WEIGHING IN

Have we come to a point where weight loss injections and procedures are unavoidable?

- SAKSHI RAWTE

As I approach my late twenties, some of my friends have been asking me to tell them about my wedding plans a year in advance only so that they can get on Ozempic to fit into their outfits. The much sought after drug has taken over the world so much that even American television host Jimmy Kimmel couldn’t resist joking about it in this year’s Oscars monologue. Social media posts of celebrities like Khloe Kardashian, Mindy Kaling, and Julia Fox often have their followers guessing if they’ve been using weight loss injectables. The demand for these has seeped into the upper layers of society and no one’s making a secret of it.

Dr Roshani Sanghani, American board-certified endocrinologist, attributes the rise in the demand for weight loss injections to the obesity epidemic that has plagued the planet. “The increasing consumption of processed and unhealthy food, erratic sleep, and stress management patterns, lack of exercise, and binge eating are all contributing factors”, says Dr Sanghani, who is also the founder of Reisann Health and author of Turn Around Diabetes. This comes as no shock with India ranking third globally in obesity, according to a report published in the Economic Times this year.

Just like Ozempic, Mounjaro and Zepbound have also become rapidly relevant after the wonder drugs received the green light to be imported and marketed in India. With #Ozempic amassing over a billion views on TikTok, its counterparts are likely to do the same now. Social media has a massive role to play in popularising these medications, especially when influential figures like Elon Musk posts about taking Wegovy, an injection that is intended to treat obesity, just to look “fit, ripped and healthy”.