Weight loss injections will not be enough to make “lasting progress” in tackling the obesity epidemic, leading medical experts have warned.
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) called on the government to ensure equitable access to weight management services across the country and stressed the importance of wraparound support to prevent individuals from regaining weight after initial loss.
The RCP also called for action to tackle the nation’s “broken food system” to help people make healthier choices, including reducing “aggressive” marketing and advertising of unhealthy food.
“Medication alone will not be enough to make meaningful and lasting progress on tackling obesity,” the College said in a new position statement, adding that the government must also tackle the “social and environmental drivers of obesity”.
“Policies should reduce aggressive marketing and advertising of foods high in fat, salt, and sugar, while increasing the availability and affordability of healthy foods from an early age.
“We must tackle our broken food system and ensure it is easier for all to choose to eat healthily.”
Last week the Government pledged to “launch a moonshot to end the obesity epidemic” in its 10 Year Plan for Health.
Now the College has urged ministers to set out details and timelines of how it will deliver this commitment.
It comes as the College released a poll of members and fellows, showing that four in five (80 per cent) of almost 19,000 doctors in the UK, surveyed by the RCP, said that the number of patients they see with obesity has increased over the last five years.
The RCP warned that treatment for other illnesses is less effective as a result of obesity.
Dr Kath McCullough, special adviser on obesity for the RCP, said: “The narrative that obesity is about personal responsibility or that new medications will solve the problem is misleading.
“Obesity is a chronic illness shaped by a range of factors and influences – and it’s on the rise.
“We are seeing daily how obesity causes and makes it harder to treat conditions, from diabetes and arthritis to heart disease and cancer.
“The NHS 10 Year Plan rightly sets out a suite of measures that can be used in the fight against obesity, but the armoury is far from complete.
“Weight loss drugs can be part of the solution for some patients, but our efforts must focus on preventing people developing obesity and overweight in the first place.
“We welcome the measures Government announced last week – they have great potential. We look forward to seeing the detail on how we will translate that ambition into reality.”
RCP president Dr Mumtaz Patel said: “Doctors are telling us loud and clear about the scale and impacts of obesity. It is undermining treatment, driving up complications and placing additional pressure on an already overwhelmed NHS.
“In less affluent communities, we’re watching obesity fuel a vicious cycle – people are getting sicker, their care becomes harder to deliver and the system just can’t catch up.
“We welcome steps the Government is taking. No few individual measures will be enough. It is a complex problem that requires multifaceted solutions.
“We need bold, joined-up preventative action that tackles the genetic, social, economic and commercial factors that drive obesity.”
Around 29 per cent of adults in the UK are obese, and an estimated 1.5 million are taking weight loss jabs in the UK.
