Obesity in the U.S. Is Finally Declining. You Can (Probably) Thank Ozempic.
If you’re searching for stereotypes about Americans, you have a robust buffet to choose from. But the biggest, or one of the biggest, is that we are really, really fat.
It appears, however, that we are finally getting less fat. Between 2020 and 2023, obesity rates in the U.S. fell by about two percentage points—no small feat when considering the quick and relentless climb in prior decades.
We don’t have enough information yet to say beyond a shadow of a doubt what the root of the turnaround is. But the signs point pretty strongly in one direction: drugs that assist with weight loss. Yes, the much-maligned Ozempic and related semaglutide medications, which induce satiety and have helped some conquer chronic obesity.
There are a few reasons to believe the connection here is solid. For starters, semaglutide prescriptions exploded within the period of declining obesity, spiking from 471,876 prescription fills in January 2021 to 2,555,308 in 2023. And as John Burn-Murdoch points out in The Financial Times, the receding obesity rates are seen more prominently among college graduates, who are more likely to use the drugs.
This is—objectively—a positive thing. It should mostly go without saying that chronic obesity is a crippling health issue that increases your chances of having a slew of adverse health complications: heightened risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, liver issues, gallbladder disease, joint issues, some cancers, sleep apnea, and on. It also makes a person’s
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