New European Paper Warns: Obesity Prevention Must Remain a Priority Despite Breakthrough Treatments

OBEClust Collaboration Highlights the Need for Structural Action Alongside GLP-1 Therapies

A new position paper published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe calls for renewed and sustained investment in obesity prevention, warning that advances in pharmacological treatments must not divert attention from the root causes of the epidemic.

Endorsed by a pan-European team of over 700 researchers within the OBEClust initiative, the paper argues that while GLP-1 receptor agonists (such as Wegovy and Ozempic) represent a major breakthrough in obesity treatment, they cannot address the structural drivers underpinning rising obesity rates.

Obesity affects over one billion people globally and continues to increase across Europe, driven by factors including unhealthy food environments, urban design that discourages physical activity, socioeconomic inequality, and commercial determinants of health.

“Pharmacological treatments can improve health outcomes for individuals, but they have considerable disadvantages and do not remove the root causes of obesity,” says Dr. Jeroen Lakerveld from Amsterdam UMC, one of the paper’s lead authors. “Without structural change, the inflow of new patients will remain high. Prevention is essential for achieving sustainable and equitable health improvements at the population level.”

The paper outlines key policy priorities, including:

• Strengthening food system regulation
• Promoting active environments
• Addressing socioeconomic inequalities
• Integrating prevention and treatment strategies

It also highlights the economic risks of relying heavily on long-term pharmacotherapy without addressing underlying causes, warning of escalating costs for health systems.

OBEClust supports the paper’s call for coordinated, cross-sector action to prioritise prevention while ensuring access to effective treatment.

The authors conclude that the emergence of new therapies should reinforce - not replace - the case for prevention.

ENDS

Paper

Søren Holma, Manuel Tena-Semperec, Dimitrios Koutsourisd, George V. Dedoussise, Karl-Heinz Wagnerf, Sara Arranzg, Philippe Froguel, Torsten Bohni, Paulo J. Oliveiraj, Jeroen Lakerveld on behalf of OBEClust. The case for primary prevention of obesity in the era of GLP-1 therapies. The Lancet Regional Health Europe (2026), 101679.

Key Messages

• The arrival of GLP-1 receptor agonists marks a major advance in obesity management but does not address the underlying causes, so the need for strong primary prevention remains urgent.
• Prevention and treatment are complementary, but not equal priorities: preventive action requires greater and more sustained investment to achieve population-wide and long-term benefits.
• Both prevention and treatment are needed and investment in one does not mean disinvestment in the other.
• Pharmacological treatment addresses individual outcomes but leaves the societal, commercial, and environmental drivers of obesity untouched.
• Strengthening policies and environments that make healthy choices easy remains essential for sustainable, equitable, and economically viable control of obesity in Europe and worldwide.

More About OBEClust

To learn more about OBEClust and the innovative projects involved, visit the project websites. 

Partner Projects and Focus Areas

Preventing and Addressing Childhood & Adolescent Obesity 

• BIO-STREAMS: Multi-Pillar Framework for Children’s Anti-Obesity Behavior Using an EU Biobank, Micro Moments, and Mobile Recommendation Systems
• Obelisk: Fighting Childhood Obesity to Stay Healthy Over the Life Course

• PAS GRAS: De-Risking Metabolic, Environmental, and Behavioral Determinants of Obesity in Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults

Early Identification & Prevention of Obesity

• eprObes: Preventing Lifetime Obesity by Early Risk-Factor Identification, Prognosis, and Intervention
• BETTER4U: Preventing obesity through Biologically and bEhaviorally Tailored inTERventions for You

Lifestyle & Behavioural Interventions

• HealthyW8: Empowering Healthy Lifestyle Behavior through Personalized Intervention Portfolios to Prevent and Control Obesity during Vulnerable Life Stages
• SHIFT2HEALTH: Development and Evaluation of Nutritional Strategies to Reduce and Prevent Obesity in Shift Workers

Obesity Risks & Determinants

• OBCT: Obesity: Biological, Sociocultural, and Environmental Risk Trajectories

Diet-related Non-Communicable Diseases

• CoDiet: Combatting Diet-Related Non-Communicable Diseases Through Enhanced Surveillance 

Media Contact

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