‘Divorce boom’ is the newest unexpected weight loss jab impact
More people taking weight loss drugs could lead to more people getting divorced, experts have warned.
Professor Per-Arne Svensson at the University of Gothenburg suggests that dramatic weight loss can significantly increase the likelihood of marital breakdown.
The Telegraph reports that his study of 12,531 married patients who underwent bariatric surgery found that 14.4 percent divorced within six years of treatment, compared with 8.2 percent of the wider population.
Similar research from the University of Pittsburgh also showed that people who lost large amounts of weight through surgery were more than twice as likely to separate from their spouses.
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While the studies focused on surgical procedures rather than weight-loss drugs, experts think they could have the same effect.
Especially given that approximately 1.6 million adults in the UK used drugs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro in the past year.
“Very similar mechanisms could occur with Ozempic [and other GLP-1 receptor agonists] as with surgery, with regards to changes in relationships,” Prof Svensson said.
“Within the newest weight loss drugs, Mounjaro, for instance, we would have weight losses that are not as big as with bariatric surgery, but they are significant enough.
“So I still believe that these mechanisms could occur.”
He added: “What we see for instance in divorces is that it occurs after a couple of years after you started your treatment.”
Prof Svensson, however, acknowledged that said there could be 'many mechanisms' behind why divorces take place.
“People who embark on the weight-loss journey usually have a lot of other life changes as well,” he said.
“That means that they are probably becoming more social, trying to live a healthier life.
“If the partner is not really on the train there, if they don’t follow this person along in this change, that might be something that causes tension.
“It could also be that you have a person who is stuck in a bad relationship, but doesn’t have the self-confidence to break it off because they feel ‘who would like to date them, if not their current spouse’.
“We have shown (higher divorce rates) for bariatric surgery, but that could also be true for Ozempic-based weight loss.”
David Sarwer, the director of the Center for Obesity Research in Philadelphia, added that some people make losing weight and feeling better about themselves 'a motivational catalyst to move on from what would otherwise be an unhealthy relationship'.
Figures from an ONS study show that 42 percent of marriages end in divorce in the UK.
Anish Vij