Fat jabs 'may stop hormone replacement therapy working and raise cancer risk'
Weight-loss drugs could prevent hormone replacement therapy from working – and put the health of menopausal women at risk.
The British Menopause Society (BMS) has advised doctors to closely monitor patients taking HRT for menopause while also using fat jabs such as Mounjaro, Wegovy and Ozempic.
Experts say the drugs' ability to delay food's transit through the gut can slow absorption of oral pills.
The medicines regulator last week warned that women using fat jabs should not rely on oral contraception after receiving more than 40 reports of pregnancies from those using the two drugs together.
Now guidance suggests women taking HRT orally should also be aware of the risks.
The most common form of HRT is a progesterone pill alongside a skin patch or gel to deliver oestrogen.
Importantly, progesterone balances out the effects of oestrogen, which alone boosts womb lining growth, and can cause 'abnormal cells and cancer '.
The BMS, concerned about the potential loss of progesterone's protective effect, has now advised doctors to move women to an intrauterine device, such as a coil, or raise the progesterone dose.
Professor Annice Mukherjee, of the society's medical advisory council, who led on the guidance, said an imbalance in hormones, particularly in women with obesity, would put them 'at increased risk of womb cancer'.
But she stressed that the biggest risk factor for womb cancer is obesity and so overall the weight-loss jabs were a positive tool to reduce weight and cancer risk.
It comes as a GP told the Cheltenham Science Festival patients may need to use fat jabs for life.
Professor Graham Easton, who has used them himself, said: 'There's no point in most people taking it for a couple of years and then have the weight bouncing back.'
There were 2.6million women taking HRT in 2023/24 in England to help with symptoms of the menopause, which can include hot flushes, night sweats, difficulty sleeping, mood changes, and aches.
Meanwhile, more than 1.5million Britons are taking weight-loss jabs, with demand doubling in the past six months. It is not known how many are on both drugs together.
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