach — so tiny, I can't even feel it. A new tiny needle each time, which I attach to a pen pre-filled with four weekly 2.5mg doses of tirzepatide, aka Mounjaro, which I keep in the fridge. Every month, my supplier mails me a new pen, and I send them payment. It's astonishingly straightforward. I first tried Mounjaro last summer for a month but it made me nauseous so I stopped. Three months ago, I decided to give it another go, having read up on how to better manage side effects by eating little and often. It worked. Since then, I have been losing weight easily, non-dramatically — I am 1.62m and started at 78kg, which translates to a BMI of 29.7. (A BMI of 25-plus is overweight, a BMI of 30-plus is obese, and a BMI of 40-plus is morbidly obese). Three months later, I am currently 70kg, with a BMI of 26.7. My appetite has been reset, while my pleasure in food has remained unaltered. Less is more. Suzanne Harrington: I have been losing weight easily, non-dramatically Tirzepatide contain two hormones, GLP-1 and GIP, which are naturally produced in the gut; their function is to tell the brain when the stomach is full. The drug acts as a booster dose to these naturally occurring hormones — so instead of eating a whole pizza, you might eat one or two slices of pizza and then stop because you feel naturally full. The pizza is still delicious. It has the same effect as bariatric surgery — you enjoy your food the same as you ever did in terms of taste and appetite but you feel full after far smaller amounts. The difference between bariatric surgery and Mounjaro is simple — no scalpel required. The drug, manufactured by Eli Lilly, became available in Ireland in February on private prescription. It's not cheap but what you spend on your monthly dose you save on food bills. Prescribers suggest a month on 2.5mg, before increasing the dose to 5mg, then 10mg. This gradual increase is to prevent side effects like nausea, allowing the body to acclimatise. Three months later, I am still using the lowest dose, because it's proving effective, with no side effects. It varies from person to person. A friend recently increased to the higher dose of 10mg after her weight loss began to plateau on a lower dose; another friend has just increased to 5mg after six months on the 2.5mg dose. All three of us have different body types, different heights, and different BMIs — morbidly obese, obese, and overweight — but have all experienced effortless weight loss. Yet those three little words continue to bother people. The media dubbed Mounjaro the 'King Kong' of weight-loss drugs, implying some kind of feral peril — why? Then there was scaremongering around 'Ozempic face' (formerly lesser known as 'bariatric face'), which is when a reduction in facial fat can leave your face looking a bit, well, haggard. As though it were solely about looks, rather than health. Carel Le Roux, professor of metabolic medicine at UCD, explains what Mounjaro is and what it isn't. 'This is a hormonal treatment for obesity,' he says. 'It is a disease-modifying drug, not a cure for obesity or an appetite suppressant. It's not a weight-loss drug but a health-gain drug. We know the side effects are 20% less heart attacks, 25% less renal failure, and 80-90% less diabetes. 'Patients post-bariatric surgery, or who are using tirzepatide, report how they do not feel hungry, how they think about food less often, and eat smaller portions, while retaining palatability. They reach a new balance point.' Nor, he adds, should we scaremonger about how Mounjaro and related drugs will trigger anorexia: 'These drugs are not going to induce eating disorders. It just means that people using them eat less.' As a PhD student, Prof Le Roux was part of the team which first infused the hormone into the human body 25 years ago. He adds: 'We then studied the effects of bariatric surgery and found that these same hormones were elevated in patients post surgery — they were three to four times higher in the body post operatively. Which means we have over 50 years' experience of these [elevated] hormones in the body.' (Bariatric surgery, specifically the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, has been around since the 1960s and has been the gold standard for treatment of obesity — until now. These hormone-mimicking drugs are also widely used to treat type 2 diabetes). Suzanne Harrington: Every Friday for the past three months, I have been sticking a tiny needle into my stomach. SIDE-EFFECTS? So apart from the positive effects of improved health, what about side effects? Is Mounjaro dangerous? Does it, for instance, increase your chances of thyroid cancer? 'You will not develop thyroid cancer on this drug unless you're a mouse,' says Prof Le Roux. 'Or if you lose weight too quickly, you can develop gall stones — this happens to about three people in a hundred.' The most common side effect of Mounjaro, however, is common or garden nausea. 'Nobody should ever vomit or have nausea while using this medication,' he says. 