They could be a new weapon in the war against Britain’s bulging waistlines.
But Prue Leith isn’t a fan of revolutionary weight loss hits like Ozempic.
The Great British Bake Off judge said injections “take the joy out of life” and should only be used by people who desperately need to lose weight.
While he acknowledged that bashing had its place for “chronically” obese Britons, he said people would be better off learning to love healthier food.
“It’s the wrong answer because you have to keep pricking yourself for the rest of your life and that can’t be entirely good,” he told The Times at the Health Commission summit.
‘You are taking the joy out of life. It would be better if you could come to love food that is good for you.’
Prue Leith said injections “take the joy out of life” and should only be used by desperate people.
Medications like Ozempic help people lose weight by mimicking a hormone that tricks them into feeling full.
Experts have warned that Wegovy is not a “magic pill.” Trials have shown that users can quickly regain pounds once they stop taking it, and it can cause side effects such as nausea, constipation, and diarrhea.
Prue, 83, said instead that the country’s fight against flab would be better if schoolchildren were taught to cook healthy, delicious meals.
‘The only way to prevent children from opting for something easy and delicious is to get them to like good food. It’s easy to do,’ she said.
Ozempic and its sister drug Wegovy have the same active ingredient, semaglutide.
They work by mimicking a natural hormone that makes the body feel full, reducing the amount people eat and therefore helping them lose weight.
Both medications are manufactured by Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk, and Ozempic is designed to specifically help patients with diabetes.
Wegovy, on the other hand, is formulated specifically for weight loss, but supply has not been able to meet demand, causing a shortage of Ozempic.
This has had a ripple effect on diabetes patients who, as a result, have had difficulty getting regular supplies of their medications.
Other weight loss injections that work in a similar way are also appearing on the market.
Mounjaro, also known as tirzepatide and dubbed the King Kong of weight loss hits, will be available in Britain within weeks.
Ministers have hailed the jabs as a revolutionary way to tackle obesity, which costs the NHS and wider society billions of pounds a year.
But they are not without disadvantages.
As Prue highlighted, patients have to take a lifetime of beatings or watch the pounds pile on as a result.
Second, like any medication, they can have side effects that vary in both frequency and severity.
These include nausea, constipation and diarrhea, fatigue, stomach pain, headaches and dizziness.
Stranger and much rarer side effects, such as hair loss, have also been reported.
The latest data from England shows that almost two-thirds of adults are too fat, compared to just half in the mid-1990s.
Nearly one in 10 children is obese by the time they start primary school.