You win some, you lose some... weight
Natural or not, what are the mental harms weight loss drugs have on (young) women
It’s starting to feel like the ‘90s all over again with the amount of weight-loss products constantly penetrating our eyeballs.
The last few months have been filled with stories of how celebrities were dropping incredible amounts of weight by using Ozempic, a drug intended for people with diabetes. And now, Kourtney Kardashian Baker—arguably one of the most influential women in popular culture—has released a natural form of the drug as part of her supplement brand, Lemme.
Using natural ingredients, the drug mimics the effects of blood sugar-stabilizing drugs like Ozempic, which are medically intended for people with Type 2 diabetes. Weight loss is a side effect when used to treat diabetes by “mimicking a naturally occurring hormone,” according to UC Davis. “As those hormone levels rise, the molecules go to your brain, telling it you're full. It also slows digestion by increasing the time it takes for food to leave the body.” And while the drug is not approved for weight loss, doctors have prescribed it to patients for this purpose.
The natural, over-the-counter version is called GLP-1 (or GLP-1 agonist) also mimics a naturally occurring hormone. It triggers the release of insulin from the pancreas, flushing sugars from the body (to put it simply). The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first batch of GLP-1 in 2005, and has since approved “several GLP-1 agonists for weight loss in people with obesity who do not have diabetes,” according to Harvard Health.
In an article for Vogue, Margaux Anbouba interviewed Kardashian Baker about her new product:
“‘If you told me when I launched the brand that this would be a product we were making, I wouldn’t believe you,’ Kardashian Barker tells me over Zoom. ‘But GLP-1 medications have been helpful to so many people. The drug clearly has so many benefits, but it also has a lot of side effects.’ It was a combination of those side effects (extreme nausea and GI issues being the biggest complaints) that led people to DM Kardashian Barker requesting an alternative, which motivated her and her team to search for something with less extreme side effects.
Natural or not, it feels like we’re taking several steps backwards with this messaging that all you have to do to lose weight is take this pill.
Yes, there is an obesity epidemic in North America, especially in the United States. These drugs can be helpful for people who need the medication to improve their health. But now women are being sold this idea that if they too take these drugs, they can look like society’s projection of the ideal woman—regardless of their state of health.
It’s not that brands are coming out with such blatant advertising as this. But interviews and commentary on celebrities like Mindy Kaling and Kelly Clarkson’s incredible and fast weight loss1 has reintroduced the idea to women that need to look a certain way in order to be accepted. Because now these women who have historically defended themselves and their bodies for not being a size 4, are now being applauded for their new figures.
Growing up in the 90s and early 2000s, myself and other girls and women were bombarded with messages about how our bodies should look—lean, small, petite, fragile. Today, if you find yourself on a certain side of TikTok there are a slew of videos from millennial women about how distorted their ideals are of body image because of the messaging they grew up with. As one of those millennial women, I feel confident saying it’s something we’re still struggling with. I know I am. Especially now, as we just reached a point where body acceptance was becoming normalized, we’re heading in a tailspin back to the feminine ideals of the past.
It’s more than promoting a certain image ideal—it’s the promotion of unhealthy lifestyles and the mental and emotional damage that goes along with it in many cases. During the pandemic, mental health cases rose, especially among young people. In 2022, the Harvard Medical School noted a spike in eating disorders, particularly among young girls.
As we get older, “one in seven men and one in five women [will experience] an eating disorder by age 40, and in 95% of those cases the disorder begins by age 25.”
I want to make it clear that there is no found direct correlation between these weight loss drugs and eating disorders. But we do need to take into consideration the impact this type of messaging we’ve been seeing more and more has on the mental and physical health of people—of all genders. And at what cost? So billionaires and big companies can make more money?
Capitalism is at the root of this argument. It’s capitalism that is fueling the advertising of these drugs and this image of what a woman should look like. Health is not what is being promoted—it’s image.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Kardashian influence when it comes to pushing beauty products and the deep impression the women of this family make on young girls and women. I’ve heard it joked before that the Kardashians make the decisions on what body figure is trending. For years, it was all about the curves, and now it’s about slimming down, getting fit and showing off their bodies in a very different way.
The companies these women run are worth millions. Their consumer base—for products and them as a brand—is incredibly vast.
From a business perspective, I understand the reasoning behind wanting to give people a product they’re asking for. I could argue that a natural alternative is better than pumping your body full of medicine for a disease you don’t have. But something just doesn’t sit right about this. And it comes back to this systemic problem of the messages women and young girls are fed from a very young age to live up to standards that can only be maintained (if at all) by drastic measures and a loose pocketbook.
Kailing has never confirmed use of weight-loss drugs, and Clarkson has denied the use of Ozempic but said she used prescription medication that is similar in function to help with her most recent weight loss.