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New study suggests that weight-loss drugs stimulate metabolic activity

The study challenges the notion that the drugs only make users feel full.

A STUDY FROM St Vincent’s University Hospital Dublin has challenged the belief that weight loss medications including Ozempic, Wegovy, and Monjaro work just by making users feel more full.

A randomised controlled trial of 30 patients which examined the family of medications found that there is a strong relationship between the increase in metabolic activity – the burning of calories – caused by a once-daily treatment and the amount of weight lost.

It also found that people who had a low metabolic activity before they started treatment benefited the most from it.

Professor Donal O’Shea, who led the study, said that the study “challenges the main narrative that these treatments simply make you eat less, and that any action on energy burn is minimal”.

“It always seemed oversimplistic to me that these new treatments were just making people eat less. The findings provide science to support the fact that treatment of obesity is not simply to eat less and move more – that’s the prevention piece. Treatment is more complex than that,” he said.

“Safe medical treatment for obesity is still in its infancy and we need to understand fully how the treatment works.”

Drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Monjaro are based on the hormone Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). They are commonly used to treat Type-2 diabetes, and have been modified to be used as a long-term weight-loss treatment.

The drugs work by mimicking a naturally-occuring hormone. As these hormone levels rise, messages to the patients brain communicate that the body is full. They also slow down digestion.

The study ‘GLP‐1 therapy increases visceral adipose tissue metabolic activity: lessons from a randomized controlled trial in obstructive sleep apnea,’ was co-authored by Professor Silke Ryan, SVUH, funded by the Health Research Board and supported by University College Dublin.

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    Mute K Brennan
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 10:40 AM

    I have serious metabolic issues (confirmed by several medical tests) related to prescribed steroid use for my, as my consultant described it, aggressive psoriatic arthritis. I have not responded to several biologic arthritic injection treatments for years & had no option but to rely on steroids to get through any given day. I cannot exercise (I can barely walk some days) & am overweight. I’m on a waiting list for Ozempic. I will pay for it myself. Diabetics are rightly given priority for this medication. Wegovy and Monjaro are not currently licenced for use in Ireland.

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    Mute Orla Cosgrave
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 4:46 PM

    @K Brennan: My husband is diabetic and he has not been offered Ozempic. His doctor keeps going on about his weight. Unfortunately, he also has diabetic neuropathy in his feet and finds it very hard to walk.

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    Mute K Brennan
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 4:54 PM

    @Orla Cosgrave: I’m sorry to hear that. I was tested by a consultant in Endocrinology for diabetes (I’m don’t have it) and other blood tests performed over several hours (not pleasant) to determine my metabolic issues & treatment for same. Unfortunately, I waited at least 2 years for an Endocrinology appointment. I know that’s not very helpful but perhaps it’s a pathway to treatment you might consider.

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    Mute rb
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 7:00 PM

    @K Brennan: recommend beyondbmi

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    Mute Dion Tallant
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 10:32 PM

    @K Brennan: Mounjaro has a licence here since April there is just no time frame on Eli Lilly when they will bring it to the Irish market. You can get prescribed it here and go to the north for it. Wegovy should hopefully be here at the end of the year.

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    Mute Sickof thisshit
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 10:34 AM

    I’ll bookmark this comment section for all the professional advice coming. .

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    Mute Thesaltyurchin
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 12:30 PM

    @Sickof thisshit: Thats €50 lad?

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    Mute Gavin Lynam
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    Aug 23rd 2024, 12:13 AM

    Same! Im looking forward to sound advice that definitely won’t piss me off

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    Mute Ger Whelan
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 10:26 AM

    If only people put the effort in and tried doing physical exercise instead of taking a pill.

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    Mute Sarah O'Sullivan
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 10:35 AM

    @Ger Whelan: If only people put the effort into reading the article and listening when Professor O’Shea says the treatment for obesity isn’t as always as simple as move more and eat less.

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    Mute Ger Whelan
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 10:44 AM

    @Sarah O’Sullivan: I read the article Sarah and personally speaking I’d rather maintain a diet and exercise daily than pop a pill. Maybe I’m being disingenuous but it seems to me like people are no longer up to taking responsibility for their weight and would rather pop a pill and blame others when they don’t achieve what they set out for. There are obviously exceptions where people need it but the vast majority do not need it.

