Ozempic is only available on the NHS for people with type 2 diabetes

A surprise amount of Brits say they would take anti-obesity drugs if they were given to them for free on the NHS.

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonist are a family of medications that help manage blood sugar in patients with type 2 diabetes, but have also been found to help obese people lose weight.

The drugs include Mounjaro, also known as tirzepatide, and semaglutide, which is sold under the brand names Wegovy, Ozempic and Rybelsus.

The survey of 1,078 adults, carried out by Ipsos, found 24% of people would use weight-loss jabs if they were provided for free by the health service.

When asked about their own body image, four in 10 told the survey they think they are overweight or obese.

  • LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    8·
    1 day ago

    This is a good thing, I’m glad the public is accepting of this.

    It’s time we move away from the Christian work ethic view of obesity as a personal and moral failing and follow the science - if you are fat, it’s mostly genetic because you are simply wired to be hungry more than your friends and these drugs fix that.

    https://www.healthline.com/health/obesity/is-obesity-genetic-or-environmental#genetics

    According to a 2022 clinical reviewTrusted Source, more than 500 obesity-related genes have been identified in humans.

    These genes can affect body weight in many ways. They can create changesTrusted Source in insulin metabolism, inflammatory responses, blood pressure, fat deposition, and the level of circulating fat in the bloodstream. They can cause you to want to consume more energy (i.e., food) but can prevent you from using it effectively.

    Without them your choice is to be miserable (with all the MH outcomes that follow this long-term like depression) and hungry all the time, or to be fat and miserable due to obesity related illness like heart disease etc.

    Instead of all that, we can simply block excess hunger, a trait once probably evolutionarily crucial yet no longer useful in the world of excess.

    I’m someone who was overweight all my life until I started vaping, nicotine appetite suppression changed my life, I’m now skinny and by many of my ex-partners’ description pretty fit, to be treated not as some fat slob but as a human being that’s actually pleasant and even attractive is life-changing to my mental health and self-esteem, no longer is my body some wreck beyond salvation out of the gate but something I care about and for.

    I hope for the same feeling for many others may come thanks to these exciting developments.

    And not to get too soapboxy, but as usual, it turns out that blaming the “sick” for the “disease” was wrong and telling people to “eat less” or “exercise more” is as nonsensical as telling someone with ADHD to simply “focus” and “create habits” instead of giving them the amphetamine they need to make up for the low levels of dopamine they have so they can do these things - or even this country’s favourite passtime of denying gender dysphoria exists and that puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries fix it with non-existant regret rates, as if simply fixing a patient’s problem with treatment is a crime.