- At the outset, let’s make it abundantly clear that all of us would want to lead a healthy life with robust health being at the center of our attention. A healthy physical disposition is a much sought-after craving for every individual is stating the obvious. A slim and trim physical body combined with effervescently amazing energy levels and unstoppable spring in the steps is what each one of us would desperately wish to be blessed with. Now, while we dream and wish about maintaining such a disposition, what we tend not to seriously consider is the grind that is expected in the form of focused attention to exercise and follow a commensurate diet. There are no quick-fix solutions to reduce excess weight by consuming a magic pill. Or is it? Let’s look at the latest fad.
PC: News18
- The market is flooded with such offerings promising to reduce excess weight, but under the strict supervision of a medical practitioner. We know the latest fad being played out in the form of GLP-1 drug offering to reduce excess bodily weight drastically. In the absence of regulation, Indians are buying weight-loss drugs off the internet, including from China. How safe is it, though? Of course, many have a big medical need, and others are merely driven by vanity. Either way, Indians are racing at a predictable pace towards the magic pills they have heard so much about, which could thin them without the bitter pills of diet and exercise. It’s helped that Novo Nordisk lost the patent for Semaglutide, the most used GLP-1 drug, in India in March.
PC: Food Guides
- Brands have slashed prices, and generics have started rolling out excitedly. And yet, several people are choosing a third, dangerous alternative to the branded and generic meds. They are ingesting untested, unregulated drugs from China. This is dangerous and potentially catastrophic. This can be about chasing the lowest-priced option. Or going do-it-yourself, instead of following the doctor’s orders. Or even buying hooey and hogwash from some social media influencer. Content creators can be highly irresponsible launch monkeys. Sometimes, out of greed, and other times, because they don’t know any better. Whatever the reason, medically unsupervised use of drugs that alter core metabolic signals inside the human body is a mug’s game.
PC: EatingWell
- Worryingly, laypersons have no idea if these meds interfere with the others they are taking. How to dose up and dose down are also highly technical matters. The Chinese in-vitro drugs circulating in India, through the internet, need to be a wake-up call. This is what happens when doctors’ prescriptions are replaced by an influencer’s testimonial, and the pharmacy by Instagram DMs. Yes, NFHS-5 data indicate that around a quarter of both women and men in India are either overweight or obese. In a way, we got here because of being bad at science, paying a heavy price for poor literacy in both nutrition and biology. And regulators have failed, too. The regulators must figure out how to stop the GLP-1 revolution from being hijacked by influencers.
