One of the most common New Year resolutions is to lose weight. Weight loss could be a more achievable prospect in 2024 because of recently-approved injectable drugs that have proven to be particularly effective in helping people shed the kilos (or pounds). They belong to a class of medications called GLP-1. The most well known of these are Wegovy and Ozempic. The drugs.com website reported that in extensive studies of patients using Wegovy, 83 per cent of participants lost 5 per cent or more of their weight compared to 31 per cent of those taking a placebo. A cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic said obesity drugs "are here to stay" and that "more and more of these drugs are coming to the market".

The significance of the new remedies has been highlighted by industry experts. The prestigious journal "Science" declared the family of weight-loss drugs to be medicine's "breakthrough of the year" for 2023. This year could prove to be even better for overweight people, and for those who find exercising difficult. A new drug called Zepbound has been approved. In clinical trials, people taking this lost an average of 20-25 per cent of their weight. Obesity specialist, doctor Juliana Simonetti, said the new drugs were "amazing, since they address the underlying physiological cause of weight regain". She added: "I've been working in this field over the last decade, and the results are very impressive."