23 June 2025, 14:56

By Dr Sonia Adesara

Weight-loss drugs are not a panacea; we need a comprehensive plan to tackle the obesity crisis.

The obesity crisis in our country is entrenched, complex and getting worse. One in 4 adults is obese, as are 1 in 5 children. And every day in my clinic, I see patients with health conditions related to their weight.

“Weight-loss drugs” are being painted as the panacea to address this, but with every complex problem, there is rarely a “quick fix”.

And promoting these drugs, in the absence of a comprehensive plan to tackle the underlying causes of obesity, will not improve the health of the nation in the long term.

Undeniably, these drugs are beneficial in helping people lose weight, and may also be beneficial in other areas such as addiction.

But I have many reservations.

Firstly, we do not fully understand how these medications work and their long-term impact. In the UK, they have only been used since 2005 for patients who have failed to respond to other diabetes medicines.

There is a dependency issue. We believe weight loss jabs work by........

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