From fashion to the food industry: 11 ways that weight-loss drugs have changed the world

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The growing – and sometimes secret – use of drugs containing semaglutide has had a huge impact on how we live … but where will it end?

Ellen lied to get her Wegovy pen. “I put weights around my neck under my dressing gown when I got on the scales,” she said. “They do the review and five ­minutes later, I got the approval.”

It’s not what Wegovy or Mounjaro were designed for – which was to help seriously obese people – nor Ozempic or Rybelsus, drugs to help diabetics manage their disease. All four are types of semaglutide, which mimics the hormone released by the body when eating food, GLP-1 . The essential effect is to make people lose their appetites.

“You do get naturally thin 16- or 17-year-old girls who are sucked into the industry then told ‘if you want to stay in it, you’ve got to starve’ – it’s a really abusive grooming space,” said Caryn Franklin, the former BBCA campaign that she set up with supermodel Erin O’Connor, All Walks Beyond The Catwalk, seemed to have worked – in 2017, major ­fashion houses signed up to a charter to protect models by ­banning size zero, and plus-size models started to become visible at fashion...

That pressure applies to ­established stars too, trying to keep their place in Hollywood’s ­pantheon or on TV screens, particularly in the US where Ozempic has been taken off-label – prescribed legally for a purpose for which it was not approved – since it was advertised in 2018.

“We talk about weight loss like a war,” she said. “Banish the bulge and fight the fat. It’s supposed to be ­difficult. It’s supposed to be ­arduous. And now you can pick up a pen for £150 or something.” For larger firms, it’s a bigger problem. Sima Sistani stood down last month as chief executive of WW International, which owns WeightWatchers, after trying to turn around the company’s fortunes.

Gyms have responded by ­replacing treadmills and other ­cardio machines, previously seen as the best way to shed pounds, with more weight machines and free weights. Even publishers have felt an Ozempic effect. In the US, print sales in the “health and fitness” category have fallen by 15% ­compared to 4% overall, ­according to Circana. In the UK, fitness and diet books were down by 14% in 2023, compared with a 2% fall across the market, according to Nielsen BookData.

Statins, which help avoid hardening or narrowing of the ­arteries, have had an ­economic impact by preventing ­countless deaths from heart attacks and strokes. It could be bad news for CFOs at some medical firms which have built their businesses treating those diseases. Cardiovascular disease has created a market worth $250bn , and analysts suggested this could shrink by 10% by 2050.Ellen’s loss of interest in alcohol as a result of taking Wegovy is backed up by research.

 

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