We’re sorry that your weekly dose of Well Informed arrives later than usual. Blame the heat.

One topic keeps popping up in our health-care coverage: patients taking treatment into their own hands. With self-taught “pharmacologists” peddling custom concoctions at the click of a button and touting the restorative power of broth made from simmering the carcass of a dead animal, you would be forgiven for thinking the health-care landscape was starting to look a little like the Wild West. In these lawless lands, the science is scant and companies are cashing in. 

This week’s column describes yet another example. GLP-1 drugs have taken the world by storm and their benefits, particularly for the treatment of obesity and diabetes, are real. But many users are taking less than the recommended amount. Almost 15% have done so at some point, according to one estimate. And the scientific standing of such “microdosing” is shakier. 

Microdosing is not bad in and of itself. As with many medications, abrupt changes in the dosage of GLP-1s can worsen their side-effects. Doctors sometimes recommend gradually increasing the dosage at the start of treatment, then decreasing it at the end. And there is some anecdotal evidence suggesting a smaller dosage does the job for certain users. 

But the clinically approved guidelines exist for a reason and there is always a danger to going off-menu when medicating. The column goes into all the details. It may be that prescribing dosages on a more granular, case-by-case basis could lead to more efficient and effective therapy. But that conclusion is risky without rigorous clinical trials. For now it is best to stick with the science.
 
Do you microdose to lose weight? Email us here wellinformed@economist.com.

Few products have captured public interest as fast as GLP-1 receptor-agonist weight-loss drugs. But one unforeseen consequence of their popularity has been to create what is, in effect, one of the biggest off-label medical experiments ever. This is the rapid spread of “microdosing”: in other words, of taking less than the recommended amount.