Weight loss jabs are no quick fix, health boss warns

Weight loss jabs should not be viewed simply as a "quick fix" and people need to consider their wider relationship with food, Lancashire's director of public health has said.

An estimated 1.6 million adults in the UK used the drugs - including Mounjaro and Wegovy - during 2024 and early 2025.

Research from the University of London also found twice as many women are taking the drugs compared to men, and it is most common among people aged 45-55.

However, Dr Sakthi Karunanithi said "medications alone aren't the solution" and warned "we need to seriously think about what we eat".

"The jabs do work, but people do need to take them over a long time and they're only working for people who have some significant conditions that affect their health like heart disease or diabetes," he told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"Mounjaro is available on the NHS, but only for people who would benefit from the medicine the most, like those with type two diabetes or very high blood pressure and so on.

"The question is do we want to get all overweight and then stick Mounjaro on us, or do we need to change our relationship with food?" he said.

"We need to seriously think about what we eat - less and less processed food and more food with fibre.

"It's about more exercise and nutrition as well as looking after our habits."

Meanwhile, Dr Rahul Thakur, from Pendle View Medical Practice in Brierfield, said people were calling the surgery to ask about the injections on a daily basis.

He said the drugs are "a breakthrough in obesity management" but when people come off them "there is a reversal of the effects and people start gaining weight unless there has been a behavioural change".

Pharmacist Cathryn Brown agreed that "addressing the underlying reason why you have gained the excess weight in the first place" is important.

"If someone is a comfort eater, or someone who gets snackish when they are sat on the sofa of an evening, then figuring out how to change that underlying behaviour is really important," she said.

"And that's why accessing these medicines through a pharmacy-led service or through the NHS is really important."

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