Millions of people relying on weight-loss injections are being cautioned about potential long-term damage if they fail to adopt healthier eating and exercise habits while losing weight. Experts stress that proper guidance is essential; otherwise, users risk malnutrition, muscle wastage, and reduced bone density if they depend solely on the injections.
Consensus Statement from Istanbul Conference
A major European obesity conference held in Istanbul has issued a 'consensus statement' expressing significant concerns regarding the use of GLP-1 drugs without accompanying dietary and physical activity changes. The document, co-authored by 26 leading obesity specialists, warns that users who continue consuming junk food—albeit in smaller quantities—will become malnourished.
The statement underscores the importance of consuming sufficient quality protein and engaging in weight-bearing exercises. Research presented at the conference revealed that approximately one-third of weight lost through these injections can be non-fat mass, primarily muscle and bone density.
Risks of Stopping the Jabs
If individuals cease taking the medication, they often regain fat but rarely recover lost muscle or bone. Co-author Dr. Laurence Dobbie, a population health expert at King's College London, emphasised: 'To protect dietary quality, we need to prioritise nutrient-dense foods, ensuring appropriate protein, fibre, and fluid intake.' Regarding exercise, he added: 'The primary, most crucial component is resistance training, aiming for two to three sessions per week. Secondary to this is 150 to 300 minutes per week of aerobic exercise... all movement is beneficial.'
Lifetime Use May Be Necessary
This advice for a more balanced approach comes as one expert suggested that some users might need to remain on the injections for life to prevent weight regain, describing their 'brains are broken.' Professor Louis Aronne, a pioneer from Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, explained that overeating processed, high-calorie foods causes permanent brain damage, making it difficult for patients to feel full even after losing weight.
Speaking at the European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul, Professor Aronne stated: 'Obesity is a disease, and something gets broken in your brain. It starts from eating fattening food, but then something physical causes their weight to not want to go down again. When they try to eat less, there is a vigorous counter response by your body that makes you think you're starving to death.'
Potential of Weight Loss Pills
Nevertheless, the injection—soon to be available in pill form—can still be 'gamechanging.' The weekly jabs mimic a hormone called GLP-1, which induces a feeling of fullness sooner. People have lost up to a fifth of their body weight. In the UK, approximately 2.5 million individuals use these jabs, primarily through expensive private prescriptions, but questions persist about safely maintaining weight loss long-term and limiting potential negative effects.
Concerns Over NHS Capacity
There are worries that the NHS lacks the capacity to provide essential support, and people are increasingly sourcing cheap weight loss drugs from unlicensed online sellers. Professor Jason Halford, former president of the European Association for the Study of Obesity, commented: 'The problem in the UK is that drug companies are investing, but it's whether our health service is fit for purpose, and it's by and large not.'
An NHS spokesperson responded: 'Weight loss medicines already play a vital role in helping many people lead healthier lives... The NHS remains committed to ensuring access is based on clinical need, and we continue to explore innovative ways to scale this up safely so that more people can benefit, as well as offering a wide range of other support for people to lose weight.'
Preventative Use in Healthy Young Adults
Professor Aronne, who has researched human appetite since the 1980s, believes weight loss pills could eventually be given to healthy-weight young adults to prevent them from becoming overweight—similar to how hypertension drugs are prescribed as a preventative measure. He stated: 'A daily pill – it's treatment for life. For hypertension, it's treatments for life, you take a pill every day. Diabetes you hope to take a pill for life and the diabetes doesn't come back. The beauty of treating obesity is you are treating all of these things.'
Both Professor Aronne and Professor Torekov have received extensive research funding from pharmaceutical firms that manufacture GLP-1 drugs, and both acknowledge concerns regarding their widespread use.
