Those planning to lose weight on a diet in the New Year may want to think twice.
An expert has now claimed that changing eating and exercise habits will never be as effective as weight loss drugs such as Mounjaro and Ozempic.
Professor Yoni Freedhoff of the University of Ottawa, who has spent decades studying the best ways to lose weight, compared data from the Look Ahead lifestyle-based weight loss trial with two trials of new slimming hits.
He has now warned that those hoping to achieve a significant change in their body shape through diet may be disappointed.
Participants in the Look Ahead trial followed an “intensive” diet plan, losing, on average, 4.7 percent of their total body weight and keeping it off for at least four years.
However, those who participated in the injection trials maintained between 10 and 25 percent of their body weight over the same period of time, depending on the type of drug used.
“It’s not a bad thing that we have drugs that offer better results than lifestyle; in fact, it’s great,” Professor Freedhoff said in an article for the medical news website Medscape.
An expert says going on a diet and changing exercise habits will never be as effective as weight loss drugs like Ozempic (file photo)
More than four in ten Britons intend to lose weight by the New Year (file photo)
‘(They) not only provide dramatically greater and longer lasting weight loss than lifestyle interventions, but they have also been shown to very significantly reduce the risk of a growing list of other medical concerns, including heart attacks, strokes, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, fatty liver disease and more, with minimal risk.
Last year, more than four in ten Britons made a New Year’s resolution to lose weight, and four in five gave up by the third week of January.
Weight loss medications include semaglutide, sold as Ozempic and Wegovy, and tirzepatide, sold as Mounjaro.
A plan to roll out tirzepatide across the NHS was announced earlier this month. Nearly a quarter of a million people are expected to be eligible for the drug in the New Year.