Anti-obesity medications: Risks, benefits and alternatives
Prescriptions for anti-obesity medications have soared. A wave of next-generation therapies is on the way. And researchers are studying whether GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro can have impacts beyond obesity and diabetes, based on emerging clues that they could target addiction, cardiovascular disease, osteoarthritis — even potentially neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Yet amid the excitement, important questions have arisen about access, cost, equity, and long-term use. Consumers are also asking how these drugs align with longstanding advice about nutrition, exercise, mental health, and positive body image. Our panel of experts discuss the implications of weight discrimination, as well as the future of GLP-1 drugs.
SPEAKERS
Caroline Apovian Obesity Medicine Specialist and Co-director of the Center for Weight Management and Wellness at Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Bryn Austin S. Jean Emans, MD, Endowed Chair in Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital
Uma Naidoo Director of Nutritional, Lifestyle, and Metabolic Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital; Professional Chef; Nutritional Biologist; and Author
Fatima Cody Stanford Obesity Medicine Physician Scientist, Massachusetts General Hospital
MODERATOR
Mallika Marshall Medical Reporter, WBZ-TV and CBS News Boston
