Episode 6 invites Ragen Chastain, activist and author, and Joel Lexchin MD of York University, to discuss myths about weight and health, the hype around Ozempic and Wegovy, and the unclear connection between weight loss and health. 

Pharmanipulation is produced by PharmedOut, a project at Georgetown University Medical Center that advances evidence-based prescribing.

To learn more about Ragen Chastain and her work, please visit her website: https://weightandhealthcare.substack.com/

Additional Resources

Dances With Fat Monthly Workshop – September: Navigating Weight Stigma at the Doctor’s Office date changed from September 27 to October 11 to avoid overlap with ASDAH’s annual meeting. Link: https://danceswithfat.org/monthly-online-workshops/ 

Books

“Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia” by Sabrina Strings. Link: https://nyupress.org/9781479886753/fearing-the-black-body/

“Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness” by Da'Shaun L. Harrison. Link: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/670607/belly-of-the-beast-by-dashaun-harrison/

Articles

"Semaglutide: a new drug for the treatment of obesity" by Joel Lexchin and Barbara Mintzes. Drug Ther Bull. 2023 Oct 25:dtb-2023-000007. doi: 10.1136/dtb.2023.000007. Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37879878/

“How the ‘It's Bigger Than Me’ Campaign Is Harming Fat People for Profit" by Ragen Chastain. Link: https://themighty.com/topic/eating-disorders/its-bigger-than-me-campaign-harms-fat-people-for-profit/ 

“Weighing the Consequences of Weight-Loss Drugs” by Judy Butler and Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman. Link: https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/second-opinions/104482

Igho J. Onakpoya, Carl J. Heneghan and Jeffrey K. Aronson. Post-marketing withdrawal of anti-obesity medicinal products because of adverse drug reactions: a systematic review. BMC Medicine 2016;14:191. Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27894343/

Prescrire’s "Semaglutide (Wegovy°) for excess body weight" Prescrire International 2023; 32 (245): 36-38. Link: https://english.prescrire.org/en/81/168/66102/0/NewsDetails.aspx

Please note: the full article is available for subscribers only.

PharmedOut is supported primarily by individual donations. To donate, please visit: https://sites.google/com/georgetown.edu/pharmedout/donate