Weight loss is a popular new year topic, and our TV screens in January are saturated with ads claiming to have uncovered the ‘real’ secret to cutting back the kilos.
For many, the results do not live up to the hype, but that may be about to change thanks to a new weight loss drug that is, by all scientific accounts, achieving remarkable results.
In clinical trials, patients who were administered Semaglutide – soon to be available in Australia under the brand name ‘Wegovy’ – lost significantly more body weight than those undergoing an intensive diet and exercise program.
The successful trial of Semaglutide could provide significant health benefits to those who are overweight, but its impact has the potential to be much more far-reaching. It could finally put to bed the myth that obesity results purely from poor diet and health choices.
Large swathes of Australia’s – and indeed the Western world’s – population do not accept the ‘excuses’ proffered by those who struggle with their weight. Comments such as, “I have a slow metabolism”, are often met with raised eyebrows or blatant rejection.
Read: Why eating late at night is so bad for weight loss
Scientists who specialise in weight loss have long known that there’s more to it than ‘calories in versus calories out’, but the popular narrative has continued to push that simplistic view, resulting in the stigmatisation of those who find it difficult to shed kilos.
Health professionals such as Professor Brian Oldfield, a leading obesity researcher at Monash University, believe that the results of the Semaglutide trials provide black and white evidence that weight loss is a genuine disease that should be treated as such.
“I think it will reframe the argument,” he said. “As these drugs become more effective and available, it will be harder for people to ignore them.”
Another expert in the field, Tiffany Petre, director of the Obesity Collective, agrees. A change in the framing of the argument will not only reduce the stigma but, she says, also open the door to previously unavailable healthcare options.
“People with obesity haven’t been able to get appropriate healthcare. Now there is something on the market.”
Read: Two surprising reasons behind the obesity epidemic
The advent of Semaglutide does not change the notion of the importance of a good diet and exercise, however. Both remain vital components of achieving a healthy weight. But, says Prof. Oldfield, they are only part of the equation.
“They are not enough by themselves. They typically give a 3 to 5 per cent reduction in body weight.”
The clinical trials have confirmed this. A 2021 trial of Semaglutide compared 611 volunteers who followed an identical intensive behavioural therapy exercise program and an initial low-calorie diet.
Two-thirds of those volunteers were given subcutaneous Semaglutide, while the other third received a placebo.
Those who took the placebo achieved, on average, 5.7 per cent weight loss. But the average loss for those taking Semaglutide was 16.0 per cent, a statistically significant variation.
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Those who are thinking that this news is too good to be true are correct, to a degree. There are a couple of caveats. First, Semaglutide may not be the answer for everyone looking to lose weight, though. Six per cent of volunteers found nausea to be a side-effect severe enough to give up the trial.
Second, while the Therapeutic Good Administration (TGA) has approved Semaglutide for use as a weight loss drug, it is not yet commercially available. One of the reasons for this is that Semaglutide is also a used as a diabetes treatment, under the brand name Ozempic.
Such has been the worldwide demand for Semaglutide as a result of the weight-loss trials that there is now a worldwide shortage of the drug.
But, assuming this shortage is temporary, for those who don’t suffer side-effects, Semaglutide, while not a magic bullet, could help in achieving a healthy weight.
And it may finally bust one of the stubbornest myths of obesity.
Have you struggled with weight loss? Would you consider taking Semaglutide if your doctor recommended it? Why not share your thoughts in the comments section below?
It does sound like a dream. And a dream is what it is to me. I read another article on it just recently, and the cost is prohibitive to somebody on a fixed income, but the thing that turned me right off was the fact that you have to use it for the rest of your life. If this wasn’t the case, it would certainly be worth thinking about
When something sounds too good to be true it is.
I have friends who need the drug for blood sugar reasons and are now having trouble getting it. That and the cost would put me off, even though I really need to lose some weight. I do have a medically diagnosed metabolism issue with my thyroid and while that is a good excuse it isn’t all the reason.
I have a friend with a thyroid problem and their medication has stabilized the problem but they also walk a lot.
I need this drug to help with my diabetes. It is almost impossible to get at the moment because people want to use it to lose weight.
Want to lose weight then start fasting for a few days off and on plus get some exercise.
I didn’t eat for four days while I had Covid, water only, and I lost four kilograms.
Have since regained it but proved that fasting works and plan to make it a habit.
A friend lost 20kg in three months by simply only eating every second day, water only, with normal meals on the other day.
No special diets, no drugs, no expense just the will power to stick to the fasting.
A healthy calorie intake goal would be better and would keep the weight of gradually.
I changed from a vegetarian diet to a vegan diet. I have always exercised and used the tried and true method of calorie intake and calorie burn. A friend had stomach surgery for weight loss and I have seen a miraculous transformation. I believe all drugs come with side effects and eventually other problems. The best weight loss method for those that can’t exercise and watch their calorie intake is stomach surgery. Taking drugs to lose weight for the elderly is not a good solution because they may interfere with other medications and other illnesses.
As a Type 2 Diabetic who has been unable to obtain either Ozempic, or the “other” new drug that performs a similar function – Trulicity, for many months, I believe that it should NOT be purchased by anyone for weight loss until there is sufficient supply for diabetic use.
Doctors should be told NOT to write prescriptions for anything other than BGL control in diabetics and the TGA should withdraw its weight-loss approval until there is sufficient supply for all!
PS – When I could get supply I did lose weight!
The TGA has NEVER approved these drugs for weight loss, which is why they cost non-diabetics $300+ per script. And sadly no-one has the power to control what doctors prescribe.
As another diabetic, I agree.
Disgraceful article. Diabetes sufferers the world over are struggling to obtain medication they NEED in the face of the rapacious weight loss industry.
From what I have read, Wegovy has the same active ingredient as Ozempic and Trulicity but its overall composition is somehow different and it is not meant to be a diabetes treatment.
Great of you to promote Semaglutide. We diabetics who were able to control our insulin swings with it can no longer get it on the PBS where it cost $2.50 until you hit the safety-net and then dropped to $0. Now, because it is marketed under another name for weight-loss, it is unavailable on the PBS and our only option is a locally packaged version of the product at $180 or more per month. As a diabetic, I have seen my weight balloon since I have been unable to get either Ozempic, Trulicity or Semaglutide. And with a pension of $718 a fortnight, paying $180 or $250 a month for the local equivalent (made by a compounding chemist) is not sustainable. For some of us, it is not about eating less, but an endocrine system that is inefficient and a need for a specific ‘cocktail’ of medicines. When it was available, my sugar levels were well controlled, and I kept my weight down. Now neither is true!