When people stop taking the new generation of weight-loss drugs, they pile back the kilos four times faster than they would after ending diet and exercise regimes, new research found on Jan 8 (2026).<\/p>\n
But this was mostly because they lost so much weight in the first place, according to the British researchers who conducted the largest and most up-to-date review of the subject.<\/p>\n
A new generation of appetite-suppressing, injectable drugs called GLP-1 agonists have become immensely popular in the last few years, transforming the treatment for obesity and diabetes in many countries.<\/p>\n
They have been found to help people lose between 15-20% of their body weight.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis all appears to be a good news story,\u201d said Oxford University public health nutrition scientist Prof Dr Susan Jebb, who co-authored the study published in The BMJ medical journal.<\/p>\n
However, recent data has suggested that \u201caround half of people discontinue these medications within a year\u201d, she told a press conference.<\/p>\n
This might be because of common side effects such as nausea or the price \u2013 these drugs can cost over US$1,000 (RM4,063) a month in the United States.<\/p>\n
So the researchers reviewed 37 studies looking at ceasing different weight-loss drugs, finding that participants regained around 0.4kg a month.<\/p>\n
Six of the clinical trials involved semaglutide and tirzepatide.<\/p>\n
While taking these two drugs, the trial participants lost an average of nearly 15kg.<\/p>\n
However after stopping the medication, they regained 10kg within a year, which was the longest follow-up period available for these relatively new drugs.<\/p>\n
The researchers projected that the participants would return to their original weight in 18 months.<\/p>\n
Measurements of heart health, including blood pressure and cholesterol levels, also returned to their original levels after 1.4 years.<\/p>\n
People who were instead put on programmes that included diet and exercise \u2013 but not drugs \u2013 lost significantly less weight.<\/p>\n
However, it took an average of four years for them to regain their lost kilos.<\/p>\n
This meant that people taking the drugs regained their weight four times faster.<\/p>\n
Prof Jebb emphasised that GLP-1 drugs \u201care a really valuable tool in obesity treatment, but obesity is a chronic relapsing condition\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne would expect that these treatments need to be continued for life, just in the same way as blood pressure medication,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
If this was the case, it would impact how national health systems judge whether these drugs are cost-effective, the researchers emphasised.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis new data makes it clear they are a starting point, not a cure,\u201d said Australia\u2019s University of Melbourne Metabolic Neuroscience Research Laboratory head Prof Dr Garron Dodd, who was not involved in the study.<\/p>\n
\u201cSustainable treatment will likely require combination approaches, longer-term strategies, and therapies that reshape how the brain interprets energy balance, not just how much people eat,\u201d he said. \u2013 By Daniel Lawler\/AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When people stop taking the new generation of weight-loss drugs, they pile back the kilos four times faster…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":695833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4315],"tags":[535,6979,105,623,4326,445,16,15,734,2488],"class_list":{"0":"post-695832","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-drugs","9":"tag-glp-1-receptor-agonists","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-healthy-lifestyle","12":"tag-medication","13":"tag-obesity","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-weight-loss","17":"tag-wellness"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115894624256375671","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=695832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/695833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=695832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=695832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=695832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}