Taking weight-loss drugs

Taking weight-loss drugs

Author: BBC World Service June 6, 2024 Duration: 30:58

Ruth Alexander speaks to patients about their experiences of weight-loss drugs.

The new class of drugs impact appetite, making you feel full sooner, and slowing the rate at which your stomach empties. Known as GLP-1 medications, studies suggest that patients can lose 10% or even up to 25% of their body weight depending on which drug they use. For many who have struggled with obesity and obesity related disease the drugs have the potential to transform their health.

However some patients have struggled with the side effects of the drugs and the manufacturers’ own studies indicate that if people stopping taking them, much of the weight lost is regained, making them drugs for life for some.

Ruth Alexander speaks to Professor of Cardiometabolic Medicine, Naveed Sattar, at Glasgow University who is Chair of the UK government’s obesity mission. He explains how these drugs work and the potentials costs and savings for the National Health Service, or NHS. Adrienne Bitar, historian at Cornell University in New York, is the author of ‘Diet and the Disease of Civilization’, a study of diet books of the 20th century. She explains the ideas diet culture is built on. And Ruth asks Gary Foster, Chief Scientific Officer at WeightWatchers, what these weight-loss drugs will mean for the multi-billion-dollar diet industry.

Presented by Ruth Alexander.

Produced by Beatrice Pickup.

Image: Michelle Herum in Denmark who currently uses a weight loss drug. Credit: Hanne Juul/BBC)


There’s a story behind every meal, and The Food Chain from the BBC World Service goes out to find it. This isn’t just a series about recipes or restaurant reviews; it’s a deep and often surprising exploration of how food shapes our world. Each episode follows a single thread, whether it’s the economic forces that decide what grows in a field, the hidden science in your kitchen, or the profound cultural traditions carried in a family dish. You’ll hear from farmers, chefs, economists, historians, and scientists, all contributing pieces to a larger picture about our global relationship with what we eat. The conversations reveal the complex journey from source to table, unpacking the labor, innovation, and sometimes the controversy, involved in feeding communities. Tuning into this podcast feels like joining a well-reported global conversation, one that changes how you think about the next thing you’ll eat. It connects the personal act of eating to vast systems of business, culture, and science, making the everyday subject of food endlessly fascinating.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

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