I’m an obesity guru and NHS GP — you MUST read this before trying ‘miracle fat jabs’

Very few of you will have missed the hype surrounding the new “miracle weight-loss jabs” over the past year. 

As an NHS GP a number of my patients are spending hundreds of pounds a month on these in a desperate effort to lose weight. Probably the most commonly used jabs are Ozempic, a medication for type-2 diabetes, or Wegovy, which people self-inject once a week. 

As a doctor, it’s imperitive that I weigh up the pros and cons for my patients.

So often over the years many drugs have shown early promise only to be overshadowed by worrying side effects later.

The story of Ozempic begins with a formidable lizard, the Gila Monster. 

Its venom was found to contain a hormone (called GLP-1), one that we humans naturally produce in our gut to reduce appetite in response to a big meal. 

What was special about the Gila Monster GLP-1 was that it was very long​-acting. 

Given the venom was so poisonous it needed some significant tweaks, but in the end came long acting appetite suppressing drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. As well as reducing appetite these drugs slow your digestion down significantly so you feel “full” for much longer. 

This partly explains some of the more common side effects like nausea, constipation and bloating that some of my patients have noticed. This is usually mild but for some patients can be serious. 

A paper published recently found that looking at 125,000 people taking GLP1 drugs for obesity, 53% had stopped their therapy within one year. This is important in part because it has been shown that steady weight regain follows when these drugs are stopped.

For those of you wanting to lose weight but without hundreds of pounds of spare cash or worried about side effects, I have some good news. 

For years I have noticed that my patients choosing to “cut the carbs” to lose belly fat reported a surprising drop in their appetite. In fact it has been known for years that a low-carb diet seems to suppress hunger.

Then recently I found a study that suggests a low-carb diet boosts the natural production of GLP1 hormone, possibly a cheaper alternative to buying Ozempic. 

A paper published just this month in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition gives further support to the idea a low-carb diet could achieve results ​just as good as Ozempic. 

The average weight loss of the 50 subjects was 19.5 kg or 43 pounds.

Have you ever noticed exercise, particularly if strenuous causes appetite to diminish? Again there is evidence that this is another natural method of boosting GLP-1 production.

So who am I using these new drugs for? A large review uncovered some unexpected benefits for people struggling with various forms of addiction who took the Ozempic or Wegovy for weight loss. I discovered this had been noticed by others. 

Logically one group who struggle with ultra-processed food addiction are those who are overweight with type 2 diabetes. It’s likely that 30% of all those with diabetes have this. 

Of course it’s early days but a recent success is a 75-year-old who lost one and a half stone in weight AND managed to come off insulin by combining a GLP1 drug with a low-carb diet.

The World Health Organisation is concerned that obesity is part of being overfed but undernourished, so a further point is that anyone taking these drugs is probably going to eat a lot less food. 

Making sure that what they do eat is “nutrient dense” is important. Just eating less of an already nutrient depleted diet will just lead to vitamin and mineral deficiency.

It may be that GLP-1 drugs offer a unique opportunity for selected patients who will probably need close follow up. 

However, given there are risks (there are reports of 82 UK deaths related to these drugs so far) it seems sensible to try boosting your own GLP-1 production, possibly with a low-carb diet and exercise first.

I shall be developing this theme at the 2025 PHC conference Prevention or Prescription in London on May 31. 

Dr David Unwin has been an NHS GP for 35 years and specialises in diet and obesity, and the treatment of type 2 diabetes. More than 150 of his patients are now in drug-free remission thanks to his low-carb diet clinics.