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    Mute Gary Kearney
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 11:08 AM

    @Ger Whelan: Oh it is so wonderful exercise will solve the problems! Oh that is was so simple.
    A very complex issues, explained by a person with no idea of what they are talking about!

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    Mute Gary Kearney
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 11:10 AM

    @Ger Whelan: Dr Ger, congratulations on your expert knowledge, except it is wrong.
    To avail of the medication takes a lot of investigation and you have to show a need for the medication after trying various other methods.

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    Mute Tezmond McVicar
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 11:15 AM

    @Ger Whelan: You clearly don’t suffer with keeping weight off no matter what you do. A lot of people do and like the Professor said, it’s not that simple. I know who’s advice I’d be taking.

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    Mute ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 11:16 AM

    @Ger Whelan: The article suggests that some have low metabolic activity.

    This drug appears to rectify that, and make them more normal in that respect.

    ” Maybe I’m being disingenuous but it seems to me like people are no longer up to taking responsibility for their weight and would rather pop a pill and blame others when they don’t achieve what they set out for.”

    Yet here you are blaming others.

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    Mute The next small thing
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 11:16 AM

    @Gary Kearney: yes there are complex cases however for the vast majority it’s a case of eating healthier,.smaller portions and exercise (walking one of the best for weight loss).

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    Mute Emmet Doyle
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 4:07 PM

    @The next small thing: I don’t really think you are reading the article… there is a hormonal deficiency that the pill fixes that allows diet control… you could walk to China it will have very little effect on weight unless you can curb appetite. GLP-1 curbs appetite something has caused deficiency in this hormone in us in the last 30 or 40 years… time will tell what. For now there is medication to FIX the issue. It’s not a pill to curb laziness.

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    Mute BigEd
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 10:35 AM

    So how come people loose weight while tight to hospital bed…its all about calorie deficiency…. Yes physical activity can speed up the process but you cant eat McDonald’s every day and expect to be paper thin thanks to some magic pill

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    Mute Clare Power
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 11:02 AM

    @BigEd: Ah, the old cliche, if you’re fat, u must be eating mcdonalds every day…dear me!

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    Mute Gary Kearney
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 11:15 AM

    @BigEd: I don’t eat McDonalds every day, I exercise as much as I can, yet I need the medication. I don’t eat McDonalds at all.
    Note the word “NEED” and have gotten it after a myriad of tests and consultations.
    Has it worked, so far it has. Has it improved my life, definitely.
    The more I lose weight, the more I can do. My quality of life has jumped massively.
    The medical reasons for my inability to live in a gym, are sad facts, that I live with and manage.
    The medication has assisted me in my health management. Just like any other.
    It is a medication, one of the types I am on.
    Would you say the same about insulin? Its another medication!

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    Mute Emmet Doyle
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 4:27 PM

    @BigEd: GLP-1 curbs appetite its deficient in these people this medication fixes the deficiency… they are now like you with normal appetite curbing.
    Imagine being hungry all the time and never feeling full no matter what you eat. Therafter everytime you try exercise diet etc you’re brain turns on you and demands you eat all the time… nobody sets out to be overweight or obese and nobody is happy they get there.. if a medication resolves GLP-1 deficiency then there was a medical issue to fix… think it through

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    Mute Alex Brennan
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 7:04 PM

    @Gary Kearney: insulin is a hormone produced by your body to reduce your blood sugar levels that have risen because you ate. Insulin resistance is a huge problem. Google it

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    Mute paul dutton
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 10:47 AM

    Kcals in Vs Kcals out very simple, it’s deficit or surplus.

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    Mute Gary Kearney
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 11:16 AM

    @paul dutton: No it is not, oh that it was.

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    Mute ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 11:19 AM

    @paul dutton: And how is this determination of Kcals made?

    And are there any assumptions in that determination?

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    Mute Alex
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 11:22 AM

    @Gary Kearney: it is Gary, it is simple biology. Otherwise the whole world would be obese but it’s not the case Gary. Take responsibility for being a fatty.

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    Mute Pat Barry
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 12:07 PM

    @paul dutton: it’s not that simple for many people, and I hope you and the others who are making the same silly comment, never need to find out the hard way.

