Mumbai: An aspiring model and actress in her early 20s recently approached a Mumbai clinic seeking Mounjaro in the hope of losing 10 kg in a month ahead of a Thailand photo shoot. After being denied a prescription as she did not meet the medical criteria, she returned days later to say she had found another doctor willing to prescribe the drug and had already begun treatment, said Dr Geoffrey Vaz, dermatologist at Mumbai based Maven Esthetics.
“There are many youngsters like her who want to look thin ner—often for social media or on-screen appearances—and at the same time, several practitioners are prescribing these drugs indiscriminately,” Vaz said. At Mumbai’s Jaslok Hospital, endocrinologist Venkatesh Shivane recalls turning away two young women in their early 20s demanding the blockbuster weight-loss drugs. “One of them said she wanted it because her BMI moved up from 21 to 22. BMI 22 is normal, and I would not prescribe a GLP-1 for such a person,” he said.
Healthcare practitioners said they are seeing a sharp rise in demand for weight-loss drugs among Gen Z—young men and women largely in their late teens and 20s. While some patients have genuine medical reasons such as obesity combined with PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome), early onset diabetes, sleep apnoea or fatty liver, doctors said a significant number are seeking these drugs for cosmetic reasons to shed a few kilos quickly. “Most in the Gen Z cohort ideally do not require these drugs. With diet and exercise, they can lose weight more easily,” Neeraj Tulara, chairman and consultant physician at Bookurdoc Speciality Clinics, said.>
