New research reveals a startling truth about the people paying thousands for weight-loss drugs: they’re mostly middle-aged, wealthy women. In other news, February is cold and the snowdrops are here.

The Health Foundation, a British health charity backed by a billion-pound endowment, confirmed today what most people would have guessed: those paying thousands of pounds a year for these drugs are not the poorest and most deprived, nor the fattest, nor the most in need:

People living in deprived areas already face poorer health outcomes than those in more affluent areas, and men experience worse health outcomes than women. Yet these are the groups that have the lowest uptake of GLP-1 treatments.

People living in deprived areas already face poorer health outcomes than those in more affluent areas, and men experience worse health outcomes than women. Yet these are the groups that have the lowest uptake of GLP-1 treatments.

GLP-1 agonists are in the news so much because they work. At low doses, drugs like Ozempic help treat diabetes. Sugar levels in the blood are kept down, the risk of heart attack and stroke is reduced. At higher doses the effect is weight loss, and the trade names are different: Wegovy and Mounjaro. Keep taking them and you can trim your weight by a quarter. 

How the NHS deals with weight loss drugs needs sorting

How the NHS deals with weight loss drugs needs sorting

The benefits for your health may well be substantial but most people aren’t trying to optimise........

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