The deadly risk of STOPPING fat jabs revealed – as 2 killers can strike up to 2 years later

SLIMMERS have been warned that stopping fat jabs could increase their risk of heart attack or stroke, even if they don’t regain weight. While weight loss injections have been found to reduce serious heart problems, this benefit may disappear surprisingly quickly after stopping the jabs, a study has suggested. Stopping fat jabs could increase your chance of heart attack or stroke, a new study has suggested Credit: Getty What’s more, the research also observed that interrupting treatment and then restarting it – even just for six months – also reduced the cardiovascular benefits of weight loss jabs. These findings come as it was announced earlier this year that Wegovy is set to be available on the NHS to over a million people with cardiovascular disease to help prevent heart attacks and strokes. Sign up for the Health newsletter Thank you! But now, scientists have warned that the longer patients stayed off fat jabs – such as Wegovy and Mounjaro – the greater their risk of a cardiovascular event was. Published in BMJ Medicine, the study found that people who hadn’t used a weight loss injection for two years had a 22 per cent higher risk of heart attack, stroke and death, compared to those who continued treatment. Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine analysed data from 333,687 US veterans with type 2 diabetes for three years, of which 132,551 had been prescribed a GLP-1. They checked whether participants were still using weight loss jabs every six months and found that roughly 23 per cent experienced a treatment gap lasting at least six months before restarting the drugs. The study observed that the clearest cardiovascular benefits were seen in people who stayed on the medication throughout the full three-year period. When compared to the 201,136 patients taking sulfonylureas – a different prescribed diabetes drug – those on fat jabs had an 18 per cent lower risk of major cardiovascular events. Most read in Health But by contrast, those who stopped the jabs before 18 months of treatment showed no significant reduction in cardiovascular risk, when compared with people taking sulfonylureas. Interrupting treatment and then restarting it also appeared to reduce the cardiovascular benefits of fat jabs, scientists observed. The study found that people who stayed on fat jabs for at least three years had the clearest heart health benefits Credit: Getty Common weight loss jab side effects Common side effects of GLP-1 jabs include: Nausea and heartburn Constipation Headaches Vomiting Diarrhoea Constipation Injection site reactions, redness, bruising, itching, swelling and pain Gallstones and gallbladder inflammation Patients who took breaks in their GLP-1 treatment saw an average reduction in cardiovascular benefits of 12 per cent – compared to 18 per cent who took the drug continuously for three years. And their risk of heart attack or stroke increased by between 4 and 8 per cent. Scientists say these findings suggest that the benefits of fat jabs in reducing heart attack or stroke risk can be lost fairly quickly once the injections are stopped. Commenting on the study, Ziyad Al-Aly, senior author and clinical epidemiologist at Washington University School of Medicine, told Science Daily: “There is enormous exuberance about starting GLP-1 drugs, but not nearly enough attention to what happens when people stop,” “Many quit after a few months because of cost, side effects or shortages. “When they stop, it’s not just weight that comes back; they experience a resurgence in inflammation, blood pressure, and cholesterol. “Weight regain is visible; the metabolic reversal is not.” Interestingly, he said the study observed that “restarting the medication helped restore some protection, but only partially, showing that discontinuation leaves a lasting scar”. Ziyad Al-Aly stressed the importance of patients sticking to their GLP-1 treatment and not taking breaks in order to maximise their full cardiovascular benefits. More than 1.6 million adults in the UK are now believed to be using weight loss jabs like Wegovy and Mounjaro. Like any medication, the jabs can cause side effects that vary in both frequency and severity, ranging from nausea to life-threatening organ damage. Just last week, scientists warned that the jabs could also trigger the serious brain condition Wernicke encephalopathy, which left untreated can lead to permanent memory loss, brain damage and even prove fatal Comment now