One in ten women are taking weight loss medication while almost three-quarters are ‘considering it’, a poll found.
A survey of 1,000 women, aged 30 to 75, found most were considering taking the likes of Wegovy and Mounjaro to help them lose weight this year.
But many women admitted they would only do so secretly to avoid the ‘stigma’ surrounding weight loss that was not the result of diet and exercise alone.
Of those taking them, one in five (19 per cent admitted they were taking medication without others knowing while more than a third (35 per cent) said they would only tell those closest to them.
Almost nine in ten (86 per cent) said they had tried multiple diet and weight loss programmes to lose weight.
Difficulty maintaining a consistent diet was the biggest barrier to weight loss, followed by a lack of time for regular exercise and mental health or motivational challenge, according to the findings commissioned by digital weight loss service, Juniper.
More than 500,000 people in the UK are now taking weight loss injections, with the majority coming from private pharmacies.
The Obesity Health Alliance (OHA) estimates that 4.1million people in England are eligible for Wegovy on the NHS, which requires a BMI of at least 30 and at least one related health condition, such as type 2 diabetes.
One in ten women are taking weight loss medication while almost three-quarters are ‘considering it’, a poll found
A survey of 1,000 women, aged 30 to 75, found most were considering taking the likes of Wegovy and Mounjaro to help them lose weight this year
Injection pens and boxes of Novo Nordisk’s weight-loss drug Wegovy are shown in this photo illustration
But only a few thousand are thought to be receiving it so far through specialist NHS weight management services with the rest typically using online pharmacies.
The NHS has started to prescribe Mounjaro but this has been capped at 220,000 patients over the next three years, amid fears over cost and delivery capacity.
