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People who stop using weight-loss medications can regain weight and return their original size within two years, a new BMJ study says.
Researchers have found that those who lose weight using blockbuster GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic could regain about 0.4kg every month after quitting these treatments. In contrast, those who lost weight through exercise, diet and other factors only gained 0.1kg.
Investigator Dr Susan Jebb, from Oxford University told the BBC, "People buying these need to be aware of the risk of fast weight regain when the treatment ends."
Ozempic (semaglutide) is a prescription injectable GLP-1 medication primarily approved for adults with Type 2 diabetes to manage blood sugar levels. However, the drug has gained immense popularity among those trying to lose weight as it can reduce hunger and help people feel full for longer, which forces the body to burn fat deposits to stay functional.
In clinical trials, people with obesity using semaglutide have shown to lose an average of about 15% of their body weight over 68 weeks. Most people begin to see noticeable results within 8 to 12 weeks of taking the drug.
The official price in India for a once-weekly Ozempic injection pen ranges from approximately ₹8,800 for the 0.25 mg dose to around ₹11,175 for the 1 mg dose per month. Insurance coverage is generally inconsistent for weight loss indications.
The researchers analyzed 37 studies that included 9,341 participants out of which nearly half had taken had taken GLP-1 medications. This included 1,776 people who received the newer, more effective drugs semaglutide, sold as Ozempic and Wegovy by Novo Nordisk , and tirzepatide, sold as Mounjaro and Zepbound by Eli Lilly.
Apart from discovering that patients could regain all their weight in 1.7 years, the scientists also found that those who lost weight using semaglutide and tirzepatide, cwould gain 0.8 kg per month.
Dimitrios Koutoukidis, Oxford University researcher and senior study author, “But because people on semaglutide or tirzepatide lose more weight in the first place, they all end up returning to baseline at approximately the same time".
Heart health risk factors, such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels, that benefited from the drugs were projected to return to pre-treatment levels within 1.4 years after stopping the medications.
Dr Adam Collins, an expert in nutrition at the University of Surrey, told the BBC that when the body stops receiving a regular dose of appetite suppressants such as GLP-1 drugs, hunger returns and can lead to overeating.
He told the publication, "Artificially providing GLP-1 levels several times higher than normal over a long period may cause you to produce less of your own natural GLP-1, and may also make you less sensitive to its effects.
"That's not a problem when taking the drugs, but as soon as you withdraw this GLP-1 'fix', appetite is no longer kept in check and overeating is far more likely.
"This is further exacerbated if the individual in question has relied solely on GLP-1 to do the heavy lifting... artificially suppressing their appetite without them establishing any dietary or behavioural changes that would help them in the long run."
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For the first time, a baby boy has been born to a mother with a womb transplanted from a deceased donor at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea hospital in London.
Weighing merely 3.09kg (6lb 13oz), Hugo Powell was born to Grace Bell and Steve Powell from Kent, right before Christmas 2025. "It's simply a miracle. I never, ever thought that this would be possible," Bell said. "I'm the happiest I've ever been in my life. When I was 16, I was told that this would never be possible," she said of her son's birth.
The father added: "When he came over the curtain, it was just sort of overwhelming emotions. I felt like I wanted to cry, but couldn't. From where we started - first meeting - to where we are today, with Hugo, is nothing short of a miracle after everything we've been through. It just felt quite unreal at the time, because this has been a long journey for us both."
The couple also paid tribute to the "kindness and selflessness" of their transplant donor and her family for their "incredible gift", while also thanking medical teams in Oxford and London who supported their journey.
"There are no words to say thank you enough to my donor and her family. Their kindness and selflessness to a complete stranger is the reason I have been able to fulfil my lifelong dream of being a mum.
"I hope they know that my child will always know of their incredible gift, and the miracle that brought him into this world," Bell said.
Bell, an IT programme manager, was born with Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser (MRKH), a disorder that causes the vagina and uterus to be underdeveloped or absent. MRKH syndrome is also called:
While women with MRKH syndrome have normal external genitalia, functioning ovaries, breast and pubic hair development, they are unable to carry a pregnancy and rely on either surrogacy or a womb transplant, as in the case of Bell.
There are two versions of the disorder:
However, these genetic changes have been found in only a small number of affected people and subsequent studies have not identified a clear association between MRKH syndrome and any specific environmental factors. It remains unclears whether they actually cause MRKH syndrome.
Treatment for MRKH depends on the patient's goals and symptoms and some options include:
"I still can't believe that I'm here today and I've gone through this. It's just amazing."
At the age of 16, the new mother was told she wouldn't be able to carry her own child. However, in 2024 she received a phone call saying a womb had been donated and a transplant was possible, a moment she recalls left her "in complete shock" and "really excited".
Bell's womb transplant operation lasted 10 hours and took place at The Churchill Hospital in Oxford in June 2024 After her transplant surgery, she began fertility treatments several months after the transplant in 2024 and her son was born a year later.
