On the 15th October 2024, the UK health secretary wrote an opinion piece in the Telegraph stating that the government should be providing the revolutionary weight loss jabs Mounjaro, which contain tirzepatide, or Wegovy containing semaglutide to unemployed Brits with obesity to get them back to work.
This opinion was met with support from the Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer, who said the life-changing drugs could be very important for public health and for the economy.
But how would this scheme work, and is it as beneficial as the government are making it out to be?
Here at Bodyline, we’ve been considering what this would mean for the country and the fight against the chronic disease obesity. This is not as simple an issue as it has been made out to be, and many factors must be considered in conversations like these.
These factors include the major upfront cost to the economy and NHS, the imbalance of care depending on socio-economic backgrounds as opposed to genuine need, the life-long support required for medical weight loss treatment such as these, and the underlying issues in weight related workplace discrimination.
Overall, at Bodyline we believe there needs to be a holistic approach and widespread change to the way obesity is viewed, treated, and considered – and medical weight loss injections are just one part of that.
How does obesity impact employment?
Obesity is, and should continue to be considered as, a significant concern in the workplace that impacts both employees and employers.
Living with obesity increases the risk of a number of serious health complications. These include heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancer types. In fact, obesity carries a higher risk of cancer than smoking, contributing to almost 8% of all cancer cases.
Over a quarter of UK adults are currently living with obesity, and numbers are rising across the world – it’s expected the long-term health effects of chronic obesity will have a huge impact on our workforce. For this reason, Bodyline is pleased that we can spotlight on this topic thanks to the words of the health secretary.
It isn’t clear if those already out of work are out of work because of their obesity – that is what the University of Manchester’s trial, funded by pharmaceutical manufacturer Eli Lilly will hope to find out.
However, what is clear is that a very large proportion of UK society do struggle with their weight and subsequent weight health – whether they’re in a job or not.
What is Mounjaro or Tirzepatide?
It would be helpful to answer the question of what these weight loss medications are, and why they are being dubbed the ‘king kong’ of weight loss injections.
Mounjaro is a medical weight loss injectable therapy that contains the active ingredient tirzepatide.
Tirzepatide mimics the effects of two hormones that are naturally produced in the body, these are glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptides (GIP) and glucagon-like-peptides 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists.
Dr Morgan Toerien Clinical Director at Bodyline Medical Wellness Clinics is a weight, health, and wellness practitioner at Bodyline and explains how this medication differs from other injectable therapies on the market:
“GLP-1s (glucagon-like-peptide 1) and the GIPs (glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide) are both substances that are naturally found in the body. Their purpose is to regulate appetite and signal to our brains the feeling of being full. When people are struggling with maintaining their weight, one of two things is often happening. Either they’re not making enough of these hormones, or their body is resistant to them. That means they might need a higher number of the hormones to get the same effect because what their body is producing is not enough.
What researchers have found is that it might be that they’re lacking GIPs. By combining the two hormones, we can treat a broader base of deficiencies. We’re not just working on one pathway but working on two pathways.
“Think of it a little bit like trying to fill a paddling pool with one hose or trying to fill it with two hoses. If you’ve got two different hoses, your chances of getting it filled quicker are better. With tirzepatide, patients can hedge their bets in terms of whichever one of their hormones is more likely to be deficient or more likely to be resistant to, and one will be in the package.”
In other words, it is a weight loss injection with an extra mechanism to help users living with obesity successfully lose even more weight.
It has shown incredible results in clinical trials, with one study showing an average weight loss of up to 21% of their starting weight for users over a 72-week period.
According to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), Mounjaro is eligible to those with an initial body mass index (BMI) of at least 30 kg/m2, or a BMI of 27 with at least one weight related comorbidity such as heart disease or high blood pressure.
However, NICE guidelines advise the NHS it must only be prescribed if the patient has a BMI of at least 35 and at least one weight-related comorbidity. This means that on the NHS, patients can only receive this prescription if they are morbidly obese, as opposed to obese.
Why just the unemployed?
While unemployment is a huge issue for the UK economy, there’s an argument that these game-changing medications should be available based on those who need them rather than based on their socio-economic background.
This is particularly the case when we consider the number of people already in work and living with obesity, who pay their taxes and contribute to the economy but due to their chronic disease and weight related health problems, are at risk of more sick days.
Obesity increases the risk of life-threatening conditions such as heart disease and cancer, which causes premature deaths within the working population. Even before that, obesity-related health problems contribute to higher rates of absenteeism, resulting in a significant number of lost working days each year.
Just in the UK, 131 million working days are lost annually due to sickness, and obesity reportedly plays a substantial role in these absences. The economic cost of these absences is estimated to be around £22 billion, so logic says if obesity continues to rise, as will that cost.
