Fat jab users ‘pile TWO THIRDS of their weight back on a year after stopping the drug’

SLIMMERS who use weight loss jabs pile almost two thirds of the flab they lose within a year, research suggests.

Around 1.5million Britons are thought to be on the injections such as Mounjaro and Ozempic.

But, research has long suggested that those who come off the jabs abruptly after hitting their target will put on the pounds again.

Now British scientists, who tracked more than 3,200 adults, found that slimmers regained 60 per cent of weight lost within a year of stopping the jabs.

People could even be “worse off than before” they started, if regained weight is fat rather than muscle, they said.

However, weight regain did eventually plateau, with patients still managing to keep a quarter of the jab weight lost off.

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Brajan Budini, a medical student at the University of Cambridge and study co-author, said: “Drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy act like brakes on our appetite, making us feel full sooner, which means we eat less and therefore lose weight.

“When people stop taking them, they are essentially taking their foot off the brake, and this can lead to rapid weight regain.

“Our projections show that even though people regain most of the weight they have lost, they still maintain some of the weight loss, but what we currently don’t know is if the same proportion of lean mass is recovered.

“If the regained weight is disproportionately fat, individuals may ultimately be worse off than before in their fat-to-lean mass ratio, which may have adverse consequences for their health.”

In the study, researchers assessed the results of six trials involving adults on the jabs, known medically as GLP-1s.

Writing in the journal eClinicalMedicine, they said the findings “indicate that there is significant weight regain following cessation of GLP-1RAs”.

However, by 60 weeks, researchers said the regain started to taper off at 75 per cent of the original weight lost, suggesting 25 per cent may be sustained in the long-term.

Researchers called for future trials to explore the the effect of the jabs on the composition of weight loss during and after treatment.

They added that current prescribing guidelines for GLP-1s “are inconsistent and largely inadequate in addressing the risk of weight regain following treatment cessation”.

Steven Luo, also a medical student at the University of Cambridge and study co-author, added: “When stopping weight loss drugs, doctors and patients should be aware of the potential for weight regain and consider ways to mitigate this risk.

“It’s important that people are given advice on improving their diet and exercise, rather than relying solely on the drugs, as this may help them maintain good habits when they stop taking them.”

Like any medication, the jabs can cause side effects that vary in both frequency and severity. 

Reported problems include nausea, constipation, diarrhoea, fatigue, stomach pain, headaches and dizziness.

Weight-related illness costs the economy £74billion a year, with people who are overweight at increased risk of heart disease, cancer and type 2 diabetes.

Two in three Britons are classed as overweight or obese and NHS figures show people now weigh about a stone more than 30 years ago.