Catherine Conlon: Time to adopt commonsense approach to obesity

Overweight and obesity have reached epidemic proportions in Ireland and other European countries, writes Catherine Conlon

Brazil's national food guidelines don’t dwell on nutrients, calories or weight loss. File picture: iStock

Almost half of adolescents with obesity given a ground-breaking new treatment managed to lose enough weight to drop below the clinical cut-off for obesity, according to new research presented at the European Congress on Obesity.

The treatment, Semaglutide, is sold under the brand name Wegovy in Ireland and is a medication used for long-term weight management. Almost three-quarters (74%) of 12-18 years olds in the study moved down at least one weight category. The average weight loss was 18kg.