6 Minute English / Weight loss drugs

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.

And I'm Georgie. Neil, I saw you eating a healthy-looking salad earlier. Is there anything else you do to stay healthy?

At the moment I am following an exercise routine and I'm eating healthily, but I'm not sure if it's having much effect. How about you?

Uh, well, I'm training for a half marathon at the moment, so I'm doing a lot of running, but I still eat a lot of sugar.

A sweet treat. Diet, exercise, and eating in moderation helps some people stay at a healthy weight. But with around 65% of British adults estimated to be overweight, that doesn't help everyone. But this has changed with the recent invention of weight loss drugs.

Yes. Weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro have been a hot topic this year. The drugs are modified versions of natural hormones which make us feel full when released into the body. Weight loss drugs are injected into the tummy and replicate this effect, but last much longer. The idea is that you feel full for longer, eat less, and lose weight.

In this episode, we'll be hearing more about these drugs helping people lose weight, and as usual, we'll be learning some useful new words and phrases. Plus, there's a worksheet and quiz to practise all the vocabulary we'll learn on our website.

But first I have a question for you, Neil. The measurement used by doctors to estimate if someone is at a healthy weight is called BMI. But what does BMI stand for? Is it:

a) British medical index?b) Body mass index? or,c) Body muscle index?