Obesity surgery eclipses wonder weight loss drugs like Wegovy when it comes to saving lives, research shows.
There is a shortage of weight loss shots because there is unprecedented demand among people who want to copy celebrities such as Sharon Osbourne and Oprah Winfrey.
But a new study shows they are less effective at preventing premature deaths among obese patients from weight-related diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
In the UK, approximately 7,000 people undergo obesity surgery (bariatric surgery) every year.
To qualify for NHS benefit, your Body Mass Index must be 40 or above.
Scientists from Hasharon Hospital in Israel suggest that obesity surgery has greater long-term benefits and is more effective in preventing premature death than weight-loss injections
More than 6,000 obese patients, with an average age of 51, were followed for six years in the study, which found that those who had surgery were 62 percent less likely to die from obesity-related health problems than those who received treatment with Ozempic style injections (file photo)
Surgeons reduce the size of the stomach, usually by means of a gastric bypass or by placing a gastric band. This allows patients to feel full faster and eat less.
The operation, which costs up to £15,000, requires a short hospital stay. It has been speculated that obesity drugs based on semaglutide – which mimic the effects of a hormone called GLP-1 that tells the brain the stomach is full – could reduce the need for stomach surgery.
However, the latest research, conducted by scientists at Hasharon Hospital in Israel, shows that surgery brings greater benefits in the long term.
They followed more than 6,000 obese patients, with an average age of 51, for six years and found that those who had surgery were 62 percent less likely to die from health problems related to obesity than those treated with Ozempic-style injections.
Researchers said the results, published in the journal JAMA Open Network, reflected the fact that the weight lost from surgery was greater than from the drugs.
Obese patients lost an average of 31 percent of their body weight during surgery, while those taking GLP-1 inhibitors – which stop working if not taken for life – lost only 12.8 percent.
“The risk of death decreases when patients lose more than 10 to 15 percent of their body weight,” says Prof. Alex Miras, an endocrinologist at Imperial College London.
“But the newest GLP-1 drugs make patients lose more weight, so 10 years later they could be as effective as surgery.”