Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro \u2013 the wonder drugs of weight loss\u2014come with many health warnings, but their potential to blind an entire species to its junk food addiction is not amongst them. But that, argues\u00a0Lucy Kenningham\u00a0in this week\u2019s cover story, is exactly where we need to apply some critical thinking when it comes to the quick fix of appetite suppressants.<\/p>\n
As Lucy makes clear<\/a>, the medical properties of these drugs are extraordinary. People on the weekly semaglutide jabs (mainly Ozempic and Wegovy) consume around a quarter fewer calories per day than previously. The weight falls off. No diet routine, no fasting, no exercise\u2026 just a weekly jab.<\/p>\n The side effects can be unpleasant, which accounts in part for the high drop-off within a year\u2014somewhere between half and three-quarters of users. Over time, the old bad habits that led to the obesity in the first place return.<\/p>\n This has already led to what many patients describe as a sense of being trapped. As Lucy explains: \u201cIf the patient stops using the drug, they know the weight will return. This pattern \u2013 cyclical obesity \u2013 wreaks havoc on self-esteem.\u201d Experts forecast an increase in mental health problems, up to and including lifetime care programmes.<\/p>\n And all the while, the underlying causes of the crisis in obesity \u2013 ultra-processed diets, aggressive fast food marketing and structural inequalities (the reality that it can be more expensive to eat healthily) \u2013 are left untreated.<\/p>\n It\u2019s an alarming prospect. A nation hooked, as food campaigner Henry Dimbleby describes it, on the \u201cProzac of obesity\u201d. A story for this new world of ours if ever there was one.<\/p>\n The situation in Gaza goes from abysmal to \u2026 well, let\u2019s speak plainly, as\u00a0Alastair Campbell\u00a0does\u00a0in this week\u2019s diary<\/a>: from abysmal to genocidal. Alastair details the thinking behind his decision to describe the actions of Israel\u2019s armed forces as a genocide. It\u2019s obviously not something anyone says lightly, and his argument is presented clearly and forensically. And it\u2019s made with an enormous amount of sorrow.<\/p>\n His appeal \u2013 as was mine two weeks ago\u00a0in my piece headlined Meanwhile, in Gaza<\/a>\u00a0(and thank you, by the way, for the overwhelmingly supportive and encouraging messages you continue to send, dear readers) \u2013 is for Europe\u2019s leaders to speak up for human rights and international law. The lack of comment in recent weeks from the UK government in the face of this ongoing atrocity shames us all.<\/p>\n Speaking of Gaza, one of the most stomach-wrenching sights of the past week was watching Benjamin Netanyahu hand Donald Trump an envelope containing the former\u2019s nomination of the latter for the Nobel Peace Prize. If you want a sense of just how inappropriate that moment was\u2014on every conceivable level \u2013 then turn to\u00a0Jonn Elledge\u2019s Nerd\u2019s Eye View;\u00a0Jonn\u2019s erudite and entertaining deep dive into one of the topics du jour<\/a>. And if you think something like the Nobel Peace Prize is all about the kudos, number 7 will be something of an eye-opener!<\/p>\n Anthony Bourdain\u2019s been dead eight years, but he knew his shit, as\u00a0Katherine Cooper\u00a0makes clear in\u00a0her terrific article<\/a>\u00a0about the re-release of the restaurant-trade expos\u00e9 that made his name,\u00a0Kitchen Confidential.<\/p>\n Regarding Trump\u2019s first election, Bourdain commented: \u201cIt\u2019s Bond villain-type shit. I\u2019m pessimistic to the extreme. People have no idea how bad it already is, and how bad it\u2019s going to get.\u201d<\/p>\n The reissue of\u00a0Kitchen Confidential\u00a0comes with a new foreword by another chronicler of a passed age, Irvine Welsh, author of\u00a0Trainspotting. The two men stand for something admirable \u2013 a common humanity and truth-telling. As Katherine concludes, it\u2019s an ingredient in very short supply these days.<\/p>\n When\u00a0Simon Barnes, one of the greatest, most talented writers of his generation, emails in to say he\u2019d like to re-read the entirety of Shakespeare and report back on what it all adds up to, you say yes please.\u00a0The resulting article is here.<\/a>\u00a0It is magnificently enjoyable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro \u2013 the wonder drugs of weight loss\u2014come with many health warnings, but their potential to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[64,63,137,490],"class_list":{"0":"post-2574","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-medication"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}