According to The Guardian, Bell's transplanted womb will be removed when the couple have finished having children, to save her from a lifetime of taking immunosuppressant drugs.
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Not too long ago, Indore made headlines in water contamination case where a 67-year-old woman, identified as Parvati Bai Kondla also showed signs of Guillain-Barré syndrome. Bacteria like E coli. and Klebsiella were found in the water sample of Bhagirathpura, the epicentre of water contamination.
Indore's Bhagirathpura is again on the news, this time for food contamination.
Six people have been admitted to a hospital after they consumed contaminated food in Bhagirathpura. At a birthday party in Bhagirathpura on a late Saturday night, 60 people ate the food and some of them developed health problems. Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) Dr Madhav Hasani stated on Monday.
Bhagirathpura was the epicentre of water contamination that claimed 22 lives earlier. The minister said that affected individuals were treated and as a precaution, six of them were admitted to the Government Maharaja Yashwantrao Hospital.
Indore Municipal Corporation Commissioner Dilip Kumar said, “We have found that in case of the construction of the toilet, no safety tank was constructed beneath it. We are also probing the other lapses.”
As per the official statement, all patients are doing well after the treatment.
Earlier in January, Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargav reported that due to lapses in civic infrastructure. Investigation revealed that a toilet constructed directly above a main drinking pipeline near a police outpost, without a mandatory safety tank resulted in the sewage mixing with drinking water.
Read: Sewage Mixing With Drinking Water Kills 7 in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, Over 100 Remain Hospitalized
Speaking to The Indian Express, Indore Municipal Corporation Commissioner Dilip Kumar said, “We have found that in case of the construction of the toilet, no safety tank was constructed beneath it. We are also probing the other lapses.”
Escherichia coli, commonly known as E. coli, refers to a group of bacteria that naturally live in the intestines of humans and animals. Most of these strains are harmless and even play a role in digestion. However, certain types can trigger illness when they enter parts of the body where they do not belong or release harmful toxins.
These disease-causing strains attach themselves to body cells and produce toxins, leading to infection and inflammation.
Guillain-Barré syndrome is a rare autoimmune condition in which your immune system attacks your peripheral nerves, leading to symptoms like numbness, tingling, and muscle weakness that progress to paralysis. However, with treatment, most people fully recover from the condition.
Doctors say GBS occurs at any age, but it most commonly affects people between 30 and 50 years of age.
Guillain-Barré syndrome is rare. About 100,000 people worldwide develop GBS every year. To put that into perspective, the world population is about 7.8 billion. That means healthcare providers diagnose GBS in about 1 in 78,000 people each year.
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15 US states sued President Donald Trump led administration after the Department of Health and Human Services led by Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. revised vaccine schedule that led to coverage fall from 17 to 11 diseases for children. These 15 states are led Democrats and on Tuesday, they announced suing the Trump administration over unscientific grounds of releasing a new vaccine schedule.
The lawsuit has been filed by a coalition of 14 attorneys general and the governor of Pennsylvania. They have asked the courts to nullify the administration's decision to reduce the number of diseases children are routinely immunized from 17 to 11.
The lawsuit also challenges "the unlawful replacement" of members of the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, who recommend vaccines for Americans. The lawsuit names the Department of Health and Human Services and Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr as defendants. It also names the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its acting director, Dr Jay Bhattacharya.
Read: CDC Vaccine Schedule: Coverage Falls From 17 to 11 Diseases For Children
In a news briefing on Tuesday, Rob Bonta, attorney general of California said, "H.H.S. Secretary R.F.K. Jr. and his C.D.C. are flouting decades of scientific research, ignoring credible medical experts, and threatening to strain state resources and make America’s children sicker.” Bonta continued, "The fact is, vaccines save lives and save our state’s money."
The lawsuit also notes that the administration's revised vaccination schedule was unscientific and relied instead on comparisons to countries that are different than the United States.
Kris Mayes, attorney general of Arizona, as reported by The New York Times said that the latest vaccine schedule "copies" Denmark's recommendation, where the country already has a nationalized health care and the population is fraction of that of the US. "Copying Denmark’s vaccine schedule without copying Denmark’s health care system doesn’t give families more options — it just leaves kids unprotected from serious diseases."
Also Read: Wegovy And Ozempic Will Cost Less In 2027, Novo Nordisk Slashes Weight Loss Drugs Prices By Half

On January 5, 2026, the federal health officials led by RFK Jr. announced that the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), vaccine schedule will include routine shots for 11 diseases for children. This is down from 17 diseases, which were earlier included.
Under the revised schedule, vaccines for a limited number of diseases remain universally recommended for children. These include protection against measles, polio, and whooping cough, which are still considered essential routine immunizations.
The most controversial change is the narrowing of recommendations for several common childhood vaccines. Immunization against the following illnesses is now advised only for high-risk children or after consultation with a health care provider:
Covid-19 vaccination has also shifted to a consultation-based recommendation rather than routine use for all children.
This means shots that were once automatically given at set ages, including at birth, during infancy, and in adolescence, may now depend on individual medical discussions rather than standard guidance.
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