Excess weight hampers productivity in the workplace, impacting both employers and employees, but additionally the stigma surrounding weight and obesity can lead to discrimination, prejudice, and bullying, which negatively affects the mental health of workers.
It’s also important to consider the fact that a person’s job or workplace also has an impact on their likelihood of developing obesity. Routines, work environments, and job demands can influence eating habits, activity levels, and overall weight health.
Consider someone working the night shift – they have limited access to traditional food shopping locations and are forced to buy from fast food locations, the only places that are open. Plus, sleep routine impacts metabolism which increases risk of obesity.
This article isn’t written for the purpose of pitting one section of society against the other for access to weight loss medications – it is just shining a light on the difficulties surrounding this topic.
Obesity impacts the economy in several ways, and while getting people back to work is a noble cause, it leaves behind the population that work hard, pay taxes, and live with chronic obesity.
Medical weight loss treatment and long-term support
At Bodyline, we’ve been in the business of weight health management and medical weight loss treatments for almost 18 years. That’s why we can verifiably say that medical interventions like Mounjaro are not the magic solution to obesity alone.
In fact, without assured habitual changes in lifestyle and ongoing support throughout the treatment process, as soon as a patient comes off the medication, there is a high chance they will regain the weight they lost in the years following.
This is why ongoing counselling, support, and guidance throughout the treatment is crucial to ensure the weight loss is sustainable and works to actually improve their health and overall wellbeing. This is done by incorporating holistic changes to a person’s habits and lifestyle that is bespoke to their specific needs.
There’s no use telling someone who works long shifts to go for a run after work when they’re already exhausted.
With personalised clinical support, like the support we offer within our medical weight loss programmes, life changing weight loss can be sustainable long-term. Even then, if a person is physiologically lacking certain hormones, then coming off medication replacing those hormones will also do them no good, and cause weight to come back.
Offering tirzepatide to get people back to work is not as easy as putting them on 6-month prescriptions and sending them on their way – the support, and maybe even the medication, must be ongoing and holistic, which will be a lot more expensive than the UK government may want to admit.
What’s more, it is a post-code lottery for access to NHS weight health management support across the country, therefore there isn’t even any guarantee that those people with obesity getting treatment on the NHS have the support they require for the medication to properly work!
Obesity in employment: stigma and discrimination
A holistic approach to tackling obesity requires a look at the situation for those living with obesity currently in employment and suffering with the stigma that goes along with them.
Since the majority of the public see the answer to excess weight problems to be “eat less, move more”, there’s an underlying assumption that those living with obesity are eating too much and not moving enough.
That means that the public perception of obesity is that it is a result of over-consumption and laziness. While for some people this may be partially true, obesity is in fact much more complex than that, and can be impacted by a wide variety of factors out of our control such as genetics, ethnicity, and medical history.
However, since the wider public is not informed about these factors, people with obesity face a stigma daily, and many times see discrimination in the workplace and throughout society.
In employment specifically, studies show that people with obesity see discrimination at every stage of their work, from recruitment to salaries to promotions or dismissals.
It’s one thing to offer weight loss medications to those out of work, but if we don’t fix the way we see obesity in work and in the wider society, potential new employees will continue to face the stigma of obesity.
But if obesity is viewed as the chronic disease that it is, then perhaps employers will see it as something they can include in their corporate health packages offered by Bodyline to retain their employees and maintain productivity.
This would save taxpayer money, put the onus on employers to better protect their employees from developing obesity (particularly if the career lifestyle is linked to weight gain), and potentially remove the stigma and its subsequent discrimination from the workplace.
In conclusion: What is the ‘why’ for weight loss jabs?
While public health policy isn’t something we have much weight in, from the perspective of our experienced staff and clinical team we know the complexities of medical weight loss programmes and what makes them work.
What we have found over the years is that those who have come away with success and transformed their lives the most are those people who have goals that go beyond slimming down for a dress or going on holiday.
The people who lose weight and sustain that weight loss are considering their health, their future, their ability to play with their children without getting out of breath, the joy of movement again, or overcoming chronic pain.
Perhaps we should be reframing the conversation back to the personal reasons for choosing medically supported weight loss will work much better than further stigmatizing those who live with obesity and may be unemployed.
Medical weight loss treatments only work when there is a sustained effort from the patient to change their lives through habit forming and lifestyle alterations, and ongoing support from clinicians is what can ensure this is done safely and effectively – and in a way that is bespoke to their circumstances.
Contact Bodyline today to find out more about our safe and effective weight loss programmes and range of treatment options.
Corporate weight health
Did you know that by partnering with specialist weight health providers such as Bodyline, employers can offer the latest in medical weight loss solutions alongside fully supported weight loss programmes for their employees?
This approach ensures that employees can receive personalised treatment options tailored to their needs, prioritizing medically targeted solutions for those who struggle to lose weight with diet and exercise alone.
Find out more here.
