Weight loss drugs - cure or continuation of medical biases?

New Year, same resolutions. For many, the sudden urge to focus on their health becomes their top priority, at least for a few short weeks.

The main goals typically consist of eating better, improving their sleeping patterns, and prioritising their physical, mental, or emotional health in whatever fashion they desire. However, one of the most common aims is weight loss.

Recent government studies showed that 64 per cent of UK adults are considered either overweight or living with obesity. It is therefore, not a big surprise, to see or understand why people use the new year as a fresh opportunity to kick-start their journey of change.

The introduction of anti-obesity drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy and other GLP-1 agonists into the medical mainstream, have been used to help treat various conditions such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular issues and now obesity.

These "tools" have made shedding and keeping off the pounds, much easier for those who have previously struggled to do so through diet and exercise alone.

In the UK, these drugs have become widely popularised in tackling the increasingly worrying "obesity crisis", with rates continuing to grow year on year.

People over a certain weight or BMI can now access these medications through NHS prescriptions, just like I did, or online pharmacies such as Boots and Superdrug.

As someone who recently started taking Orlistat, also known as Xenical to help alleviate my PCOS (Polycystic ovarian syndrome) symptoms, I quickly understood its appeal.

This over-the-counter weight loss pill works by preventing up to a third of fat intake from being absorbed in the intestines, making it an attractive option for those who fear injecting themselves on a weekly basis.

Within two weeks of taking these pills, I lost over 5 lbs, and felt more energised than I could even remember.

My skin became less oily, the hair on my body began growing much slower and there was considerably less hair on my arms and legs. But the biggest change was finally experiencing a somewhat regular menstrual flow, something I had not experienced in years.

To be clear, the point of this medication was to help me stay on a low-fat diet, working more as a deterrent that punished me when I went over the recommended 15g of fat per meal.

This differed greatly from other GLP-1 agonists such as Ozempic, which works by suppressing your appetite, making you feel fuller and therefore less inclined to overeat.

However, what struck and frankly bothered me was how weight loss was prescribed to me as the primary solution in alleviating my symptoms, with little discussion about other holistic approaches and lifestyle changes that could work alongside this.

With PCOS being a chronic illness, there is no known cure, but studies highlight that weight loss is one of the most effective methods to manage symptoms.

Alternative treatments can include the contraceptive pill, which can aid induce regular menstrual flows, and clomifene, which stimulates ovulation and is recommended for women attempting to conceive.

While dropping excess pounds was vital in regulating and stabilising my condition, the same cannot be said for all overweight individuals with a myriad of different health issues and it is important to acknowledge this.

My experience mirrored a wider systemic issue in the medical space: where weight management and dieting are often perceived as an "umbrella cure" for a multitude of health conditions.

This is particularly visible in regards to overweight or obese people, whose weight is often viewed as one of the main causes of their illness.

This perception is highly problematic as it can lead to the dismissal of certain symptoms.

By oversimplifying health concerns, it ignores the complex nature of various diseases affecting larger patients - many of which require multiple treatments beyond weight loss alone.

The desire to showcase thinness as the "right kind of healthy", highlighted through the boom of these drugs, arguably has pushed many into perpetuating dangerous stereotypes and biases about overweight people.

This approach fails to examine individual medical needs in order to treat patients accordingly.

As TV pharmacist and health expert, Thorrun Govind said: "I support a holistic approach to weight management where medications are prescribed appropriately within a broader context of patient care.

"Patients need to be supported with adopting healthier lifestyles, and weight loss medications are not a quick fix."

This is not to say that medications such as GLP-1 agonists should be banned or removed from commercial spaces. I acknowledge and even indulge in the benefits that come from such treatments and will continue to use them until I am at a stage where I can manage on my own.

There is no denying that these medications have the potential to transform people's lives.

However, their rise has also fed into the stigma that weight loss simply equates to health, hindering the exploration of other holistic approaches that could aid patient care.

Until this bias is adequately recognised and addressed, weight loss drugs will continue to remain a tool that reinforces medical discrimination against those on the larger end of the scale.