Why medical weight loss is more complicated than GLP-1s

A few weeks ago on the pharmaphorum podcast, we discussed the new GLP-1 weight loss drugs and their shake-up effect on the medical weight loss industry.

For another perspective on that conversation, this week Jonah Comstock welcomes Dr Rekha Kumar, Chief Medical Officer at digital medical weight loss clinic Found. Kumar discusses how her practice has had to carefully integrate these new drugs and navigate the complexities around prescribing them.

Kumar busts some myths about GLP-1s and she and Comstock discuss how to untangle the cultural and medical aspects of weight loss and make sure that these drugs are prescribed to the right people in the right ways and lead to people being not only healthy, but having a healthy relationship with their weight and body image.

They also get into some of the social and cultural implications of these drugs and their accessibility, and how to reconcile the co-existence of an obesity epidemic in certain countries and a global malnutrition crisis. And they touch on some of the opportunities and limitations of telehealth.

You can listen to episode 104 of the pharmaphorum podcast in the player below, download the episode to your computer, or find it - and subscribe to the rest of the series - in iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and Podbean.