2 January

One of the holy grails of medicine is a genuinely effective and safe drug for obesity. We may have arrived, with Semaglutide and Tirzepatide. Not developed for weight loss but instead for management of diabetes, their weight-loss effects are astounding. Don’t be too excited yet though, because these won’t be easy to access for some time. Already in Oz the Semaglutide stock has been shut down, to protect access for diabetics. Which is nonsense, because there are several other drugs for their purposes that can foot the bill easily. The other thing that amuses me with this research is how they always emphasise that ‘lifestyle changes’ are needed for permanent weight control. As if obesity is a result of a bad lifestyle. I know many obese people, and their lifestyles are the same as the skinny people sitting next to them. It’s fat-shaming. I will guarantee you the real cause of obesity is nothing about lifestyle, that it will eventually be shown to be caused by microbes.