CELEBRITIES from Oprah to Kelly Osbourne might sing the praises of Ozempic, and many doctors may have declared that it could potentially end obesity, but this week, medical experts questioned the impact it will have on society, making us "more fat-phobic".
In an article published in The Conversation, Emma Beckett, Adjunct Senior Lecturer of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food Innovation at UNSW Sydney, questioned the harmful impact that the medication can have on diet culture.
By focusing on weight, rather than health, Ozempic could drive more of us to consider "the pursuit of thinness as more important than other aspects of physical and cultural wellbeing", she wrote.
It's not the first 'miracle' weight-loss drug in the market; many of its predecessors have failed to live up to the hype in the long-term, especially as it doesn't work in the same way for all patients, she warned.
"The Ozempic buzz isn't just rooted in health and medicine but plays into ideas of fat stigma and 'fatphobia'.
"This can perpetuate fears of fatness and fat people, and the behaviours that harm people who live in larger bodies," Beckett noted, adding that Ozempic often only works for a short period of time.
"The creation of these drugs is a start, but they remain expensive, and the hype has been followed by shortages," she said.
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