Weight loss, a quick-fix culture and Scripture

Weight loss is trending in the news: what does this say about culture’s relationship to the body?

I wonder if the words Ozempic or Wegovy mean anything to you? What about Mounjaro or Zepbound? And before you ask, no, they are not the newest villains in the latest Avengers movies. Ozempic and Wegovy belong to a class of medication called GLP-1 receptor agonist. In short – weight-loss drugs. Researchers have clocked an exponential and unprecedented rise in young people in particular taking these kinds of drugs. Simply put, weight-loss is trending.

Don’t believe me? The statistics speak for themselves. According to the JAMA network (a monthly open-access medical journal published by the American Medical Association covering all aspects of biomedical science) from 2020 to 2023, the number of US adolescents and young adults who picked up prescriptions for Ozempic, Wegovy and related drugs rocketed up nearly 600%. That means almost 2% of the US population is taking GLP-1. And although it is harder to be prescribed Ozempic in the UK, Wegovy is still available via the NHS and its intake is only set to increase on our shores.

It’s no surprise that social media – particularly TikTok – has emerged as the information vacuum for all-things weight loss and has developed its own online sub-culture. In the first three months of this year, there was a 75% increase in online posts associated with GLP-1 drugs, according to the health innovation company Real Chemistry. This far outpaces the volume of posts on other popular medicine topics, the company said. The problem here is that the online whir doesn’t just centre on health body-approved medication, but spin-off versions with limited regulation.

Quick-fix culture

Now please don’t misunderstand me. I am thankful for advances in medicine and, in particular, these drugs have been ground-breaking for those that suffer with diabetes. However, I am interested by this exponential interest in weight loss that transcends diabetes diagnosis and other chronic diseases. In a culture that has supposedly put weightshaming to death, clearly we still struggle to have a healthy relationship with our own bodies. And this is particularly acute for women, with three times as many females aged 18 to 25 receiving GLP-1 drugs than their male counterparts.

What’s more, people are drawn to the quick-fix nature of the medication. In a recent interview, George Chidi – Ozempic user and the politics and democracy reporter for The Guardian US – said that the drug is a ‘means of control’, taking away cravings and temptations for unhealthy foods. ‘Having self-control is so hard when we’re surrounded by temptation’, he added. If the drug is utilised as a quick fix without addressing other underlying factors to obesity, other diseases or self-image issues then, in theory, people could lose significant amounts of weight while still participating in unhealthy habits that deform and damage their view of their body.

A theology of the body

What’s clear is that issues surrounding the body and our relationship to the body are at the forefront of the minds of a significant number of young adults. There is an opportunity here to provide a good, true and distinct vision for health, healing, nourishment and the beauty of the body. Sadly, the evangelical church hasn’t always done a very good job at providing that vision. Too often we have downplayed the role of the body as something that is simply used for our time here on earth and then discarded for eternity. But the Biblical narrative is one that points to daily discipleship to Jesus as something that is integrated – we honour God with mind, soul and body – and the body is ultimately something that is resurrected for eternity, never discarded. We as the church in the UK should think prayerfully as to how to Biblically re-imagine our narrative of the body and be reminded that life with Jesus includes the invitation to heal – heal and restore the ways in which culture and others can harm us and undermine our relationship to our bodies and our health.