The UK may have reached peak obesity and rates could start falling rapidly later this year, Sky News has been told.
Data collected by one of the biggest online sellers of weight loss jabs suggests that so many people are now taking effective medication that the inexorable rise in obesity could start to reverse.
According to Simple Online Pharmacy, which has access to wholesale figures, 500,000 people in the UK are currently taking either Mounjaro or Wegovy – and they can expect to lose 15% to 20% of their weight over a matter of months.
Rebecca Moore, the company’s chief operating officer, said: “Our projections are that around a million people will reverse their obesity in a year.
“We should be at the point now, we believe, where we’re starting to see rates decline.
“We would not be surprised if by the end of this year we’ve seen a really significant decline in obesity.”
Image: Rebecca Moore, chief operating officer of Simple Online Pharmacy
The company has supplied the drugs to 200,000 people, who have collectively lost 600 tonnes of their weight.
Demand for medication is growing by 10% to 40% month-on-month, and the company has had to build a walk-in fridge to store enough medication to supply 400 patients an hour.
“The narrative has really shifted in the last few months,” said Ms Moore.
“People are recognising that obesity is a lifelong chronic condition. They’re recognising that this medication is a once-in-a-generation revolutionary technology.
“People are much more open to it and I expect that next year there will be another huge surge in growth.”
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2:33
The weight-loss drug that’s ‘too good’
Latest NHS figures show 27% of adults in England are obese, up from 15% in 1993.
Rates have started to plateau in the last couple of years as public health measures such as the sugar tax take effect.
But there are indications that obesity jabs have already begun to reverse obesity in the US and the same is likely to happen in the UK.
Around 95% of all patients using the medication are buying it privately, at a cost of around £150 a month.
Access on the NHS is poor, with research by Sky News showing just 800 patients had been prescribed Wegovy in specialist clinics four months after the rollout started in December 2023. That’s just 6% of the expected number.
And last month the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) bowed to demands from the NHS to restrict access to Mounjaro to just 200,000 of 3.4 million eligible patients over the first three years of the rollout.
Sarah Le Brocq, founder of All About Obesity, sits as a patient representative on the NICE committee.
She said it was “hugely frustrating” that so many patients in need are being denied treatment.
“It’s not the NHS’s fault that they can’t fund these drugs,” she said.
“They need to have that money coming through [from government] because they can’t take it from cancer and put it into obesity.
“We are going to have tiered access. The wealthy can be healthy, but people who really need treatment can’t have it.”
Angela Chesworth had to do a ‘clinical trial’ of treatment on herself to prove to the NHS that the drugs could stop agonising abdominal pains that she suffered several times a week.
Image: Angela Chesworth and her husband Paul
Her consultant had agreed that her extra pounds were pulling on scar tissue from previous stomach surgery, but he was powerless to prescribe the treatment.
But since the summer, when she started weekly injections of Mounjaro, she has only had a couple of abdominal cramps and the NHS has now agreed to fund treatment.
“When you know there’s something out there that can help you, but you can’t have that help because of money or somebody who makes the rules, you feel worthless,” she told Sky News.
“Come and live in my shoes and see how I am and see how it affects me and then tell me I’m not worth the money.
“You want me to be part of society, you want me to do a job, you want me to expand the economy?
“I needed help, so it was very frustrating to be told no. And especially by the medical professionals.”
Her husband, Paul, is still having to buy his supply privately, despite being on the cusp of type 2 diabetes. After three months of treatment, he has lost two stone and is now healthy.
“I want to be healthy as long as I possibly can,” he said.
“For the last 15 years of his life my dad did not have good health or a good quality of life. He wasn’t able to get up in the morning quickly and ended up on a mobility scooter because he couldn’t walk far.
“All those things I want to try and avoid.”
The Department of Health said new drugs recommended by NICE need to be funded from existing NHS budgets. A spokesperson added: “We are also acting to tackle [obesity’s] causes, shifting our focus from treatment to prevention as part of our 10 Year Health Plan.”
Sir Keir Starmer has announced the UK has officially recognised Palestine as a state.
