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Parliament’s health select committee is to examine the “challenges and opportunities” posed by emerging weight loss medicines as part of a newly launched inquiry into obesity. 

The cross-party health and social care committee (HSCC) announced last Thursday (July 17) that its new inquiry will seek to establish why previous public health interventions have “seemingly not succeeded” in tackling the rate of obesity, with 64 per cent of English adults overweight or obese at present.

The inquiry will ask which policies to date have been most effective at discouraging the consumption of “less healthy foods” and ask what more the Government and the food industry can do to promote healthy diets.

The HSCC, which has launched a survey and call for evidence, will also explore the growing role of injectable weight loss medicines like Wegovy and Mounjaro and assess their oost-effectiveness when compared with more traditional interventions. 

Labour MP and acting select committee chair Paulette Hamilton said: “Obesity and excess weight are at seriously high levels across the population, impacting individuals’ quality of life, their health and their work, and putting demands on the NHS and social care.

“The other side of the coin is the problem of unhealthy diets and poor nutrition. Our committee wants to drill down into these two issues.

“This inquiry will examine both prevention and treatment, including the new possibilities and challenges presented by weight management medications. On diet and nutrition, we want to learn the facts around people’s ability to access and afford nutritious food. 

“The Government has said it will be ‘launching a moonshot to end the obesity epidemic’. Our inquiry will examine what this means in practice and explore what sort of initiatives the Government should be backing.” 

Read more: 'Indirect' promotion of weight loss drugs is illegal too says watchdog