{"id":348408,"date":"2025-11-01T17:09:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T17:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/348408\/"},"modified":"2025-11-01T17:09:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T17:09:15","slug":"us-adult-obesity-rate-drops-as-glp-1-weight-loss-drugs-surge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/348408\/","title":{"rendered":"US adult obesity rate drops as GLP-1 weight-loss drugs surge"},"content":{"rendered":"

For years, obesity rates in the US have gone in one direction: up. From the first year it was launched, Gallup\u2019s National Health and Well-Being Index<\/a> has found that the share of US adults reporting obesity has climbed and climbed, rising from 25.5 percent in 2008 to 39.9 percent in 2022. That survey caught the last leg of an epidemic that has been spreading for decades, with estimated obesity prevalence<\/a> tripling over the past 60 years.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that the country hasn\u2019t tried to fight weight gain. But from the $33 billion Americans spend each year on weight loss products<\/a> and services to government efforts like first lady Michelle Obama\u2019s Let\u2019s Move campaign<\/a> or Make America Healthy Again<\/a>, little has worked. Many doctors and patients came to believe the rise in obesity may be all but biologically inescapable<\/a>, despite the grave health risks<\/a> that accompany it.<\/p>\n

But maybe not. According to the latest results from Gallup\u2019s survey, self-reported obesity has started to fall, declining by nearly 3 points<\/a> to 37 percent in 2025. The self-reporting part is an important limitation \u2014 people\u2019s reporting of their weight tends to be imprecise \u2014 and we\u2019ll need more definitive proof from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to be sure, but it\u2019s some of the earliest evidence that the US may finally be turning a corner on one of the biggest health crises of the modern age.<\/p>\n

\"US<\/a><\/p>\n

And the main reason it appears to be happening isn\u2019t because weight-loss experts have stumbled upon a new diet that always works (we haven\u2019t and probably never will) or because we\u2019ve managed to ban all unhealthy junk food (we haven\u2019t and almost certainly never will). It\u2019s likely because of the growing use of glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists<\/a>, better known as GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s changed is we now have highly effective weight-loss medicines working at a scale that we\u2019ve never seen before.<\/p>\n

Older weight-loss drugs<\/a> tended to shave off only a few percentage points of body weight, and they came with tough trade-offs and quick weight rebound. The new drugs, which were originally developed to treat diabetes, are targeting the biology that makes weight so hard to lose and keep off: They dial down hunger in the brain<\/a>, slow gastric emptying, and improve post-meal insulin signaling. In large randomized trials, semaglutide 2.4 mg \u2014 the active ingredient used in medicines like Ozempic \u2014 produced<\/a> about 15 percent average weight loss over 68 weeks when paired with basic lifestyle support. Other combinations have reached<\/a> as much as 20 percent on higher doses.<\/p>\n

Those effect sizes are big enough that, when even a modest share of adults use them, you can start to see movement in the population data. And as further data from Gallup shows, more and more Americans are trying these drugs, with the survey finding that more than 12 percent of adults reported taking them in the second and third quarters of 2025, up from less than 6 percent in early 2024.<\/p>\n

\"Weight-loss<\/a><\/p>\n

And while much of the media coverage around these drugs has focused on weight and appearance<\/a>, the health benefits seem to go much further. In 2024 the Food and Drug Administration added cardiovascular risk as a reason to be prescribed<\/a> the GLP-1 drug Wegovy, grounded in results from a major trial<\/a> that showed fewer heart attacks, strokes, and cardiovascular deaths in adults with obesity or overweight and established heart disease. The FDA\u2019s action also opened a door for Medicare coverage in patients with cardiovascular disease<\/a> \u2014 an early sign that access for these expensive medicines could expand beyond the well-insured.<\/p>\n

The upside of downsizing \u2014 and the side effects<\/p>\n

It\u2019s still early days, but if the national obesity curve keeps bending down, the benefits would be enormous. Obesity multiplies risk<\/a> across nearly every major cause of death; even small, sustained declines in prevalence translate into millions fewer people living with diabetes, heart disease, sleep apnea, and painful joint disease \u2014 and billions saved in medical costs over time. The CDC pegs direct medical spending<\/a> tied to obesity at roughly $173 billion. Turning that curve even a little would represent significant relief.<\/p>\n

But we\u2019re a long way from solving this problem. For one thing, as effective as they are, these drugs behave more like statins than antibiotics: They work while you take them. When people stop, weight regain is common<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And GLP-1s do come with side effects that for some patients have been serious enough to lead to discontinuation<\/a>. Scientists also still aren\u2019t sure about some of the longer-term effects of the drugs, which can include muscle loss<\/a> and changes to sex drives<\/a>. And don\u2019t forget the four-figure monthly side effect<\/a> on the wallet if GLP-1s need to be paid for out of pocket. Obesity is already linked to<\/a> lower socioeconomic status, and that disparity could worsen if GLP-1s remain out of reach for all but high-income people.<\/p>\n

Chances are, though, that the current generation of GLP-1s is the worst and most expensive we\u2019ll ever have. Drug companies are already experimenting with pill forms of the medicine<\/a>, which would make dosing more precise and lower the barrier to access: as much as 20 percent of the American public has some form of needle phobia<\/a> (or trypanophobia, for those who want a great Scrabble word).<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll admit there\u2019s something uncomfortable about the idea of solving obesity primarily through a drug. After all, as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is fond of saying<\/a>, can\u2019t we fix obesity through healthier food and more exercise? But while our food system could surely be improved<\/a> and most of us don\u2019t get enough exercise<\/a>, it\u2019s not as if we haven\u2019t tried, whether as individuals or as a country. The simple fact is that the contemporary environment is one that is heavily weighted toward the obesogenic<\/a>. GLP-1 drugs seem to offer the best chance to tilt the scales back in our favor.<\/p>\n

A version of this story originally appeared in the Good News newsletter. Sign up here!<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"Swati<\/p>\n

Swati Sharma<\/p>\n

Vox Editor-in-Chief<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For years, obesity rates in the US have gone in one direction: up. From the first year it…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":348409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[14268,11361,210,881,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-348408","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-future-perfect","9":"tag-good-news","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-public-health","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115475550713463792","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}