Serena Williams, undoubtedly one of the best tennis players in history and best female athletes of all-time, winner of 23 singles Grand Slam titles, has faced harsh criticism for a Super Bowl where she promotes a weight loss medication.
In the commercial, Williams injects herself a medication using GLP-1, a hormone used in weight loss medications, that stimulates insulin release and slows digestion, reducing appetite. She says that with the medication she has lost more than 13.5 kilograms/30 pounds in a year, helping her with blood sugar levels, blood pressure, and high cholesterol.
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While it was known that Serena has taken this medication before, to help her reduce weight after giving birth to her second daughter Adira River in 2023, seeing her promote a drug to lose weight has come out as quite a shock for fans, who have been very critical on social media about the ethical implications of promoting products who continue to promote thin bodies, especially coming from a sports person who never had overweight, and now look extremely thin.
GLP-1 medicaments are also prone to secondary effects, like nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and constipation. Many point out that, especially coming from an athlete, Williams should be advocating for a healthy diet and exercise instead of drugs to lose weight quickly. What do you think?