Weight-loss drugs do nothing to address the troubled relationships we have with our bodies | Susie Orbach

"Today, a new kind of troubled eating is stalking the land, entirely induced by the new GLP-1 weight-loss drugs produced by pharmaceutical companies and promoted by their willing agents on social media. It is totally understandable that people want relief from obsessive and invasive thoughts about their bodies and food. The explosion of GLP-1 drugs has provided a kind of psychological peace for many who feel less frightened of their appetites."

"The reach will be ever greater as the pill version of the drug, as opposed to the current jab form, hits the marketplace. The notion of managing appetite, of the desire for food, of mouth hunger, of wanting to quell the food chatter that constitutes internal and often obsessive thoughts about eating and not eating, is the promise. So too is the longing for bodies to be transformed. To be slimmed down and disciplined."

Fifty years ago women faced strict demands to display their bodies in narrow ways, prompting rebellions by some who refused to conform. Troubled eating remained widespread, often hidden, and was fueled by the food, diet, beauty, and fashion industries that targeted appearance as central to female identity. A new wave of troubled eating is emerging, driven by GLP-1 weight-loss drugs that suppress appetite and alter desires. These drugs offer psychological relief for people troubled by obsessive food thoughts, and their availability and falling prices, plus online prescribing and looming oral forms, expand access. The drugs promise body transformation and risk erasing the meanings behind disordered eating.

Read at www.theguardian.com