'This was happening initially but now we are far more conservative with dose escalation — we do not want people to suffer side effects, as this will stop them using the medication. You go slowly, so that you are on a maximum tolerable dose rather than a maximum dose.' The irony of treating a man-made problem — obesity — with a man-made solution — obesity drugs — is glaring. Almost as glaring as the correlation between widespread obesity and the mass consumption of ultra-processed foods. First, we had fat Americans; now it's all of us. But until the food-industrial complex has been compelled to consign ultra-processed foods (UPFs) to the dustbin forever, until we all have equal access to fresh affordable wholefoods, and until we are all taught from primary school onwards how to cook from scratch, obesity will remain a man-made problem, and weight-loss drugs our man-made solution. Not that UPFs are always involved — I eat plant-based, don't drink, exercise regularly, and am still overweight. I first came across the new weight-loss drugs in more detail when I interviewed author Johann Hari about his book Magic Pill. Before that, I'd vaguely heard of Ozempic as something people in Hollywood were using to get even thinner. In his book, Hari recounts his own experiences of using Ozempic; how after his initial dose, he'd gone to his usual cafe for his usual breakfast and felt full after a few mouthfuls; how this feeling had continued, resulting in him experiencing effortless weight loss. I knew how this felt, having had gastric sleeve surgery in 2019. I'd been fat since my first pregnancy in 2000, when I gained an impressive 30kg — and had been trying to lose it ever since. The gastric sleeve was the most successful intervention — I dropped from 92kg to 72kg. But, six years later, my weight was slowly increasing again. I wasn't fat-fat — I'd regained around 8kg, which my bariatric surgeon in Estonia said was normal, and not to worry, but I was concerned about future-proofing my hips and knees and overall health. Suzanne Harrington: I was concerned about future-proofing my hips and knees and overall health INTERNALISED FATTISM Also, after going to the trouble and expense of bariatric surgery, I was done with being fat. I was not going there again. And, yes, that is 100% my own internalised fattism — as a 50-something woman raised by a generation of fatphobics, the societal messaging growing up was that being fat and female was the worst possible combination. Boys don't make passes at girls with fat asses. Imagine your kids hearing that now, even jokily. The highest compliment, genuine and well-meaning, was always 'have you lost weight?' This is not to blame previous generations, socialised to value female worth based wholly on appearance, which was calculated by prettiness and thinness. The democratising influence of the internet on how we view bodies — how one size does not fit all — was still some way off. There was no Lizzo back then, just cottage cheese diets and the male gaze. It was hard not to absorb this messaging. It's not always just a female thing either — a 57-year-old male friend, reared in a loving but fatphobic household, developed bulimia in his early teens that lasted into his 30s. An 86-year-old friend still weighs herself every day, having taken up smoking during menopause in an attempt at weight management. How awful, I think. Then I remember that I stick a needle in my stomach every Friday so that I don't get fat again. Does the availability of Mounjaro — and its effortless weight-loss stablemates — negate all the progress made by the body positive movement? Will fat acceptance cease to be? The aforementioned Lizzo has recently lost a significant amount of weight, as has Adele. Should fat public figures remain fat to make other fat people feel better? Or is that the same as pressuring people to be thin but in reverse? Why should anyone owe anyone else fatness or thinness? Lizzo doesn't talk about body positivity — she talks about body neutrality; your body being nobody else's business. Mounjaro, Wegovy, and Ozempic offer a way out of obesity that, until now, has only been available via bariatric surgery, something many people could not access. This is an opportunity for metabolic reset; whether you use it intermittently, or longer term, it's a win-win. Whether your reasons stem from health concerns or societal conditioning — or a complicated mix of both — that's your decision, it's about your levels of comfort within the body you inhabit. For people living with obesity, it's a godsend. Or, as Prof Le Roux puts it: 'We need to treat the disease of obesity the same as we treat asthma or high blood pressure or any other medical condition.' Suzanne Harrington: This is an opportunity for metabolic reset HOW IT WORKS Both semaglutide (Ozempic) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro) mimic a hormone produced in the body called GLP-1, released in the gut whenever we eat. This hormone signals the brain to reduce appetite while setting off increased insulin production. Mounjaor also mimics a second hormone, GIP (glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide). This is why tirzepatide is linked to greater weight loss. One study using data from two clinical trials of people with type 2 diabetes over 68 weeks, found tirzepatide resulted in a weight loss of 17.8% compared with 12.4% relative to placebo for semaglutide. Read More Cork musician launches mobile home and gig space for artists facing housing crisis
