'The idea we can medicate two-thirds of the population forever is complete fantasy'

Weight-loss jab Mounjaro will be rolled out to a quarter of a million NHS patients. But experts tell that skinny jabs alone won't be enough to solve the obesity crisis

- By Rebecca Thomas

Rolling out weight-loss jabs to more people in Britain is “crucial” to reducing obesity, but relying on that alone is not enough to tackle the crisis, experts have warned.

Leading social think tank Nesta says making the drugs more widely available on the NHS is essential if Britain is to bring down the soaring rates of obesity.

But its analysis said jabs are not the only solution – and that a mass rollout could leave taxpayers with a “huge bill” of £42bn over five years.

Instead, the government should roll out weight-loss jabs to a select group of people, while creating a string of policies to tackle other driving factors for obesity, such as the sale of high salt and high sugar foods at checkouts.

The right combined approach could halve obesity in the UK in five years, Nesta said.

“Halving obesity over the next five years is possible, and weight-loss drugs are a crucial part of how that is achievable,” Hugo Harper, director of healthy life at Nesta, told The Independent. “But relying on weight-loss drugs alone to bring obesity rates down would require a huge bill for taxpayers to pick up.”

Nesta’s exclusive analysis, shared with The Independent, shows that spending £500m a year on jabs for those most in need – around 150,000 people - would be the most cost-effective way of approaching the issue.

That, in combination with other measures, such as banning price promotions on certain foods, could cut the costs of obesity by around £53bn a year.

New figures reported by The Independent last month showed the cost of the UK’s ballooning obesity crisis has risen to a staggering £107bn each year. Tackling obesity was identified as a key policy area in the NHS 10-year plan as the health service looks to cut costs to fill a £6.6bn deficit.

“Our modelling shows that more people will need access to GLP-1 medicines to change our current trajectory,” Mr Harper said.