Financial Times Person of the Year

[biostud]

FT Person of the Year: Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen of Novo Nordisk

The Danish company’s drugs for obesity could have a profound impact on healthcare, society and our relationship with food

www.ft.com

Apperently he is a very introvert person, but can still be CEO of large company.

Also be interesting how better health will improve (if any) other ailments and save healthcare. And if trash food companies are going to see a decline in demand.

 

[Greenman]

It weird that we need a cure for overeating.

 

[biostud]

It weird that we need a cure for overeating.

It is freedom fat

 

[Pohemi]

Also be interesting how better health will improve (if any) other ailments and save healthcare. And if trash food companies are going to see a decline in demand.

It weird that we need a cure for overeating.

As soon as I heard about drugs for diabetics being used off-shelf for weight loss, one of my first thoughts was that it's only going to make people worse off, thinking that they can now eat whatever they want, and not exercise because hey, they can just take a pill or a shot to keep the weight down.

It's not going to make people magically free of health problems by helping them drop some weight...it's just going to raise their insulin resistance.

For people who have endocrine issues, etc. and actually need medical help in controlling their weight outside of dietary control and exercise...these drugs could be a huge help. But for people who just want to be lazy and eat/do whatever they please...I don't see them as a good thing.

Sorry for the sidetrack...I know this was about the guy and not the company's products.

 

[biostud]

As soon as I heard about drugs for diabetics being used off-shelf for weight loss, one of my first thoughts was that it's only going to make people worse off, thinking that they can now eat whatever they want, and not exercise because hey, they can just take a pill or a shot to keep the weight down.

It's not going to make people magically free of health problems by helping them drop some weight...it's just going to raise their insulin resistance.

For people who have endocrine issues, etc. and actually need medical help in controlling their weight outside of dietary control and exercise...these drugs could be a huge help. But for people who just want to be lazy and eat/do whatever they please...I don't see them as a good thing.

Sorry for the sidetrack...I know this was about the guy and not the company's products.

Obviously it would be better if the drugs weren't needed, but there does not seem to be a decline in obesity anywhere. And if you don't want to use politics to improve people's health (fight the freedom fat) then drugs it is. :/

But it is a sign of something being wrong with how we live.

 

[Greenman]

I wish my freedom fat would spread out more, it gathers exclusively on my belly. So damn annoying (note that it's not annoying enough for me to actually do something about it).

 

[Pohemi]

But it is a sign of something being wrong with how we live.

Right, and that's kind of my point. It's not just the way we eat in "modern society", but the way we have come to simply throw drugs at every perceived health problem instead of looking at better options.

 

[biostud]

Right, and that's kind of my point. It's not just the way we eat in "modern society", but the way we have come to simply throw drugs at every perceived health problem instead of looking at better options.

And for me just like any major crisis, it has to be handled at a political level, and even with my limited knowledge of the US society, then I doubt that is going to happen.

 

[biostud]

I wish my freedom fat would spread out more, it gathers exclusively on my belly. So damn annoying (note that it's not annoying enough for me to actually do something about it).

I know the feeling except I'm just growing a dad bod.

 

[Drach]

I wish my freedom fat would spread out more, it gathers exclusively on my belly. So damn annoying (note that it's not annoying enough for me to actually do something about it).

That's the booze. Ask me how I know.

 

[Stokely]

Consider what the average person is up against. Probably working hard in some job that doesn't require them to move a lot. Companies with billion dollar budgets for "flavor scientists" and advertising doing one thing--developing food that is arguably addictive (maybe it actually is, I don't keep up) and absolutely terrible for you. Dorito-flavored this and that etc. Massive amounts of salt and sugar in everything.

We are outgunned. And look at the food options in some of the poorest areas, which by no coincidence tend to be the most unhealthy and overweight.

My wife asked the doc about getting one of the fat shots, not sure which one she asked him about. $1000 a month, so that tells you which demographic will be able to take advantage of it. Not sure which one this guy developed.

 

[Greenman]

That's the booze. Ask me how I know.

I don't drink. Which puts me right back into being a glutton.

 

[fskimospy]

The main issue is that we evolved in a world of food scarcity so our bodies and brains tell us to eat a lot because we don’t know when the next meal is. Well nowadays there is always a next meal and that next meal is cheap as hell. Cheap, plentiful food combined with physiology that tells us to eat it all = a lot of fat people.

(If you think food is expensive now it used to be much more so)

 

[desy]

So how these drugs work is that its an appetite suppressant.
They don't eat whatever they want cause they lose the desire to eat at all and have to remind themselves to eat and all the greasy stuff has no appeal.

 

[Ajay]

It's not going to make people magically free of health problems by helping them drop some weight...it's just going to raise their insulin resistance.

For people who have endocrine issues, etc. and actually need medical help in controlling their weight outside of dietary control and exercise...these drugs could be a huge help. But for people who just want to be lazy and eat/do whatever they please...I don't see them as a good thing.