“Today, to revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis, and a two state solution, the United Kingdom formally recognises the State of Palestine,” the prime minister said on X, alongside a longer video statement.
“In the face of the growing horror in the Middle East, we are acting to keep alive the possibility of peace and a two-state solution.
“That means a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable Palestinian state. At the moment, we have neither.”
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Canada and Australia also officially recognised Palestinian statehood on Sunday, ahead of a conference of the UN General Assembly in New York this week.
It is a significant moment in the history of Britain’s involvement in the region, and comes as the death toll from the Israeli war on Gaza continues to rise and conditions for the people trapped become even more desperate.
Image: An updated map of the region the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office website
In recognising Palestine as a state, the UK does so based on 1967 borders to be finalised as part of future negotiations. It would be led by a “reformed Palestinian Authority”.
The UK also acknowledges “all legal rights and obligations of statehood” for Palestine.
An updated map on the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office website now has the West Bank and Gaza labelled as ‘Palestine’ rather than the ‘Occupied Palestinian Territories’. This change has been rolled out across the website.
Image: Protesters in Tel Aviv calling for the release of hostages. Pic: AP
Sir Keir calls on Hamas to release the hostages
The prime minister repeated his calls for the the Israeli hostages – held in captivity since the brutal attacks on Israel on 7 October, 2023 – to be released by Hamas.
“I have met British families of the hostages. I see the torture that they endure each and every day. Pain that strikes deep in people’s hearts across Israel and here in the United Kingdom.
“The hostages must be released immediately and we will keep fighting to bring them home.”
Sir Keir was also clear to emphasise that recognition of Palestine was “not a reward for Hamas”, saying that the terror group “can have no future, no role in government, no role in security” in a future state.
“I have directed work to sanction other Hamas figures in the coming weeks,” he added.
Image: Huge amounts of Gaza have been razed to the ground. Pic: Reuters
Starmer calls on Israel to end Gaza offensives
Sir Keir also repeated his criticism of Israel, which for nearly two years has waged a brutal war on the densely-populated Gaza Strip.
“The Israeli government’s relentless and increasing bombardment of Gaza, the offensive of recent weeks, the starvation and devastation are utterly intolerable.”
The death toll in Gaza since the IDF launched its offensive following the 7 October attacks has now risen above 65,000 people, according to Hamas-run health authorities.
“This death and destruction horrifies all of us. It must end,” he said.
Image: A pro-Palestinian march in London earlier this year. Pic: PA
British people ‘desperately want to see’ peace
Sir Keir also said: “Ordinary people, Israeli and Palestinian, deserve to live in peace. To try to rebuild their lives free from violence and suffering.
“That’s what the British people desperately want to see.”
But he warned that the possibility of a Palestinian state was in danger of vanishing forever.
“With the actions of Hamas, the Israeli government escalating the conflict, and settlement building being accelerated in the West Bank, the hope of a two-state solution is fading, but we cannot let that light go out.
“That is why we are building consensus with leaders in the region and beyond, around our framework for peace.”
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15:16
What changed in UK’s Gaza policy?
Sir Keir said this is a “practical plan” to bring people together behind a “common vision” that moves from a ceasefire in Gaza to negotiations on a two-state solution.
Today, Sir Keir Starmer will deliver on his pledge to recognise a Palestinian state – after setting out a series of conditions in July which there was little prospect Israel could meet, including agreeing a ceasefire with Hamas.
The prime minister will say it recognises the “inalienable right” of the Palestinian people and what he feels is a moral responsibility to keep a two-state solution alive, amid the devastation of the war and concern about settlement expansion in the West Bank.
This will be formally put forward by the British government at a conference of the UN General Assembly in New York this week, after a diplomatic push led by Emmanuel Macron. Canada and Australia are also expected to recognise it, although may call for Hamas to disarm.
But Labour has always said it’s a move they would make as part of a peace process, which looks further away than ever.
What does it mean?
The move has been heavily criticised and leaves a number of questions not only about what it will achieve – but about whether it will have the opposite effect on the conflict.