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    Mute Thesaltyurchin
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 12:33 PM

    @paul dutton: Agreed. Our national food is basically protein wrapped in carbs twice, usually with added saturated fat and/or heavily proceed sauce.

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    Mute Pat Barry
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 3:38 PM

    @Alex: Another silly statement, Alex? Gary has mentioned several times that he has health issues that prevent him from maintaining a healthy weight. The generalisment I have seen in some of the comments from you and several like-minded individuals are disgusting. Grow up and cop yourselves on. You’re acting like 12 year olds….and I’m actually insulting 12 year olds with that comparison.

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    Mute Emmet Doyle
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 4:35 PM

    @paul dutton: 100%.. except in the glp-1 deficient there is no regulation or signal to release the hormone to say you’re full. But great news there’s a medication to fix that!

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    Mute John O Reilly
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 9:55 PM

    @paul dutton: no

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    Mute Jack Hayes
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 11:37 AM

    The Journal virologists of yesteryear are back as bariatricians.

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    Mute Alex
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 11:21 AM

    It’s funny that nowadays people keep making excuses for the morbidly obese saying “it’s not that simple”, “not everybody is the same”. YES, it is that simple. There is less than 1% people who could have potentially trouble due to genetic disorders (and those disorders often don’t prevent loss weight). Why do we see so few obese in Vietnam for example? Or even France? Because people EAT less. You don’t even need to exercise like crazy to not be obese, you simply need to take a normal KL intake. People are just lazy and want no personal responsibility in their life, that’s why you are all obese.

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    Mute Clare Power
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 12:25 PM

    @Alex: I call B S..
    plenty of reasons to be overweight besides food and lack of exercise….educate yourself self more…

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    Mute Ronan G
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 12:32 PM

    @Alex: You are presenting an extremely simplistic view of weight gain/loss (calories in/calories out; move more/eat less; personal responsibility) thats not supported by the medical literature and takes no account of the differences in metabolic function between individuals and the toxic food environment we all live in. No serious physicians or obesity researchers accept the old idea that it is simlly a matter of willpower and discipline. I would suggest reading any of Gary Taubes’ books to get a clear, readable explanation. Criticising people using “personal responsibility” is silly and is based on debunked, 20th century, naive understandings of weight, metabolism and the impact of insulin resistance in a food environment that is flooded with ultra high processed food and ingredients.

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    Mute Alex Brennan
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 12:56 PM

    @Ronan G: no one is forcing anyone to eat those ultra processed foods, all you have to do is stop eating them, stop eating sugar. It is very simple

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    Mute Johnny King
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 1:32 PM

    @Alex Brennan: exactly
    Just because you’re surrounded by bad food doesn’t mean you have to indulge in it

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    Mute Pat Barry
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 3:55 PM

    @Johnny King: Who said it is bad food is the issue. Many people eat healthy diets, but due to health issues, cannot burn off what they eat.

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    Mute Setanta O'Toole
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 3:55 PM

    @Alex: who gives a shit if someone wants to take a weight loss pill to lose weight or not. How does it affect your life in any way if someone wants to run and/or go to the gym everyday or wants to take a shortcut? Fair play to em i say.

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    Mute Emmet Doyle
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 3:56 PM

    @Alex: please outline your medical quals which substantiate your armchair opinion over Professo O’Shea ? Thanks ill check back until same are posted and verified

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    Mute Emmet Doyle
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 4:16 PM

    @Alex: lazy like your research.

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    Mute ben wu
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 11:46 AM

    ” trial of 30 patients” are even trying to be serious?

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    Mute Emmet Doyle
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 4:38 PM

    @ben wu: ye spot on let them go to he’ll, let’s not make any scientific theory or carry out studies or try improve society until there is how many in a study Dr Wu ?

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    Mute ben wu
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 8:04 PM

    @Emmet Doyle: 30 is way too small of a sample size for any study when it comes to anything like these sorts of drugs.
    It’s fair enough to say that could glean insights into those drugs, but those same drugs would have had nearer 10000 people involved while getting FDA approval. Ozempic alone had over 4000.
    I don’t quite know why think I’m against improving society, but I mayaswell say that I’m all for them if someone has a condition or is getting close to having a condition like diabetes.
    Treating them like a magic pill for weight loss while not changing diet or exercising is just kicking the can down the road.
    The majority of those pills are going to have heavily diminished returns within 2 years if haven’t changed diet, at which point it’s either surgery like bariatric or gastric band, or on other pills for life.

