Novo Nordisk Pharma (Thailand) Limited, a global Danish pharmaceutical giant, pointed out a key difference: while the international obesity criterion is a BMI of 30 or above, the threshold indicating obesity for Asian populations, including Thais, is lower.
Specifically, obesity starts at a BMI of 25 or higher. Obesity arises from complex causes involving multiple factors—biological (genetic), social, environmental, certain medications, and neurological regulation, especially within the hypothalamus.
Research over the past 15 years shows obesity results from an imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure. In modern urban societies, external factors called Hedonic Input—stimuli that trigger pleasure from eating—make high-energy, preferred foods easily and frequently accessible. Combined with sedentary lifestyles involving prolonged screen time and reduced physical activity, this leads to fat accumulation.
The dangerous impacts of obesity divide into two main groups: metabolic effects, such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver inflammation and fibrosis, and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in females; and physical impacts from carrying excess weight.
Physical effects include sleep apnea, chronic back pain, osteoarthritis, and erectile dysfunction in males linked to vascular disease. Obesity is also associated with certain cancers. Overall, obesity is a major gateway to over 200 secondary diseases.
Therefore, obesity management requires a holistic approach, starting fundamentally with behavior modification—diet control and exercise. Behavioral therapy alone can reduce weight by about 5%, but combined with effective tools like medications or weight-loss drugs, weight loss averages 3–22%, or more depending on the individual.
However, Novo Nordisk emphasized a crucial new concept: quality weight loss. Every time weight drops, the body loses both fat and muscle mass in a roughly 75% to 25% ratio, regardless of dieting, surgery, or medication. This reality has become clear from social media phenomena since 2022, including the viral trend of weight-loss injections, which led to widespread misunderstanding of this medical innovation as a shortcut for cosmetic beauty.
This soaring demand created opportunities for criminals to smuggle counterfeit drugs and fake products into the market, hiding within unregulated beauty clinics. This silent threat has caused severe side effects and fatalities reported in the news, turning intentions of healthy weight loss into a worsening public health crisis due to ignorance.
Consequently, Novo Nordisk consistently advises doctors and patients that GLP-1 medications must be accompanied by nutritional counseling and resistance training to maintain muscle mass and function. This approach supports improved quality of life after weight loss and safeguards patient safety, which is paramount.
Novo Nordisk invested in innovation with partners in the pharmaceutical industry to launch Easy Tracker, named eZTracker, a blockchain-based solution using a special foil sticker on drug packaging. Patients and healthcare professionals can scan the QR code via smartphone for immediate verification. Authentic drugs show a green checkmark labeled Authorized, with clear registration details from the Thai FDA, batch number, and manufacturing site. Orange alerts or other warnings indicate probable counterfeit drugs, which should be returned to hospitals or clinics promptly.
The company also coordinates closely with the Secretary-General of the Thai Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to relay information and leads on smuggled or counterfeit drugs, enabling swift government legal action and eradication of major criminal networks.
Naturally, the human body secretes the satiety hormone GLP-1 from the intestines when eating, but this hormone is rapidly degraded within just two minutes, allowing continued snacking even after feeling full. GLP-1 drugs are developed to mimic this natural hormone.
Molecular modifications extend the hormone’s stability and duration in the body. The drug binds to receptors in the brain’s satiety center, signaling prolonged fullness even after half the usual food intake. It also acts on the digestive system by slowing stomach contractions, delaying gastric emptying, reducing meal frequency and calorie intake, thus promoting weight loss.
Common side effects during the first four weeks are gastrointestinal symptoms like nausea, vomiting, constipation, or diarrhea, caused by slowed gastric motility. These symptoms gradually resolve as the body adapts. Being a natural hormone analog, the drug is considered safe for long-term use.
Novo Nordisk also addressed social media claims that the drug reduces muscle mass. In reality, muscle loss is a natural physiological response to any weight loss method, not a direct adverse effect of the medication. The critical factor is post-treatment behavior: studies show that with proper diet and exercise discipline after stopping the drug, weight rebound averages only about 1.9% after six months.
Currently, social media often features uncontrolled or purely aesthetic-focused weight-loss drug reviews. The company stresses that the ultimate goal is to foster accurate societal and media understanding that obesity is a medical condition requiring scientific treatment, not a matter of fashion or beauty trends. The company has implemented public health education programs (Public Affairs).
For example, the Cities for Better Health initiative is a global program led by Novo Nordisk in collaboration with Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and the Danish Embassy, aiming to address non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and reduce childhood obesity by modifying urban environments and behaviors.
This program integrates obesity education into curricula from kindergarten through secondary school, fostering youth understanding of obesity’s true meaning. For the general public, the company reiterates the importance of carefully inspecting medication packaging and boxes with healthcare providers and always using the Easy Tracker scanning system to ensure safety and sustainable health outcomes.
New Flavor Major Cineplex Group, reaffirming its leadership in entertainment lifestyle, continues to create new experiences for movie lovers. Partnering with Pepsi®, by Suntory PepsiCo Beverage (Thailand) Limited, it launched an exclusive menu item: Dubai Chocolate flavored popcorn, under the concept "Enhance Your Movie Experience." They also introduced the value "PEPSI Treats Dubai Chocolate Set," combining the new popcorn flavor with Pepsi’s popular drinks to enrich every joyful cinema moment, exclusively at Major Cineplex.
Blood Donation Activity Mr. Surachai Thammromdee, Director of Representatives at Thai Life Insurance Public Company Limited, led the sales team of Thai Life Insurance volunteers in a major blood donation event to promote generosity on the 25th National Life Insurance Day 2026. The event was organized by the Office of Insurance Commission, Thai Life Assurance Association (TLAA), Thai Life Agents and Financial Advisors Association (THAIFA), and Life Insurance Fund (LIF), held at the 9th-floor Jumbod Room, National Blood Center, Thai Red Cross Society.
Since 1989, Thai Life Insurance has partnered continuously with the National Blood Center, Thai Red Cross Society, running a blood donation campaign every three months. This initiative allows executives, staff, sales teams, and the public to contribute blood donations to save patients under the “Love for Life: Love Takes Care of Life, Blood Takes Care of Patients” program. To date, Thai Life Insurance has helped collect over 39,000,000 cc of blood, underscoring its commitment and vision as a sustainable life insurance company delivering value to all stakeholders through responsible business practices.