Did you get my email on Wednesday?
I wrote about a new scheme to prescribe fruit and vegetables to NHS patients in London.
As I would have expected, it has worked wonders…
Just £8 worth of fruit and vegetables created massive improvements in their health within just EIGHT MONTHS, including better blood glucose levels, higher energy levels, and improved digestion.
One of these improvements was weight loss.
And this is what you’d expect – because making these kinds of dietary changes can have a massive effect.
So, I am all for this kind of prescription!
If more people could see how well it works, there would be a mass take-up of this idea.
If people thought this was a DRUG and not just ‘fruit and veg’, they would be desperate to buy it.
And I bet the newspapers would be full of articles about it.
But this little scheme only involved 200 people in a couple of London boroughs.
It has had a couple of small articles in the press.
And I don’t think it is something known by a huge percentage of the UK population.
It’s nothing compared with the shocking rise of weight loss drugs, which are all over the news.
Last month I wrote to you about how sign-ups for weight loss drug Wegovy jumped by FIVE TIMES in the space of three months this year.
This is despite side effects including, nausea, diarrhoea vomiting, constipation, stomach pain, headache, tiredness, dizziness, flatulence and heartburn.
Worst of all, in my opinion, it makes you NOT ENJOY FOOD!
Well, since I wrote that email, there has been more alarming news.
Expert Warns of Weight Loss Drug Abuse
NHS England’s medical director, Professor Stephen Powis, has expressed alarm over reports of people using weight-loss drugs like Wegovy as a ‘quick fix’.
He warned: “These are powerful medications that have side-effects and complications – and can in certain circumstances, be dangerous. So, they need to be used under medical supervision. They are absolutely not quick fixes for those who are otherwise healthy, who just want to lose a few pounds.”
Then he added, “Drugs including Ozempic and Wegovy should only be used by people prescribed them for obesity or diabetes – I’m worried about reports that people are misusing them – they are not intended as a quick fix for people trying to get beach-body ready.”
Powis was not the only voice of concern.
Dr Vicky Price, President-Elect of the Society for Acute Medicine, said that misusing weight-loss drugs can lead to “serious, life-threatening complications, including inflammation of the pancreas gland and alterations in blood salt levels.”
I find this whole story really depressing, if I am honest.
I am all for emergency intervention when someone has a serious, life-threatening obesity issue.
But this widespread use of a drug for weight loss from people who don’t need it is just madness.
Rather than tackle the causes of their health issues, they are just jabbing a needle in their arm and hoping for the best.
What’s really annoying is that even though the media are sometimes reporting on the side effects, the widespread coverage of these drugs is acting like marketing.
Perhaps it IS marketing, paid for behind the scenes, or ‘encouraged’ through press releases and lobbying phone calls.
Some of the articles are quite shocking to me.
For instance…
“Weight loss jab reduces heart deaths by a fifth”
This was a headline on the front page of The Times last month, saying that MILLIONS of middle-aged Britons should be prescribed weight loss drugs to cut their heart attack risk by a fifth.
WHAT?!
You wouldn’t get the story about the fruit and veg prescription in Lambeth on the front page, even though THAT would also reduce your heart attack risk.
What we need most is education about good food and its benefits – and the dangers of UPFs, ready meals, junk food and additive ingredients.
We need more cooking skills taught in schools, more open spaces to play, more walking and exercise, and more time for people to get out of offices and cars.
Yet here we are, with front page promotions for weight loss drugs.
Sure, there are some articles that show people that they can have bad downsides.
But they’re also seeing major puff pieces on the front pages of The Times…
They are also seeing evidence that lots people are using trendy new jabs to successfully lose weight, including celebs that they admire….
And this is the problem…
Humans will ALWAYS tend towards the easy quick fix solution.
The idea of a magic pill is irresistible.
For many, the risks of taking a weight loss drug are dwarfed by their emotional deep desire to lose weight, feel more attractive, turn back time and regain their self-confidence.
It’s even worse at this time of year, when we are besieged by adverts telling us how to get ‘beach body ready’.
We see slim, attractive people beside swimming pools, looking like Hollywood stars.
We feel guilt-tripped about the way we look.
And we feel we must somehow lose a stone in a month before we hit the beach, or the pool.
So this feeds into the rise in demand for a quick fix.
Which is why we end up with massive cases of drug abuse.
And this is just the beginning of this major marketing promotion for weight loss quick fixes.
If only the pilot scheme in London got the same coverage!
What do you think? Let me know!
