These drugs don’t seem like a good idea at all.
As the article points out, whether on the drugs or not, anyone that eats less will struggle to get nutrients unless you actively pursue them. It’s just a matter of common sense and medical diligence.
The drugs override the body’s signals and based on what I’ve heard from friends taking it can cause a significant or complete reduction in appetite. So on these drugs it’s entirely possible you will eat not just less, but almost nothing at all.
That’s very different from just eating less and struggling to get nutrients, which the body will quite readily tell you about if its signalling mechanisms haven’t been drowned out with intervention like this.
I hope you’re not one of those people who just hate fat people and want to force them to loose weight “the old fashioned way”.
These drugs have been on the market for long enough and they are very safe. I think issues arise when they are prescribed for people who don’t need them.
I’d like to loose 10 lbs. but for me to loose weight, I’d have to eat 1000 calories total each day. I don’t do that, because that’s not a healthy behavior, so I eat 1200. I don’t qualify for these medications, but I know there’s places I could very easily get a prescription. And perhaps that’s where the issue is.
Anecdotally, I know about 5 people on these meds and they all still get hungry. They all still eat. They do get full sooner, and eat small portions. All of these people were prescribed the medication from an actual dietitian. Not an internet doctor.
These medications are life changing for people with addiction, with food noise, and for those who have disabilities.
There is no shame in being prescribed weight loss drugs for those who truly need it.
I’m not, and I don’t.
However, I am concerned about the side effects of these drugs, the speed at which they were brought to market for a purpose they weren’t meant to be initially used for, the ease at which they are being prescribed in high doses, and the lack of any information at all being provided to patients they are prescribed to.
The way GLP-1 receptor agonists work is not something the body expects. GLP-1 by itself has a half life of less than 2 minutes in the body. The delivery technology is novel. I would personally exercise great caution before taking this class of drugs.
they are very safe.
I don’t believe this to be the case.
Do you have literature to prove these aren’t safe?
The fact that they are prescribed world wide refutes your claim.
All manner of drugs are prescribed world wide. Every drug has a different toxicology and safety profile.
Here’s Ozempic’s warning and precautions:
• Pancreatitis: Has been reported in clinical trials. Discontinue promptly if pancreatitis is suspected. Do not restart if pancreatitis is confirmed (5.2). • Diabetic Retinopathy Complications: Has been reported in a clinical trial. Patients with a history of diabetic retinopathy should be monitored (5.3). • Never share an OZEMPIC pen between patients, even if the needle is changed (5.4). • Hypoglycemia: Concomitant use with an insulin secretagogue or insulin may increase the risk of hypoglycemia, including severe hypoglycemia. Reducing dose of insulin secretagogue or insulin may be necessary (5.5). • Acute Kidney Injury: Monitor renal function in patients with renal impairment reporting severe adverse gastrointestinal reactions (5.6). • Hypersensitivity Reactions: Serious hypersensitivity reactions (e.g., anaphylaxis and angioedema) have been reported. Discontinue OZEMPIC if suspected and promptly seek medical advice (5.7). • Acute Gallbladder Disease: If cholelithiasis or cholecystitis are suspected, gallbladder studies are indicated (5.8).However, evidence on longer-term outcomes, side effects, and potential conflicts of interest remains limited or uncertain.
Every medication has a long list of adverse effects that could happen. So from your position, all drugs are bad for everyone. And nobody should take or be prescribed any drugs for any reason.
This doesn’t not mean they are not safe. People are not dying from these drugs. They aren’t causing harm to people. And places like the EU and Canada (or any place with a very strict drug regulations) would pull them from pharmacies if they truly were not safe. And doctors prescribe drugs based on the fact that the benefit outweighs the side effects.
Mental health drugs can shave years off people’s lives because they are so hard on the kidneys and liver. But taking those drugs gives people the ability to be productive in society. And the reduced lifespan is seen as a net positive for each person.
I am always happy to be educated on a topic I am not an expert in. But it seems like you just have prejudice for whatever reason and have no good sources or research journals to back up your claims.
Dieting and weight-loss drugs are unhealthy. Accept your body as it is.
If you want to be healthy, just find some kind of activity that you enjoy and do it regularly.
Capitalism thrives on making us feel inadequate or shameful, so we need to buy solutions, when the real solution is self-acceptance.
I’ll trust my doctor for medical advise, thanks though.
