Nestlé, the company known for producing popular confectionery such as Aero, Smarties, and Kit Kat, has recently introduced a range of frozen foods. This new product line is intended for those who are using semaglutide and tirzepatide, better known commercially as Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound. These drugs reduce the appetite, and have been subject to much hype despite distracting from the real issues with our diet.
During the 1970s, Nestlé aggressively promoted infant formula in developing countries, despite foundational links between the formula’s use with unclean water and countless infant mortalities. This year, it was disclosed that the multinational corporation supplements sugar into baby food in less economically developed countries, but refrains from doing the same in Europe.
Consumption of sugar at an early age can provide a catalyst for obesity and cardiovascular diseases. Ironically, when these babies grow up and require potent new weight loss treatments, they can turn to Nestlé’s petite servings of ‘healthy’ frozen food.
The promotion of these latest medications diverts attention away from the true problem; our ‘obesogenic’ circumstances and the ultra-processed foods that gradually harm our health and increase obesity rates. This year, the Financial Times revealed that US food and soft drink companies outspent the alcohol and tobacco industries combined, with a staggering $106 million on lobbying campaigns in 2023. This has been referred to as a “relentless crusade” aimed at dodging regulation, employing the familiar stratagem of “deny, refute, procrastinate.”
Furthermore, considering the high demand for weight loss medications, it’s difficult to provide one single answer. It’s worth noting that the food industry has spent years concocting an array of unnatural foods, with an irresistible mix of additives, unhealthy fats, and carbohydrates, all aiming to overpower the body’s innate resistance to excessive eating.
Given this, should we maybe start to be less critical of people taking the latest weight loss medications for non-medical reasons? Particularly those unable to commit to diets consisting of child-size portions and carb-avoidance. Remember, these individuals may well have endured numerous diets since William Banting, a funeral director, brought the low-carb diet to public attention back in 1826.
Similar to my own experiences, they have likely kept a tally of calories equivalent to the number of rosary beads a century-old nun has counted. They have rejoiced at the scale’s approval of their body inching towards acceptance, and sunk in disappointment when it heralds yet another letdown. Again and again, they have conquered their persistent adversary, corpulence, but have had to watch helplessly as it slowly returned, enveloping and attempting to suffocate them.
If shelling out a significant amount for medication that, when bought online, likely could be counterfeit, dealing with side effects like nausea and constipation, risking loss of precious muscle, and administering injections seem to be favourable options to being overweight, there is certainly something beyond personal choice at work.
The impact of ultra-processed foods on some people’s health is akin to that of tobacco. The way in which some individuals can smoke and never suffer cancer, others can consume ultra-processed foods with no repercussions on their weight. On the flip side, for some, these foods initiate the unceasing cacophony of food cravings.
Medications like Semaglutide and tirzepatide target and minimise these persistent food cravings that haunt overweight individuals. This reality may go unnoticed by those of slimmer physique, but doesn’t it merit research beyond drugs?
Why do some persons evade this food fixation and traverse their day, occasionally pondering why their heavier friends fail to simply balance their diet and exercise more? Simultaneously, some members of the same family gaze at their slimmer counterparts, questioning why they seemingly hold the key to effortlessly maintaining a healthy weight.
There are those who jubilantly proclaim that the ability of these drugs to neutralise food cravings is evidence that obesity is biologically determined. The stigmatisation and belittlement of overweight individuals as inferior, lacking self-control was misguided from the beginning.
The ultimate quest now is the discovery of medication that can selectively target fat, leaving muscle mass unaffected. However, an obvious question lingers unanswered from the overweight individuals.
It may seem alluring, but what is the rationale? Once these medications are available, we may not seek answers to such queries. Simply follow the crowd and try your semaglutide or tirzepatide, in line with the mainstream folks gathering in the popular segment of the playground.
These medications obscure the boundaries between shedding weight and losing fat. During the initial assessments of semaglutide, it was noticed that 39 percent of the weight that obese adults shed constituted of lean mass or muscle, a key component for upholding metabolic health. In the older generation, reduction in muscle aka sarcopenia is linked with brittle health, accidents along with other health concerns. Also, when individuals stop these drugs, they predominantly regain fat, rather than muscle. The only preventive measures are resistance training and a diet emphasising on high-quality protein. However, these medicines cause a reduced appetite, providing a deterrent to maintaining such a regimen.
The recent elixir is the discovery of a medication that eliminates fat without diminishing muscle mass. But an unanswered question from an oversized elephant looms large – why are we grappling with an obesity epidemic in the first place and who is reaping the benefits from it?