Weight loss jabs like Ozempic and Wegovy should not be used to get the “Instagram perfect body”, Wes Streeting said amid a surge in demand for the treatment.
The health secretary told the Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge that his view on the injections “is pretty nuanced”, as while the results can be “game changing” in tackling obesity, they should not be “used and abused”.
Obesity costs the NHS around £6.5bn a year and is the second biggest preventable cause of cancer.
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Studies show people lose on average 15% of their body weight within months of starting treatment with Wegovy, the brand name for semaglutide, which is also known as Ozempic.
The drug mimics a natural hormone and people feel fuller faster and for longer.
But thousands of people who could benefit from it are being denied access due to a slower than planned rollout on the health service, an investigation by our science correspondent Thomas Moore found.
Asked if he is concerned about the report, Mr Streeting said: “My view on this is pretty nuanced, actually. I think that some of these drugs can be game changing in terms of tackling obesity.
“For those people that are so obese, that diet, exercise doesn’t feel like it’s having much of an impact, It feels like you’re on a losing battle. I think the drugs can make a really big impact in terms of getting weight under control.
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“Where I think we’ve just got to be careful, though, is that we don’t see these drugs as an excuse not to do the right thing in terms of our diet, nutrition, exercise or to use them as cosmetic drugs for the Instagram perfect body.”
Mr Streeting went on to say that the drug could risk fuelling a rise in eating disorders and body dysmorphia if rolled out en masse – and it should be used alongside diet and exercise, rather than as a supplement.
“Drugs do come at a cost and they come at a cost to the NHS,” he added.
“It’s great the NHS is there for us and it’s free at the point of use… but that doesn’t mean that you should use it and abuse it.”
People have ‘moved on from Brexit’
Elsewhere in the interview, Mr Streeting claimed people have “moved on from Brexit”, when asked about a green paper which found leaving the EU reduced investment by 11%.
The paper, on the government’s New Industrial Strategy, opened with a forward from the chancellor which spoke about forging a closer relationship with Brussels to ensure smoother trade and better business.
Asked why there can’t be a debate about rejoining the single market or the customs union, given Labour’s ambition for growth, Mr Streeting said: “People have moved on, the country has moved on, the EU has moved on.
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“And let me tell you, not just here but in Brussels, there is no appetite to relitigate those arguments, to reopen things that have been settled.”
He said the Remain camp, which he backed, warned about the economic consequences of Brexit – which he said came to pass, and “that’s a fact of life. We have to deal with it”.
“I think the sweet spot is working as closely with the European Union where we can, but also showing the agility to work with and through partners in other markets as well.”
On ripping up regulation – a key message from Sir Keir Starmer at an investment summit of business leaders today – Mr Streeting said this was no longer a “right-left debate in British politics”.
“There’s too much regulation in the NHS and in some aspects… I also think there’s far too much regulation in the economy.
“Sometimes, simplicity is more effective. And that’s been traditionally a right-left debate in British politics. But it really shouldn’t, it should be a right or wrong conversation.”