One of Ireland’s leading obesity specialists has claimed the ‘hijacking’ of the weight loss treatments by the beauty industry has led to an increase in hospitalisations. 

The licensing of  weight loss drugs has been widely hailed them as a “game changer” in the fight against obesity. 

However, Professor Donal O’Shea warned their arrival is not unalloyed good news and cautioned that they are now “widespread” in beauty salons. 

“My hope had been with the advent of proper medical treatments for obesity that we would begin to destigmatise the disease of obesity,” he told The Pat Kenny Show. 

“But what’s happening is the opposite; you have beauty clinics and aesthetic clinics that are offering these treatments without any indication for people who want to be leaner than they are. 

“They don’t meet any of the criteria for treatment because they don’t have obesity - they just want to be thinner.” 

Woman holding her belly fat. Picture by: Zoonar GmbH / Alamy. 26 July 2024

Professor O’Shea continued that he is hugely concerned that many people are obtaining weight loss drugs “without appropriate advice” or screenings. 

This is, he believes, is a phenomenon that he would have thought “unthinkable” not so long ago. 

“Unfortunately, we’ve arrived at a situation where the medical treatment of obesity has been hijacked by the aesthetic, beauty industry,” he said. 

“That’s incredibly disappointing for those of us who have been working in the area of obesity for our professional lives.” 

Kitchen scales. Picture by: Alamy.com.

Professor O’Shea warned that while weight loss drugs work “very well” for 30 to 40% of people, for some people they do not work at all and a minority will have a “lot of side effects”. 

In the most serious cases, these side effects can lead to hospitalisation. 

“We are admitting people every week with these side effects of these treatments,” he said. 

“If people get treatments in an aesthetic outlet, they don’t declare it when they come into hospital sick. 

“You’re looking at someone who is sick, you’re asking them what medication they’re on. 

“It’s not declared and that means you’re blinded.” 

Professor O’Shea said he thinks some people “don’t think of it as a drug”, despite the fact there are clear risks associated with the medication. 

Last year, Cork City Coroners Court heard that a grandmother had died from total organ failure after taking Ozempic.

Main image: An ambulance. Picture by: Alamy.com.