Expert issues warning over weight loss jabs that 'everyone needs to hear'

It’s thought that almost two million people in the UK are using weight loss jabs but that the majority are not getting them through the NHS.

Originally designed to treat Type-2 diabetes, the self-injectable medicine can belief-changing for the health of those with the likes of obesity and heart disease.

Better known as Mounjaro, Wegovy and Saxenda, these injections are approved and licensed in the UK to aid weight loss.

And over recent years, they have become more commonly known about and in circulation. However, there are fears that with them becoming easier to access, the understanding of them isn’t as high, with a range of side effects possible.

An expert recently appeared on This Morning where she issued a warning that ‘everyone needs to hear’.

Dr Federica Amati is a medical scientist and nutritionist who says weight loss jabs are ‘not magic bullets’ and ‘don’t work for everybody’.

The jabs can be hugely beneficial to people's health but they carry side effects. (Getty Stock)

She laid out the well0known, most common side effects of ‘constipation, reflux, nausea and vomiting’.

“They’re not life-threatening by any stretch, but they’re not nice to live with,” Federica explained.

Host Josie Gibson explained she knows friends taking the medicine that has been brilliant because ‘they’ve lost weight’ but they’ve also now ‘started losing their hair’.

“I wouldn’t say their nutrition was the best, they don’t look healthy,” she added, as she added side effects like ‘bad breath’ not being spoken about as much.

So, Dr Amati doubled-down that the medicines aren’t designed ‘just for weight loss’.

“We're trying to help people achieve better body composition or improve their blood glucose control,” she said.

“And increasingly they have an effect on heart health, kidney health. We're seeing more applications for this. But this is not a lifestyle drug.

“It's actually a medicine that demands you to improve your lifestyle and your nutrition because otherwise you really run the risk of malnutrition and of having nutrient deficiencies, and of losing muscle mass in the long term.”

While the nutritionist is ‘very pro medicine’ as the drugs ‘really work’, she’s also ‘very pro-patient’.

“The people who take these medicines need to be screened appropriately,” she continued. “They need to be prescribed to the right people. It’s not for everybody to take these.”

Dr Amati says it’s essential to support people with ‘lifestyle nutrition’ in order to avoid the unwanted effects like ‘lean mass loss’ and ‘micronutrient deficiencies’.

She advises that ‘resistance training is critical’ as you ‘have to use your muscles’ as a fundamental to ‘maintain healthy bones and healthy muscles’.

Plus, she adds that it’s important to look at your diet both before you start using the medicine as well as during, so having ‘more fibre in your diet and a diversity of plants’.

Then during treatment, focusing on ‘nutrient density’ like avocados, eggs, oily fish and lentils.

The LADbible Group has contacted Novo Nordsik, the manufacturers of Wegovy and Saxenda, and Eli Lilly, the manufacturers of Mounjaro, for comment.