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Cambridge Global Food Security

An Interdisciplinary Research Centre at the University of Cambridge
 
Image: dohnalovajane from Pixabay

In a new article for the University of Cambridge website, five Cambridge experts, including GFS members Prof Martin White and Prof Jean Adams, shared their thoughts on whether the new weight-loss drugs really are the answer to the obesity crisis.

Current estimates suggest almost two thirds of UK adults are overweight or obese. Semaglutide-based weight loss drugs Wegovy and Ozempic - and others like them - have proven remarkably effective in helping people lose weight and control type 2 diabetes. 

These drugs are being hailed as ‘revolutionary’, with the potential to improve the lives of billions. The UK government has suggested they could even boost the economy by helping obese people get back to work.

The experts featured in the article point out that weight loss jabs as a ‘cure’ for obesity should be considered in the context of our broken food system and the need for regulation and other interventions. So are these weight loss drugs the miracle they seem to be?

 

EVENT: Ultra Processed Food: making us sick or keeping us fed?

Join our online event on Thursday 21 November to discuss UPFs, chaired by Professor Martin White our speakers include Baroness Walmsley, Chair of the House of Lords Committee on Food, Diet and Obesity, and Chris van Tulleken, author of ‘Ultra Processed People’.  Click here to find out more and to register for the event.

 

Cambridge University Research News on Food Security