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Showing posts from February, 2026

Weight Loss Treatments: Should We Have Expected GLP-1 Agonists to Cause Gallstones ?

The short answer to this question is …Yes. To explain this more fully, we first need a little background… GLP-1 agonists are one of the most successful weight-loss inducing agents produced by big Pharma of recent times. Originally designed and developed as anti-diabetic agents, their ability to suppress appetite soon became the main focus of drug developers, resulting in regulatory approval of the first in class Semaglutide (marketed by Novo Nordisk as Wegovy) and then Tirzepatide (Mounjaro; Ely-Lilly). {Note the parallel here with Viagra, which was originally developed as a heart drug, but quickly morphed into the world's most frequently used treatment of erectile dysfunction.} The prevalence of obesity in most developed western nations has ensured that both of these new medications are in high demand, far exceeding that originally anticipated for their anti-diabetic indication. This has resulted in a ‘dash for the cash’ by manufacturers, and the resulting shortages have...

UK's Social Media Obsession – Is it Affecting Our Kids’ Mental Health ?

    Social Media and Mental Well-Being The large increase in mental health referrals in the UK's younger age groups since the end of the pandemic has finally got the UK government worried…so it should, and not before time. Why ? Apart from the more obvious consequneces of excessive screen use, which we'll conider shortly, we have at least 1 million young people in UK classified as ‘NEETs’ (i.e. Not in Education, Employment or Training); this is a shocking indictment for any 1st world society, particularly one that prides itself on its sense of 'fair play', and is still the 6th richest in the world, despite recent economic mismanagement by successive governments.  A significant proportion of these NEETs are likely to be in this category because of mental health issues. More and more of our youngsters, including even some under 5s, are also being diagnosed with some form of mental health issue, and not all of this is likely to be due to the 'over-diagnosis'...