America is slimming down \u2014 one shot at a time.<\/p>\n
The number of US adults turning to blockbuster GLP-1 drugs<\/a> like Ozempic and Wegovy for weight loss has hit a record high, nearly quadrupling in just two years.<\/p>\n Now, the shift is showing up on the scale, with national obesity rates edging lower after years of steady increases. <\/p>\n More Americans are taking GLP-1 drugs to lose weight than ever before. M+Isolation+Photo \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n The eye-popping figures come from a new Gallup survey<\/a> of 5,065 adults nationwide conducted between May 28 and June 5.<\/p>\n The pollster found that 11% of Americans ages 18 and older are currently taking GLP-1s for weight loss, up from just 3% who reported using them in 2024.<\/p>\n The reach of the medications is even wider: 15% of respondents said they have used the next-generation diabetes and obesity drugs to shed pounds at some point \u2014 a nine-percentage-point increase in just two years.<\/p>\n The surge in GLP-1 use coincides with a downturn in the nation\u2019s obesity crisis<\/a>. After peaking at a record 39.9% in 2022, the adult obesity rate has gradually fallen to 36.4% in 2026.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the national diabetes rate has held steady after climbing steadily for 15 years.<\/p>\n From diabetes drug to weight-loss wonder<\/p>\n GLP-1s \u2014 short for glucagon-like peptide-1 drugs \u2014 work by mimicking hormones naturally released by the gut after eating to help regulate blood sugar, appetite and digestion.<\/p>\n The first drug in this class of medications was approved more than two decades ago to treat type 2 diabetes, but GLP-1s didn\u2019t explode in popularity until 2021.<\/p>\n That year, the Food and Drug Administration greenlit Novo Nordisk\u2019s semaglutide-based drug Wegovy as an obesity treatment after clinical trials showed users lost an average of 15% of their body weight over 16 months.<\/p>\n Eleven percent of US adults are currently taking a GLP-1 to slim down. Corona Borealis \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n Before that approval, semaglutide was used primarily for blood sugar control in people with type 2 diabetes under the brand name Ozempic.<\/p>\n In the years since, the market has expanded with new players, including Eli Lilly\u2019s tirzepatide-based Zepbound for weight loss and Mounjaro for diabetes.<\/p>\n Today, name-brand GLP-1s are far more commonly used than compounded versions of semaglutide and tirzepatide, which are often sold through telehealth companies but are not FDA-approved.<\/p>\n But the gap may be narrowing. Gallup found that one-third of people currently taking compounded GLP-1s said they came from an FDA-approved medication, while just 10% made the switch the other way.<\/p>\n Cost and insurance coverage appear to be driving much of that movement. In the survey, people who switched from brand-name GLP-1s to compounded versions were twice as likely to cite affordability or coverage issues as their main reason.<\/p>\n The next frontier of GLP-1s<\/p>\n GLP-1s have been hailed as one of the biggest breakthroughs in weight-loss medicine in decades, and their reach is only expected to grow as more convenient and potentially more powerful versions hit the market.<\/p>\n In December 2025, the FDA approved a daily pill version of Wegovy<\/a>, giving needle-averse patients the first oral GLP-1 option cleared for obesity treatment. <\/p>\n Then in April, the agency approved another oral weight-loss contender from Eli Lilly: orforglipron<\/a>, sold under the brand name Foundayo.<\/p>\n The next wave is already on the horizon. Eli Lilly\u2019s once-weekly injectable retatrutide \u2014 dubbed \u201ctriple G<\/a>\u201d because it mimics three hormones \u2014 is expected to seek FDA approval this year, with early data suggesting it could deliver an even bigger weight-loss punch<\/a> than earlier GLP-1s.<\/p>\n New GLP-1 contenders in the pipeline are expected to further fuel demand for the blockbuster medications. UCG\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images<\/p>\n The drugs\u2019 expanding r\u00e9sum\u00e9 could also fuel the next wave of growth, as researchers explore uses far beyond weight loss and diabetes.<\/p>\n Already, Wegovy\u2019s label has expanded<\/a> to include treatment of non-cirrhotic metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), a serious liver disease, in adults with moderate to advanced liver fibrosis.<\/p>\n The drug is also approved to reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events<\/a>, including heart attacks and strokes, in adults with obesity and established heart disease.<\/p>\n Zepbound, meanwhile, became the first and only FDA-approved medication for treating moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea<\/a> in adults with obesity.<\/p>\n Ozempic is also cleared to reduce the risk of worsening chronic kidney disease<\/a> in adults with type 2 diabetes.<\/p>\n And the list could keep growing: Researchers are studying GLP-1s for a range of potential uses, including substance use disorders<\/a>, neurodegenerative diseases<\/a> such as Alzheimer\u2019s<\/a> and chronic joint pain.<\/p>\n But the drugs aren\u2019t without drawbacks. GLP-1s have been linked to a range of side effects, with the most common including gastrointestinal problems such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and constipation.<\/p>\n For some patients, complications can be serious. GLP-1s have been associated with rare but severe risks, including pancreatitis<\/a>, gallbladder disease<\/a>, bowel obstruction<\/a>, stomach paralysis<\/a>, acute kidney injury<\/a> and vision problems<\/a>.<\/p>\n Patients have also reported challenges tied to rapid weight loss, including loose or sagging skin<\/a>, muscle loss<\/a> and the return<\/a> of or emergence of eating disorder<\/a> symptoms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"America is slimming down \u2014 one shot at a time. The number of US adults turning to blockbuster…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[1702,4368,103,61,60,371,4369,4370,37120,2508,2114],"class_list":["post-556432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-diabetes","tag-glp-1","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-medication","tag-obesity","tag-ozempic","tag-survey-says","tag-us-news","tag-weight-loss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}