Weight loss jabs + Eating Disorders: Harm Waiting to Happen

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We have been extremely disappointed by the comments from Health Secretary Wes Streeting about his plans to make Britain 'fat-free by 2035' by rolling out weight loss jabs more widely across the country. Not only do comments like these contribute to fatphobia, but it also harms people with eating disorders and shows a distinct lack of awareness for the risks these drugs pose.

We would welcome a conversation with Wes to discuss our concerns and demonstrate how public health measures to prevent and treat obesity can be implemented in a way which don't demonise larger bodies, or harm people with eating disorders.

Very little is known about the long-term impacts of weight loss jabs on health but there have already been 10 deaths in the UK linked to the jabs and hundreds of cases of serious side effects like vision-changes, gallbladder disease and life-threatening pancreatitis.

For people living with Binge Eating Disorder, or anorexia or bulimia, weight loss drugs might seem like the answer to all their problems, when in reality, weight loss jabs do not help people with eating disorders to deal with the underlying symtoms and distress of an eating disorder, and their issues around food and body weight are likely to re-emerge as soon as they stop taking the drugs.

Write to Wes Streeting

Weight loss jabs are not a long-term solution:

Obesity is multi-factorial disease with many biological, genetic, environmental and social determinants playing a role in who develops obesity. Weight loss drugs are only a quick fix and do not tackle all of the determinants of obesity like poverty, lack of access to green spaces, or affordable, healthy food and fuel to cook it with.
Only 19% of people who start weight loss jabs are still taking them after a year. It is not a long-term solution and many people find the side effects very difficult to deal with.
A meta-analysis at Oxford University looked at 11 studies of weight loss jabs and found that of the 6370 participants, nearly everyone who came off the drugs regained the weight they lost within 10 months.

"If you are living with an eating disorder, or have a difficult relationship with food or body-image, weight regain could lead to feelings of guilt or failure which can further exacerbate disordered behaviours. "

Harming people with eating disorders:

Many people living with obesity also struggle with disordered eating and may binge, purge or restrict their food. (Estimates vary from 5-20% but it is likely underreported)
Weight loss jabs interfere with proper hunger signals and cause delayed gastric emptying meaning it is harder for us to tune into our body’s needs. This moves us further away from intuitive eating and gentle nourishment.
If you have a disordered relationship with food, weight regain after coming off the jabs might lead to feelings of failure which could further exacerbate disordered eating.
Weight loss jabs don't address the cause or tackle any of the faulty thinking patterns seen in eating disorders.
Eating disorder clinicians have referred to these jabs as 'rocket fuel' for people with eating disorders and are already witnessing collateral damage in their clinics.
Plans to roll out weight loss drugs more widely will make it much easier for people with eating disorders to access them, putting their health at risk and making them sicker.

We are calling for:

The suspension of the rollout of weight-loss drugs until full impact assessments have been completed, particularly regarding mental health and eating disorder prevalence.
A reframing of public health messaging to prioritise wellbeing, nutrition education, and physical activity for enjoyment and health—not weight loss. We need to start nuancing the messaging around eating disorders and obesity.
Obesity prevention programs to be coordinated with prevention of eating disorder programs and include relevant stakeholders and people with lived experience.
We want the Health Secretary to meet with the #DumpTheScales campaign group to discuss this in more detail and to share the perspectives of those with lived experience.