Home Health Britain’s leader on obesity healthcare targets says willpower not to blame for overeating: ‘it’s in people’s genes’

Britain’s leader on obesity healthcare targets says willpower not to blame for overeating: ‘it’s in people’s genes’

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Professor Naveed Sattar (pictured) suggested that it is a mistake to assume that people are

The government’s leader on obesity healthcare targets has claimed that overeating is down to a person’s genes rather than their willpower.

Professor Naveed Sattar, from Glasgow, suggested that it is a mistake to assume that people are “lazy or greedy” and that we should instead consider the genes they have for appetite.

It comes as around 3.4 million adults in the UK are now eligible for weight loss drugs on the NHS, with one in three people considered overweight.

Speaking on BBC One Panorama: Weight loss coups and the NHSProfessor Sattar said some find it harder to resist unhealthy foods than others.

‘Many people still think that people are lazy or greedy. The reality is that our appetite genes have not changed in the last 50 years. But what has changed is the environment,” he said.

“That’s why we’ve made it too easy for people to consume too many calories.”

He added: “I think it’s the genes.” Genes dictate your ability to resist food. If you ask 99 percent of people living with obesity if they want to live with obesity, the answer is no.

“They have done everything they can within the context of their lives to not be overweight or live with obesity, but they have not succeeded.”

Professor Naveed Sattar (pictured) suggested it is a mistake to assume people are “lazy or greedy”, and that we should instead consider the genes they have for appetite.

Professor Sattar said some find it harder to resist unhealthy foods than others.

Professor Sattar said some find it harder to resist unhealthy foods than others.

An estimated 3.4 million Britons meet the criteria for a prescription for Wegovy and Mounjaro, which would cost £10bn a year.

An estimated 3.4 million Britons meet the criteria for a prescription for Wegovy and Mounjaro, which would cost £10bn a year.

During the programme, Professor Barbra McGowan, Obesity Clinical Lead at Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Trust, suggested that people need to actively decide to change their behaviors to keep their weight down.

“I think it’s important to tell patients that the drug will help them achieve this, but it’s very, very important to change behaviors, lifestyle and diet,” he said.

It has been revealed that weight loss drugs “could bankrupt the NHS” if they were prescribed to all eligible patients.

An estimated 3.4 million Britons meet the criteria for a prescription for Wegovy and Mounjaro, which would cost £10bn a year.

All weight loss injections, including Ozempic, contain semaglutide, which mimics a gut hormone that sends signals to our brain telling us we are full and slows the transit of food through the stomach.

Wegovy and Mounjaro can help people lose 10 to 25 percent of their body weight.

Research suggests that Mounjaro leads to greater weight loss than Wegovy with an average of around 25 percent after one year, compared to 16 percent for Wegovy.

Treatment with Wegovy is limited to two years, but Mounjaro, nicknamed the ‘King Kong’ of weight loss jabs, has no limits on how long patients can use it.

However, the NHS is rolling out Mounjaro over 12 years due to concerns it could overwhelm services.

Over the next three years it is estimated that 220,000 people in England will benefit from the 3.4 million who are eligible.

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