Weight loss jabs could prevent heart attacks - saving millions of lives

13 May 2024 , 22:01

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The trial has been hailed as a medical breakthrough (Image: Getty Images/EyeEm)

Weight loss jabs could save millions of lives after a global trial found it prevents heart attacks and strokes.

The results have been hailed as the biggest medical breakthrough since cholesterol-busting statins. Tests found weight loss drug Wegovy also lower the risk of heart attack, stroke or death by 20%. Researchers believe it strengthens artery walls.

University College London ­cardiologist Professor John ­Deanfield, who conducted the trial, said: “This really is a game changer. It’s the sort of thing we got with statins in the 90s. Today we’re talking about ­cardiovascular disease but there are others that might benefit from these drugs, like kidney or ­neurological disease.”

Previous trials have focused on the obese and showed dramatic weight loss but this ­three-year study also offered Wegovy to mildly ­overweight people who have had heart attacks, strokes or peripheral artery disease and were on statins.

The drug, made by Novo Nordisk, slows digestion by mimicking the GLP-1 hormone which makes us feel full. It is prescribed on the NHS for people with a BMI of 35 or higher. But Prof ­Deanfield said it may be offered to those with a BMI of 27 and cardiovascular disease to prevent heart attacks.

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Those who took it in the trial showed health benefits even if they did not lose weight, the ­European Congress on Obesity in Venice heard. Heart and circulatory diseases cause a quarter of all UK deaths each year.

Martin Bagot