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Health Check: Obesity drug: New hope for weight loss?

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Obesity drug: New hope for weight loss?

2023/03/15 GMT

BBC World Service - Health Check, Obesity drug: New hope for weight loss?

How a drug designed for diabetes patients could offer hope for obesity

How a drug designed for diabetes patients could offer hope for obesity. Also, storm and cholera deaths in Malawi and why a lack of sleep makes vaccinations less effective.

“Diet and exercise” has been the weight-loss mantra for decades but a drug designed for diabetes patients could now offer hope to people who are obese, at a time when researchers are warning that half of the world’s population are expected to be overweight or obese by 2035. One of the first to have injections of Semaglutide in the UK was Jan, who has battled with her weight since childhood. Once the medication took effect she lost four stone and said her hunger disappeared. 

Professor Stephen O’Rahilly from the University of Cambridge, explains how the drug mimics our body’s natural appetite signalling but its effects disappear once you stop the weekly injections. Family doctor Margaret McCartney says it might help some who are obese but warns that it has also gained a reputation as a “Hollywood skinny drug", reflecting some of society’s ideas about beauty and celebrity culture. 

Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producer: Paula McGrath

(Photo: A jogger running around Clifton Downs, Bristol. Credit: Ben Birchall/PA)

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