Nigella Lawson has shared her verdict on the controversial weight-loss drug Ozempic.
In a new interview with The Times, the celebrity chef, 64, weighed in on the weight-loss injection, which is used to suppress appetite and slow digestion.
Stars including Sharon Osbourne and Oprah Winfrey have admitted to taking the drug, which is primarily used as a medicine designed to treat people with type 2 diabetes.
Questioned over her thoughts on Ozempic and drugs like it, Lawson said: “They are not for me.”
“It doesn’t do to be too judgemental about other people’s medical decisions,” she told the publication. “I imagine if they are prescribed [weight-loss jabs] by doctors because they are pre-diabetic or something, then that’s something [different], but they are not for me.”
Lawson continued: “I have spent a lot of life trying to help people not feel that food is the enemy. And I am always someone who would prefer to think about what I add to my diet than what I remove.”
“I read something once where someone said, ‘I was on Ozempic and it was the first time I didn’t think about food all the time,’ and I thought, I can’t imagine anything worse than that,” she said. “I take great pleasure in thinking about food all of the time.”
The TV chef added that she thinks it is “healthier” to be “really present when you eat and taste” than if you are “just shovelling food in or denying yourself”.
“For that to cease is not something I would ever want to encourage in my life or anyone around me,” Lawson concluded.
Lawson is not the first celebrity to be critical of the drug, which is used widely in Hollywood. Earlier this year, Kate Winslet said the drug sounded “terrible”.
“I actually don’t know what Ozempic is,” Winslet revealed when asked about the drug in an interview with The New York Times. “All I know is that it’s some pill that people are taking or something like that.”
After The Titanic star learnt how the medication works, she appeared “appalled” that Ozempic has “dampened” interest in food.
“Oh, my God,” she replied. “This sounds terrible. Let’s eat some more things!” Elsewhere in the interview, she revealed that she previously struggled with an eating disorder earlier in her career.
Ozempic is a once-weekly injection that works by mimicking a hormone to regulate appetite and create the feeling of fullness. The popular Type 2 diabetes medication is prescribed as an off-label weight loss drug to these side effects.
In July this year, a UK government alert was sent to private weight-loss clinics instructing them to stop prescribing slimming injections (including Ozempic) as “very limited, intermittent supplies” are putting the lives of diabetes patients in danger.
For anyone struggling with the issues raised in this article, eating disorder charity Beat’s helpline is available 365 days a year on 0808 801 0677. NCFED offers information, resources and counselling for those suffering from eating disorders, as well as their support networks. Visit eating-disorders.org.uk or call 0845 838 2040
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