The growing popularity of fat jabs is expected to increase Britain’s divorce rates as slimmed-down partners look for new love, health experts have said.

Fat jabs to unleash divorce boom

B Eir Nolsoe – SOURCE: Yahoo – Sun, April 5, 2026 at 9:50 AM CDT

The growing popularity of fat jabs is expected to increase Britain’s divorce rates as slimmed-down partners look for new love, health experts have said.

According to research from academics in Sweden, people who undergo rapid weight loss are twice as likely to divorce.

Although the study focused on people who had been fitted with gastric bands, known as bariatric surgery, the rise of weight-loss drugs will trigger an even larger divorce trend in future, researchers said.

Around 1.6 million Britons used slimming drugs, known medically as semaglutide, and Mounjaro and Wegovy were among the most popular at controlling eating habits.

Professor Per-Arne Svensson, of the University of Gothenburg, who conducted the original research, said divorce rates from fat jabs will soar in future.

He said: “Very similar mechanisms could occur with Ozempic [and other GLP-1 receptor agonists] as with surgery, with regards to changes in relationships.

“Within the newest weight loss drugs, Mounjaro, for instance, we would have weight losses that are not as big as with bariatric surgery, but they are significant enough. So I still believe that these mechanisms could occur.”

He added: “What we see for instance in divorces is that it occurs after a couple of years after you started your treatment.”

Prof Svensson’s original research has found that gastric band patients were almost 50pc more likely to get divorced within six years. According to his study of 12,531 married patients, 14.4pc divorced during this period compared with 8.2pc among the wider population.

The research suggests the chance of divorce is significantly higher among patients who have experienced rapid weight loss.

‘Many mechanisms’ leading to divorce

A recent study by the University of Pittsburgh also found that gastric band patients were more than twice as likely to divorce.

Two-thirds of people in England are overweight or obese, with the latter making up 30pc.

It was announced last week that weight-loss jabs, known as Wegovy, will be given to 1.2 million people on the NHS to stop heart attacks and strokes.

Both studies found that patients who were single at the time of the treatment were much more likely to get married in subsequent years than their peers.

On divorces, Prof Svensson said there could be “many mechanisms” behind why separations occur.

The professor said: “People who embark on the weight-loss journey usually have a lot of other life changes as well.

“That means that they are probably becoming more social, trying to live a healthier life. If the partner is not really on the train there, if they don’t follow this person along in this change, that might be something that causes tension.

He added: “It could also be that you have a person who is stuck in a bad relationship, but doesn’t have the self-confidence to break it off because they feel ‘who would like to date them, if not their current spouse’.

“We have shown (higher divorce rates) for bariatric surgery, but that could also be true for Ozempic-based weight loss.”

Empowered to leave ‘unhealthy relationships’

David Sarwer, the director of the Center for Obesity Research in Philadelphia, said the link between major weight loss and divorce was well known and weight loss drugs could fuel a rise in separations.

“It’s not that losing a large amount of weight is ending healthy marriages,” he said.

“It’s probably more that for the person losing weight and feeling better about themselves, it may be empowering them to leave an unhealthy relationship.”

He said if the high cost of slimming drugs falls even further it will lead to a greater shedding of bad relationships.

There will probably be “a subset of people who, as they’re feeling better about themselves” find it becomes “a motivational catalyst to move on from what would otherwise be an unhealthy relationship”, he said.

Studies into the link between weight loss drugs and divorce rates would need to follow participants for a long time. As a result, conclusive research is likely a few years away.

Studies into the link between weight loss drugs and divorce rates would need to follow participants for a long time. As a result, conclusive research is likely a few years away.

Weight loss drugs have been blamed for a number of changing consumer preferences.

Greggs warned earlier this year that customers were looking at smaller portions because of their rise while supermarkets have also launched ready meals targeting users.

Divorce rates hit a 50-year low in 2022, according to the Office for National Statistics, with only 80,057 divorces in England and Wales compared with 113,505 the prior year.