?? Losing weight reduces insulin resistance. I'm a type 2 diabetic. Many of us were pretty excited about some of these new drug - I'm already on Victoza. Doc approved me for Maunjaro and I was just waiting for my insurance company to cover it. Then a couple of things happened. One - the rich (or those well off) started to get prescriptions from their doctors for weight loss, an they promptly just about wiped out supply as they were will willing to pay above list to get it from 'friendly' pharmacists. Secondly, we found out that trials were underway specifically to prove efficacy as a weight loss drug. Insurance companies balked, knowing that this could be a HUGE money sink for them. Losing weight would have additional health benefits for me besides making it easier to control my BGLs. Now it's going to be chaos. //rant

 

[IronWing]

?? Losing weight reduces insulin resistance. I'm a type 2 diabetic. Many of us were pretty excited about some of these new drug - I'm already on Victoza. Doc approved me for Maunjaro and I was just waiting for my insurance company to cover it. Then a couple of things happened. One - the rich (or those well off) started to get prescriptions from their doctors for weight loss, an they promptly just about wiped out supply as they were will willing to pay above list to get it from 'friendly' pharmacists. Secondly, we found out that trials were underway specifically to prove efficacy as a weight loss drug. Insurance companies balked, knowing that this could be a HUGE money sink for them. Losing weight would have additional health benefits for me besides making it easier to control my BGLs. Now it's going to be chaos. //rant

Yep. The price on one of my wife's asthma drugs, a generic, went through the roof when somebody discovered it could be used as a precursor to an ecstasy type drug.

 

[interchange]

It weird that we need a cure for overeating.

Obesity is FAR more complicated than that

 

[Greenman]

Obesity is FAR more complicated than that

The reasons for over eating I'm sure can be quite complicated and severe. The actual mechanics of obesity are very simple, eating to much.

 

[ch33zw1z]

The reasons for over eating I'm sure can be quite complicated and severe. The actual mechanics of obesity are very simple, eating to much.

I think for a big part of the population, that’s accurate, but we know genetics play a huge role as well. So you can’t really blanket statement like that IMO. We would all be served well to babysit our calories, few people do though

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

The reasons for over eating I'm sure can be quite complicated and severe. The actual mechanics of obesity are very simple, eating to much.

Not really, no. What you eat, when you eat, how you eat, a myriad of things going on in a person's life, genetics, gut biome, history of weight level, and a host of other things all play into a person's disposition to weight gain and loss.

 

[Greenman]

Not really, no. What you eat, when you eat, how you eat, a myriad of things going on in a person's life, genetics, gut biome, history of weight level, and a host of other things all play into a person's disposition to weight gain and loss.

All well and good, but it doesn't change the fact that if you eat less calories than you burn you will lose weight.

 

[Pohemi]

?? Losing weight reduces insulin resistance.

Generally speaking, yes, if you have weight to lose.

If you are normal or near-normal weight and start increasing your calorie intake, compensating not by increasing activity but by increasing insulin or using new weight loss drugs (some of which are biosimilar to insulin), it will certainly increase your resistance.

This is a specific scenario so I don't think of this as blowing into a widespread issue, but the thought about this did cross my mind almost immediately when I started to hear about them hitting shelves. Part of that was probably because non-diabetic people HAD/HAVE been using actual insulin to assist in weight loss. Personally, I don't think that should be allowed...because only better-off people will be able to afford it, and could add to shortage issues for people who need it to live, not just dropping 25lbs.

Again, I think these drugs could be very useful, I just think their prescribing should be conservative as opposed to a catch-all for weight loss.

 

[biostud]

As I understand it there are a lot of several factors playing a role.

Social/political
Is healthy food readily available and can be bought by every income group?
Are healthy food available as ready meals and in school or other public kitchens?
Are unhealthy products clearly labeled and are the strict regulations about what can be put into your food?
Stress often leads to overeating. Do we as a society have a stress problem?
Is obesity evenly distributed in the population are som social, cultural etc. more dominant?

And then there are personal, like genetics, family traditions, upbringing, personality etc.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

All well and good, but it doesn't change the fact that if you eat less calories than you burn you will lose weight.

Actually not true. Talk to someone who's spent a lifetime fighting with weight, about 6 months after starting keto, and let them tell you how much a calorie is worth.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Right, and that's kind of my point. It's not just the way we eat in "modern society", but the way we have come to simply throw drugs at every perceived health problem instead of looking at better options.

We know what all of the better options are, people are not availing themselves of them. That makes better living through science necessary, if we are to help the people that will not or cannot help themselves.

The issues you brought up about pricing, availability, and access, is another subject. Poorly regulated capitalism, in which the companies effectively write the legislation here in the U.S., is the problem as I see it. Easy fix as solutions go, but the hardest to institute. As it requires doing what's right, instead of what's best for the companies and congress critters bank accounts.

As I understand it there are a lot of several factors playing a role.

Social/political
Is healthy food readily available and can be bought by every income group?
Are healthy food available as ready meals and in school or other public kitchens?
Are unhealthy products clearly labeled and are the strict regulations about what can be put into your food?
Stress often leads to overeating. Do we as a society have a stress problem?
Is obesity evenly distributed in the population are some social, cultural etc. more dominant?

And then there are personal, like genetics, family traditions, upbringing, personality etc.

It's all of those things and more. The take away for me is that if science can help, even if it has to be incentivized through profits, it should.

Actually not true. Talk to someone who's spent a lifetime fighting with weight, about 6 months after starting keto, and let them tell you how much a calorie is worth.

Good book someone here recommended way back - https://www.amazon.com/Good-Calories-Bad-Controversial-Science/dp/1400033462

I know it's not without its issues and critics, but people that follow the principles get results. As you pointed out those same people yo-yo dieted at best before adopting the strategy. Anecdotal evidence carries more weight (I'm a punny guy) when there is so much of it.