As you know, I buy all the UK newspapers.
It keeps me aware of all the health stories that I can look into for you – but, just as importantly, it allows me to track the behaviour of the mainstream media.
And this month has been extraordinary.
I’ve gathered a pile of clippings from a media blitz so breathlessly enthusiastic, you’d think we had cured cancer or ended obesity forever.
I’m talking, of course, about the coverage of drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro.
You couldn’t have hoped for a better marketing campaign (or, frankly, a more blatant piece of propaganda) if you’d hired the world’s top ad agency!
Let’s just take The Times as a case study.
On May 12th they ran with this headline:
“Weight loss jabs help body destroy cancer cells”
The article reports that these drugs “could nearly halve the risk of getting cancer” and that they herald a “new dawn” in disease prevention.
Apparently, this is because they reduce inflammation and help the immune system destroy rogue cells before they turn into tumours.
Then on May 14th they went with this headline:
“Weight loss drugs hailed as key to a longer life”
This one claims that the likes of Ozempic and Wegovy can delay age-related diseases and halve heart attack deaths – even in people who don’t need to lose weight.
The article quotes Professor John Deanfield, who says “many, many millions” should take them “to live longer in good health.”
It then asks the newspaper reader to turn to page 4 to finish the rest of the article, where ANOTHER headline reads: “The earlier people start on weight loss drugs, the better.”
It’s technically a quote from someone stating their opinion, as the editor has put speech marks around it.
But let’s be honest…
How many readers see a line like that and understand the nuance?
Then on May 16th we have…
“Weight loss jabs boost health food sales” – Apparently Holland & Barrett is seeing a surge in demand for their products, suggesting the drugs are ushering in a new era of public health enlightenment.
And all the above stories are from just ONE newspaper across FOUR DAYS.
As another example, let’s take The Daily Mirror:
On May 10th, they had a headline which read “Weight loss jabs could get people back in work,” claiming the drugs could add £4.5 billion to the UK economy by reducing sick days.
On the very same page was another article claiming that these jabs might curb alcoholism.
Then on May 11th, the very next day…
“Weight loss jabs can boost mental health”
This one reports that appetite-suppressing drugs may reduce brain inflammation.
In fact, the Royal College of Psychiatrists is now calling for them to be given to people with mental illness.
I mean… wow.
When you see it all gathered like that, it becomes quite the sale pitch, doesn’t it?
According to the press, we’re not just dealing with a new class of medication….
We’re witnessing the birth of a global health panacea.
A cure-all for all our ills!
The impression we get from the media coverage is that these jabs help you slim down, beat cancer, avoid heart attacks, cure depression, reduce alcoholism, extend your life and even fix the economy…
To me, this doesn’t feel like some balanced health debate but a mass media campaign.
So what’s really going on?
Well, I suspect that three powerful factors are at play here….
1. A vast PR operation driven by pharma companies, pushing press releases into editorial with staggering reach and efficiency.
2. A credulous press desperate for clicks, taking small studies, opinion quotes, and industry-funded science and presenting it all as neutral fact.
3. A stretched health system with a medical establishment overwhelmed by lifestyle-related disease, quietly crossing its fingers for a magic fix.
The result is this crazy hype we’re seeing right now. Most of the “ifs”, “buts”, and “we’re not sure yet” caveats are buried deep in the lower regions of these articles (if they’re included at all!).
For example, in The Sun on May 10th, one headline screamed: “FAT OF THE LAND – Weight jabs to boost the economy by £4.5bn”.
But right next to it was a tiny box with a barely noticeable header, issuing this quiet warning: “Surge in feeling ill”. It noted that adverse reactions to the drugs are forecast to rise 350% this year.
What’s more, even the most ardent champions of these drugs admit that they don’t work long term unless taken continuously.
For example, amidst all the positive news in May, The Guardian, ran a story headlined:
“People on weight-loss drugs regain all weight within a year of stopping.”
That’s astonishing, isn’t it?
Almost everyone who takes these drugs will put the weight back on when they stop the injections.
The article went on to say that this research “raises questions about long-term treatment and support.”
But if all you’d read that month was The Times, The Mirror, or The Sun would you even know that?
If you were to skim the headlines in the newsagent you’d come away thinking that weight loss jabs were proven to solve obesity and would probably help you live longer if you started taking them right away,
We saw the same thing happening with statins… where we were told that we should ALL start taking them.
The same story is being repeated …
We are now being told that pretty much everyone – no matter what their weight – needs to start taking these drugs.
Now, I have no problem with media covering the story!
Clearly this is a major health topic…
But the volume and skewed bias of the stories is startling.
As always, my worry is that we – as a society – will get in even deeper water if we fail to address the serious underlying causes of obesity, cardiovascular disease and mental health problems.
Until we deal with the roots, we’ll keep reaching for wonder drugs to fix the symptoms… and wondering why we’re still so unwell.