Doctors used to believe in leeches and bloodletting. They just follow whatever the mainstream is.
All the research actually in the field is showing more and more that human adiposity is correlated with some ill-health effects but not causatively linked.
Research also shows that weight-loss interventions are very rarely successful, and even the most optimistic weight-loss intervention leads to, at best, the loss of a few pounds over long terms.
And, again, we are using weight as a totally arbitrary marker for health with very little real evidence that it is in any way meaningful. We know that at real extremes there are health hazards posed by high adiposity and low adiposity, but most people fall into a perfectly healthy weight, even if their BMI classifies them as obese. Of course, BMI categories are also totally arbitrary, it’s basically the IQ of dietetics.
There is so much bunk science in dietetics, it’s unbelievable. It’s like the modern version of scientific racism. In a couple of centuries I imagine humans will look back on us like “how did you ever believe this shit”
Dieting and weight-loss drugs are unhealthy.
Eating an appropriate diet isn’t unhealthy, but I don’t think you are using the word “diet” in that sense. Weight loss drugs, like any other drug, should be prescribed carefully with great deliberation, after informing the patient and weighing with them the positives against the negatives. Like any other intervention it needn’t be inherently unhealthy, but I don’t think blanket usage of high dose GLP-1 receptor agonists is a good idea.
Accept your body as it is.
I disagree, we shouldn’t accept metabolically unhealthy states as normal.
And, again, we are using weight as a totally arbitrary marker for health with very little real evidence that it is in any way meaningful.
Waist circumference to height is a better marker.
There is so much bunk science in dietetics, it’s unbelievable.
It’s all epidemiology. That’s the unbelievable part of it, there’s no science in nutrition.
Uh I’m with you on the weight loss drugs being a sham shortcut. But you’re claiming that having self control and eating within your TDEE to manage your weight is an unnecessary lie? That’s just basic self control. Having control over your weight unlocks a higher quality of life.
We are physical matter affected by gravity. Having a smaller concentration of physical matter lessens the negative effects of gravity on our bodies. Increasing our physical mass puts more strain on every part of our body and leads to many well researched and documented health problems.
There are millions of people who have successfully taken back control of their weight through self control. It takes lifestyle change and continuous motivation. It’s not easy, many fail, not because the process is broken, but because the process is difficult and cannot be shortcutted.
We are physical matter affected by gravity. Having a smaller concentration of physical matter lessens the negative effects of gravity on our bodies. Increasing our physical mass puts more strain on every part of our body and leads to many well researched and documented health problems.
It’s also possible to look thin and yet be unhealthy at the same time. These people are known as being Thin Outside, Fat Inside, and have a lot of visceral fat.
Self control
This is nuanced but generally speaking an obese person does not want to be obese, if only because it feels terrible. They know they are in bad shape. There is no way to not be aware of chronic inflammation, skin issues, joint pain, and poor organ function.
They may look like they have a lack of self control to you, but telling them to “just get more self control” doesn’t help with anything. Perpetuating the idea that they are obese because they can’t control their own habits is reductionist. The process is indeed difficult, but it’s not because of lack of trying. It’s not always possible to overcome pathology with mental fortitude.
I don’t think that they want to be obese, I think that they have an addiction which is making it extremely difficult to make changes. At the end of the day, it is self control. I don’t think it’s easy though.
Eh…. I’ve read that these drugs also help addictions. They turn off the receptors that tell people they need (insert addiction thing), to the point they no longer have an addiction.
As someone who is a health weight, but has constant food noise in my head, I’d love to get rid of that.
My partner takes one of these medications. It was life changing for them because they gained weight due to other medications. And it is likely they’d never loose it without that type of help.
What should be mandatory with a weight loss prescriptions is some other help. Food therapist for people who have eating disorders; dietician to coach people about how to make healthy choices, or what healthy food actually looks like. And even a gym coach. Because I’ve also read that lifting weights help offset the problem of people loosing muscle on the weight loss drugs.
I worry about this very thing. My partner was also a healthy weight until medications were necessary, and those meds automatically had them gain 20lbs. They might choose ice cream or a cookie for dinner instead of something actually healthy. And they won’t be hungry for anything else.
They never grew up with health education to teach them what is good for you and what is not. Weight loss drugs were prescribed without any other interventions. Without changing behaviors or education, this is a very real thing.
It’s ok to want a treat, but people on these drugs need to take extra care to ensure they are getting all the nutrients needed.
