The need for lifelong support has implications for individuals and public health More than a billion people worldwide are living with obesity. After many years of failed attempts to support them in losing weight and optimising their health through lifestyle intervention programmes, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists are being heralded as a magic bullet for this global problem.1 Public discourse on these drugs has focused on their off-label use by celebrities, their exorbitant pricing, and severe supply shortages. But these issues are distractions from difficult questions about the long term implications of using these drugs in holistic obesity care systems, for both individual patients and for public health—namely, for whom, for what purpose, and how should these drugs be used when taking a lifecourse view of care for people with obesity? In pivotal clinical trials of GLP-1 receptor agonists, cut-off points for body mass index (BMI) were ≥30, but a more nuanced health ce

The need for lifelong support has implications for individuals and public health More than a billion people worldwide are living with obesity. After many years of failed attempts to support them in losing weight and optimising their health through lifestyle intervention programmes, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists are being heralded as a magic bullet for this global problem.1 Public discourse on these drugs has focused on their off-label use by celebrities, their exorbitant pricing, and severe supply shortages. But these issues are distractions from difficult questions about the long term implications of using these drugs in holistic obesity care systems, for both individual patients and for public health—namely, for whom, for what purpose, and how should these drugs be used when taking a lifecourse view of care for people with obesity? In pivotal clinical trials of GLP-1 receptor agonists, cut-off points for body mass index (BMI) were ≥30, but a more nuanced health ce