David Lammy as foreign secretary conceded when the pledge was announced that “it will not change the position on the ground” which can only come through negotiations.
After all, 147 of the 193 member states of the United Nations recognise it already. Palestine has permanent observer status at the UN – speaking rights, but not voting rights – where it’s represented by the Palestinian Authority. Any move to full status would have to be agreed by the Security Council where the US has a veto.
Sir Keir has made clear he doesn’t accept Hamas – which he calls a “brutal terrorist organisation” – as a government in Gaza. The borders of such a state, wrangled over for decades during multiple rounds of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, are also not agreed.
Recognition is opposed by the Trump administration, as the US president made clear in London last week. US secretary of state Marco Rubio has said it would “embolden Hamas” and be symbolic only.
In Britain there is cynicism too. Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, has accused the prime minister of a “desperate and insincere attempt to placate his backbenchers”. He heads to the party’s conference in Liverpool next week with a further slump in his approval ratings to -42%, around where Rishi Sunak’s was after his D-Day blunder.
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1:28
Could recognition of Palestine change the West Bank?
Other Labour MPs oppose the recognition move. The Labour Friends of Israel group has said: “It is important to recognise that Israel is not the only party to this conflict… Hamas could end this conflict tomorrow by releasing the hostages and laying down its arms.”
The move is also opposed by the families of the hostages in Gaza, of which 20 are believed to be alive – for not imposing their release as a condition on Hamas.
Ilay David, the brother of Evyatar David, who recently appeared emaciated in a Hamas video, said: “We want to meet with Starmer but he refuses to meet with us… Giving this recognition is like saying to Hamas: ‘It is OK you can keep starving the hostages, you can keep using them as human shields’. This kind of recognition gives Hamas power to be stubborn in negotiations. That is the last thing we need right now.”
Sir Ephraim Mirvis, the UK’s Chief Rabbi has said the “unconditional” recognition of the state “is not contingent upon a functioning or democratic Palestinian government, nor even upon the most basic commitment to a peaceful future”.
Image: Sir Keir Starmer welcomed Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, to 10 Downing Street earlier this month
What happens next?
Sir Keir met 89-year-old Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, in London this month and they agreed Hamas should not be involved in the governance of Gaza.
Efforts to set up a transitional government have been discussed between the US and Gulf states. But Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, said last week there was nothing “ready for signature”.
The UK government is expected to announce further sanctions on Hamas figures this week. But the Israeli government has already responded with fury to the prospect of recognition and it’s reported that retaliation could include further annexations in the West Bank.
The UK government sees this as an important diplomatic move with allies, when nothing else is moving the dial. But it can only be made once, and even supporters in government acknowledge that on the ground in Gaza it won’t immediately change very much.
Image: One of three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets in images shared by Sweden’s armed forces. Pic: Swedish Armed Forces
The three incursions into NATO airspace fuelled concerns about the potential expansion of Russia‘s three-year war in Ukraine and have been seen as an attempt by Moscow to test the military alliance’s response.
The incident over Poland prompted its prime minister, Donald Tusk, to warn that his country was the closest to “open conflict” it had been since the Second World War, while the UK announced it would provide Warsaw with extra air cover.
Two RAF Typhoons, supported by an RAF Voyager air-to-air refuelling plane, took off from RAF Coningsby, in Lincolnshire, on Friday night to defend Poland’s skies before returning safely early on Saturday morning.
Image: A Gerbera drone landed in a field in the Olesno region of Poland
Defence Secretary John Healey said the mission sends a clear signal that “NATO airspace will be defended”.
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“I’m proud of the outstanding British pilots and air crew who took part in this successful operation to defend our allies from reckless Russian aggression.”
He said the mission was “especially poignant” coming as the UK marks the 85th anniversary of the Battle of Britain – when Polish pilots came to the aid of the UK – this weekend.
The head of the RAF, Air Chief Marshal Harv Smyth, said: “This sortie marks the RAF’s first operational mission on Eastern Sentry, reinforcing the UK’s steadfast commitment to NATO and its allies.
“We remain agile, integrated, and ready to project airpower at range.”