A lot of people these days are taking medicine to lose weight. Even when I was eating dinner with my friend, I could hear a group of people next to our table talking about whether to take Wegovy or Mounjaro for weight loss medicine.
The idea of weight loss medicine was formed much earlier than we think. Greek physician Hippocrates recommended various plants and berries for natural weight loss. It was until 1959, when FDA approved weight loss medicine ( Phentermine ), that it began to turn a corner. In the 2000s, the FDA approved the first GLP-1. It was initially a medication for diabetes and had the side effects of losing weight. Scientists used this side effects to provide new treatments for people with obesity and it led to the invention of weight loss medications such as Wegovy and Mounjaro.
Wegovy and Mounjaro work as an appetite suppressant by mimicking a hormone called GLP-1 which makes people feel full. Mounjaro also affects metabolism and helps to regulate energy balance. The NHS recommends it to the people who are overweight with health risks, not just people who want to get a bit thinner. When they start to take these medicines, they start to lose weight within a few weeks. But research published in the British Medical Journal suggests that people tend to gain weight back quickly when they stop taking medicines, as their appetite returns back to normal.
Since weight loss medicine works by restricting our appetite, once we stop taking them, our appetite will return and if we fail to fix our dietary habits, we will gain weight again. So only taking weight loss medicine won’t really help you to lose weight. Also it is more for the people who have serious health risks and are urgent to lose weight. For people who just want to be skinny, it is more important to build healthy diet habits. Some healthy habits you can build are regularly exercising and eating healthy foods instead of fast foods.
Weight loss medicines are popular among people because it is easy to buy and doesn’t have any dangerous side effects. But only taking weight loss medicine won’t actually help you to lose weight, instead, it is more important for you to build healthy habits and learn to control your own appetite.
By Madison Yi
Works Cited
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c981044pgvyo
https://www.forhers.com/news/history-weight-loss-drugs
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/weight-loss-medications
