Bombshell study of UK obesity makes shock claim

The rising tide of obesity in the UK is levelling off, with game-changing jabs set to help “turn the tide”, experts have said. Analysis of data from 200 countries since the 1980s by experts at Imperial College London found many had seen rates begin to level off, slowing first in children and then adults.

In the UK, a plateau for girls occurred around the year 2000, with the same happening in boys slightly later. Obesity rates among men and women were still rising but slowing down, the study found. Professor Majid Ezzati said the impact of revolutionary weight loss jabs were not yet thought to be reflected in the data.

He added: “We have learned from statins that when [drugs] are widely used, they have a large impact. Going forward, they could be a game-changer.”

Commenting on the findings, Dr Louis Aronne, director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Center at Weill Cornell Medicine, in New York, said new treatments for obesity were “already turning the tide in the countries where the drugs are already widely available”.

He added: “I absolutely expect to see the same in the UK as these treatments get adopted by the NHS and become more widely available.

“In terms of treating chronic metabolic disease, these treatments are one of the biggest breakthroughs we have had — I think it’s bigger than statins as it is going to affect more people.”

Professor Jason Halford, a former president of the European Association for the Study of Obesity, said weight loss jabs "should accelerate" progress towards reducing obesity rates, if people can access treatment.

He warned: “We will see overall rates coming down but because most people are getting it privately, what we will see is differences in rates amongst different social classes actually increasing.”

Prof Ezzati noted that a high proportion of people in the UK were still obese. Rates among boys soared from 1.5% in 1980 to 12.4% in 2024, and rose from 5.7% to 26.7% among men.

Obesity among girls rose from 1.6% to 10.1% over the same period, and from 8.5% to 29.6% among women.

The study found that obesity rates may have begun to decline in some countries including France, Italy and Portugal.

However, they continued to rise in many low and middle-income countries including parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Prof Ezzati added: “We now need to find out why some countries are doing so much better than others and apply the lessons to stop obesity from increasing.

“Ultimately, this analysis shows that the trend towards obesity is not inevitable, and that it is possible for policy makers to intervene to stop and even reverse growing obesity.”

The findings were presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul and published in the journal Nature.