It’s no secret that weight loss injectables have become a huge part of our society in recent years.An estimated 1.6 million adults in England, Wales and Scotland used drugs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro to help shed the pounds between early 2024 and early 2025, according to a new study by UCL researchers.While they were initially designed to help manage health conditions like type two diabetes, some medications are now approved for weight loss too due to their appetite-suppressing effects.Essentially, the drugs work by mimicking a hormone called GLP-1 which makes people feel fuller.However, the increase of people using the drugs, including Ozempic, which isn’t approved for weight loss, has resulted in a number of side effects and scientific studies popping up as people really get to grips with them.

The most commonly reported side effects that users can expect to be faced with include nausea, constipation, diarrhoea, stomach discomfort and heartburn.But, what else can weight loss drugs do to your body? Here are some things you might have missed.New studies have worryingly linked weight loss medications to a deadly new side effect, prompting warnings from health experts.The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has updated its guidance on GLP-1 receptor agonists to include the small risk of severe acute pancreatitis. The illness is a known but infrequent side effect of these drugs, and can be particularly severe in some cases. It causes the pancreas, the small organ behind the stomach that helps with digestion, to become swollen over a short period of time.While most patients start to feel better within a week, others can develop complications as sometimes, failure to treat the infection can prove fatal. Between 2007 and October 2025, the MHRA has received 1,296 complaints of pancreatitis linked to GLP-1 drugs, with 19 having resulted in death.