LABOUR plans to give obese and unemployed people weight-loss jabs as part of a drive to get them back into work and reduce pressure on the NHS “will not make a dent in the overall problem”, a public health expert has claimed.
Writing for The Telegraph last week, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said that “widening waistbands” were “holding back our economy” as he announced a £279 million investment from Lilly, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company.
During an international investment summit in London, it was revealed that plans for the Lilly investment include real-world trials of giving weight-loss injections to unemployed people to gauge their impact on worklessness and the economy.
But Dr Simon Williams, a public health researcher at Swansea University, has argued this “sticking-plaster” approach will not get to the root of the obesity problem in the UK.
He told the Sunday National: “We should look first and fundamentally at the facts as to why obesity rates have been rising and why there is a connection between obesity, disability and work absenteeism.
“I think there is a place for [weight-loss jabs] in a multi-pronged approach to tackling obesity, but I think it’s only suitable for certain individuals.
“I don’t think it’s a magic bullet and I think there’s a danger we put too much emphasis on that kind of pharmaceutical intervention without looking at non-pharmaceutical interventions, whether that’s ways we can encourage healthier behaviours, but also looking at some of the social inequalities as well which, with the Government that we have, you would have thought that would be more of the focus.
“I think looking at reducing social inequalities - which you’d think a Labour government would be well suited to tackle - is important.”
The drug tirzepatide, which is made by Lilly, is used for weight loss and the treatment of type-2 diabetes. This is the drug which will be tested in trials for its effectiveness on obesity.
Streeting claimed the long-term benefits of the drugs could be “monumental” for tackling obesity.
But while there is an acceptance that weight loss jabs may work in the short-term for certain people who have struggled to lose weight by other means, Dr Williams (below) insisted the UK Government should be focusing on the more fundamental issue of reducing health inequalities.
“For people who may think it’s going to solve unemployment related to obesity, it’s a sticking plaster. It can play a role, but we need a more fundamental [approach],” Dr Williams said.
“I don’t think it’s going to make a dent in the overall problem. [Weight-loss jabs] should just be for – following clinical guidance – those people that need it and have tried other things already.
“I’ve spoken to people with a nutritional perspective and my understanding is it will work in the short term – whether it’s cost effective is to be determined – but what about the long term? Are these people going to be repeatedly given this pharmaceutical intervention?”
He added: “One the contentions and some of the people I work with in public health had was that, for example, we’ve been arguing for free, optional access, as they do in the US, to the Covid-19 boosters. We know there are a lot of lost work hours and absenteeism due to Covid-related, post-viral fatigue.
“If we’re interested in tackling health-related unemployment, there are other conditions and problems that account for much more lost hours.”
Professor Lora Heisler, an expert in human nutrition at the University of Aberdeen’s Rowett Institute, warned that weight-loss drugs have been used to treat diabetes for some time, but most of them were relatively new – particularly in the UK – in being prescribed for obesity treatment.
She added that the guidelines for weight-loss drugs in the UK state they can only be prescribed for two years and should only be given to someone who is obese and has an accompanying health problem related to that, not just to anyone who is overweight.
It is not currently clear who will be eligible for the trials announced by the UK Government.
She explained they are designed to help people develop healthier lifestyles they can keep up when off the medication.
She said: “Given the current NHS guidelines for obesity medication prescription, this new study with Lilly could be restricted to obese people who are suffering from health problems due to their weight. But we will have to wait for further details on this initiative.
“The drugs [currently] are prescribed only for people who have obesity, box one, and have an existing health problem associated with the obesity.
“The guidelines are they can only be prescribed for two years. So what it should be doing is helping people who are struggling with obesity to devise healthy strategies that help them maintain a healthy weight when they come off the drug.
“We need to have different approaches to tackle the problem and there might be some people who really are struggling to lose weight on their own and this provides help. It’s a short-term solution.
“For me, the option of an obesity medication is to help people suffering with their health to live healthier, longer lives. Obesity medications should be an option to help people who have been unable to achieve weight loss on their own and whose health has been affected by their weight.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "Obesity is one of the biggest preventable killers. It costs the NHS more than £11 billion a year and it also places a significant burden on our economy.
"With obesity-related illness causing people to take more days off sick, obesity drugs can be part of the solution. By tackling obesity, we can ease demands on our NHS and help improve Britain's productivity."
