Senior NHS doctor warns people taking weight loss drugs to get 'beach body ready' risk 'dangerous consequences' | UK news

People are risking "dangerous consequences" by using "powerful" weight loss drugs to get a "beach body", a senior NHS doctor has warned.

Professor Stephen Powis, national medical director of NHS England, said he was concerned about drugs such as Ozempik and Wegovy is being used by people who are "otherwise healthy" and "just want to lose a few pounds."

Buying such drugs online can lead to "side effects," he said.

"I am concerned about reports that people are misusing them - they are not intended as a quick fix for people trying to get 'beach body ready.'

Doctors are seeing "an increasing number" of patients with "complications" from such drugs they have bought online, said Dr Vicky Price, president-elect of the Society for Acute Medicine.

She added: "We are seeing serious, life-threatening complications, including inflammation of the pancreas gland and changes in blood salt levels in these patients who were unaware of the risk they were taking."

Concerns have been raised with the authorities and there is an "urgent need for regulation and control of access to online weight loss medicines", continued Dr Price.

An A&E doctor said a "young girl" arrived at their department with life-threatening symptoms after taking Wegovy bought online.

The doctor, speaking anonymously to news website Chemist and Druggist, said the girl arrived at A&E "feeling sick, like she was going to pass out and couldn't get up... she was really hard on her eaten".

The girl was "not at all" overweight, the doctor added, but had taken about a month's worth of the drug.

She presented with "starvation ketoacidosis" and needed "urgent treatment" and "really strong counseling on possible side effects including death," the doctor said.

Read more:
Ozempic in Wegovy - what are the injections for weight loss?
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Starvation ketoacidosis is when ketones build up in the blood due to lack of food. Ketones are a type of chemical that your liver produces when it breaks down fats.

Weight loss drugs can be helpful, Professor Powis said. "We know these new drugs will be a powerful part of our obesity arsenal — but they shouldn't be abused," he commented.

"Buying medicines online without a doctor's supervision can lead to complications and dangerous consequences"