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    Mute Johnny King
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 1:28 PM

    Evolution works on a miniscule changes per millennia scale.We are genetically the same species we were 50 years ago.People were much thinner 50 years ago.They had ALL the same medical conditions 50 years ago ye are all blaming for being overweight today.Peoples diets are what has changed.In the huge majority of cases today diet is the problem.That is a simple fact.Again,50 years ago the average person was much thinner than today.What has changed dramatically in those 50 years are peoples diets.
    Cue more excuses……..

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    Mute Clare Power
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 1:58 PM

    @Johnny King: Do you class mobility issues as an excuse? I’m curious…

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    Mute Johnny King
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 2:14 PM

    @Clare Power: Do you deny that people were thinner 50 years ago? Why do you think that was if it wasn’t the food they were eating? I’m curious…..

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    Mute Clare Power
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 2:20 PM

    @Johnny King: absolutely the types of food we have now plays a big part in obesity but calling people lazy is not the answer..and there are plenty of other reasons for weight gain mobility issues, certain medications, mental health issues and on and on..

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    Mute Johnny King
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 2:21 PM

    @Clare Power: regarding mobility issues just Google wheelchair bodybuilding.These people are literally paralysed from the waist down and they have six packs and impressive upper body shapes

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    Mute Johnny King
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 2:24 PM

    @Clare Power: fair enough.Of course mental health and physical state play a massive part in how difficult it can be.What I am against is the ‘it’s not my fault so there’s nothing I can do’ type of attitude that prevails today.

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    Mute Clare Power
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 2:39 PM

    @Johnny King: hmmmm

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    Mute Emmet Doyle
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 4:01 PM

    @Johnny King: average height has also increased in same period please explain ? Genetics move much quicker than you think… Dr King.
    Glad we have you to explain not these qualified experts

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    Mute Pat Barry
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 4:04 PM

    @Johnny King: I would argue your point of peole being thinner 50 years ago. I remember, as I growing up, several neighbours and relations of both genders being hefty people who had good diets and physical demanding jobs and played sports.

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    Mute Johnny King
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 5:59 PM

    @Pat Barry: Google average weight of a person now versus 50 years ago

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    Mute Johnny King
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 6:04 PM

    @Emmet Doyle: Dr.Doyle your comment is literally proving my point.People are fatter AND taller today because of the extra food they are consuming,that’s not genetic,that’s lifestyle.Overconsumption of food has increased our size.Size increases vertically as well as horizontally

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    Mute Johnny King
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 6:41 PM

    @Emmet Doyle: maybe I can put it even simpler for you.Food makes you grow.If you starve a child it won’t grow normally.This includes bone growth.If you overfeed the child it will grow,.including bone growth
    Can you understand yet??

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    Mute Pat Barry
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 6:58 PM

    @Johnny King: Why? I remember those times….do you?

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    Mute Johnny King
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 7:14 PM

    @Pat Barry: you remember fat people from back then.well done.There is WAY MORE fat people now.If you took 10,000 people from then and weighed them all and took 10,000 people from now and weighed them all the modern people would weigh more in total.That doesn’t mean that there’s no skinny people now or there wasn’t fat people back then.It means THE AVERAGE WEIGHT HAS GONE UP.The average person is over 22 pounds,or 10 kilo heavier now than back then
    Feckin hell do I really have to explain this to ya??

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    Mute Johnny King
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 7:18 PM

    @Johnny King: a 5 year old can understand this

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    Mute Colette Byrne
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    Sep 17th 2024, 11:23 AM

    @Johnny King: You also have physology. And just because someone is in a wheelchair doesn’t mean their injuries are the same. some have full core and trunk control. Many wheelchair users have poor body image, great job in making these feel more body conscious.

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    Mute Garry Coll
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 12:33 PM

    A lot of articles on studies into weight loss medication these days.
    If only these institutions had time to carry out studies on other recent pharmaceutical interventions.

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    Mute Emmet Doyle
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 4:43 PM

    @Garry Coll: biggest health issue facing society but what pharmaceuticals [which implies they are already in existence] would you like studied?

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    Mute Liam Meade
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    Aug 22nd 2024, 7:01 PM

    Another gift from Monsanto clause..

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