Thursday 4 August 2022 10:43 PM Experts warn that online weight loss over prescribing supplements trends now
Telehealth offering medication to help overweight and obese Americans lose weight are being described by experts as predatory as they take large sums of money from desperate customers - only to prescribe them prescription pills and provide them little long-term support.
Dozens of online weight loss clinics have opened in recent years in response to both America's budding obesity crisis and the expansion of telehealth clinics in the U.S. that started before the COVID-19 pandemic but boomed as a result of it. These clinics distribute drugs calls GLP-1s, which were formulated to manage type 2 diabetes but have shown remarkable effectiveness as a weight loss supplement in trials.
While the drugs are safe and considered effective, experts fear that these online clinics are basically serving as pill-mills. Anyone desperate enough could shell out over $1,000 each year to take part in programs set-up by firms like Calibrate and Found. While they do provide some coaching and workout plans - the plans are mainly centered around the pills.
They fear that these programs could mislead people with underlying chronic conditions fueling their weight gain, and even if someone does lose weight as a result of using the drugs the lack of long-term support likely means they will gain it back.
America is also currently in the midst of an obesity crisis, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reporting that over 40 percent of Americans are obese - with more than 70 percent overweight.
Online telehealth weight-loss clinics are under fire for distributing supplements with little regard, with one expert even describing them as predatory. Wegovy (pictured), a FDA approved supplement, is the drug of choice for many of these companies
'The world of obesity and weight loss treatments and products have forever been a wild west,' Dr Scott Kahan, director of the National Center for Weight & Wellness in Washington D.C. told Stat News.
'While there's a legitimate core of the field, far more that surrounds it is bogus and nonsense and predatory. And a lot of these telehealth companies, from what I've seen, are sort of toeing the line between them.'
Dr Scott Kahan (pictured), director of the National Center for Weight & Wellness in Washington D.C., warns that the online weight loss industry is 'bogus and nonsense and predatory'
Two companies in particular were highlighted, including Calibrate, a company that guarantees that customers will lose around 10 percent of their total weight using video coaching, lifestyle tweaks and of course, medication.
Calibrate charges $1,650 for its year-long program. The company did not immediately respond to a DailyMail.com request for comment.
Another firm noted is Found a program which charges $149 per month for access to the prescriptions - alongside a personal health
